San Ignacio Resort Hotel

San Ignacio Resort Hotel has been family-owned since 1976 — a seventeen-acre private estate on a hillside above the Macal River, five minutes from San Ignacio town and the Cahal Pech Maya ruins, billed as the only jungle in town and the most accessible of the Cayo lodges. Around twenty-seven rooms and suites in Belizean hardwood and mahogany look over the river valley, from Garden and Regal Rooms, the Regal Rooms named for Queen Elizabeth II's royal visit, through Deluxe Balcony rooms and connecting Jungle View and River View Suites to a Master Suite and a Honeymoon Suite with a Jacuzzi and a butler on request. The on-site Green Iguana Conservation Project, running since 1996, is San Ignacio's top activity, with an Adopt an Iguana scheme, while the Running W Steakhouse serves family-ranch meats alongside international, Belizean and Lebanese specialties from the owners' family, and the Baroque-themed Lobby Bar adds weekend live music. A luxury spa offers in-room treatments and a Spa Suite, with an outdoor pool and a tennis court on the estate. The Cahal Pech ruins, a medicinal trail, the Macal River and birding for keel-billed toucans are close, with ziplining, horseback riding and caving nearby. It is around two to two and a half hours from Belize City, on a bed-and-breakfast base — made for couples, families with connecting suites and culture-and-adventure travellers.