Portofino Beach Resort-An Authentic Island Escape!

This was our 1st time on Ambergris Caye and preferred to not stay in San Pedro town. Our choice was perfect. We stayed at Caves Branch Adventure Co. & Jungle Lodge in the Cayo a few days prior. We like to split time between mainland and beach. We were offered an earlier flight via Tropic Air and Portofino was able to arrange our shuttle to meet us at arrival. Moe our driver was terrific, can navigate the road from town to the resort probably with his eyes closed! And if you've been to San Pedro you know what I mean about the roads...LOL Welcomed by a chilled towel to get the road grime off and a tropical drink is a great way to start! Our beach front cabana was perfect, comfortable and convenient to pool, bar and restaurant. The hammock on the porch was a great time to just chill out. Plus there's another hammock near the pool. Though while there the winds were stronger than normal it was a wonderful place to stay. The staff is friendly, I filled up with ice multiple times a day. Your room has fresh drinking water daily. The location is convenient- you can easily go to Secret Beach or downtown via a golf cart. The golf cart ride is part of the adventure, be sure to rent one. The restaurant was awesome, delicious fresh seafood and pasta. Oz our waiter is the best, attentive and likes to talk about Belize. The superstar is Miss Paulina, Miss P for short. She does it all with style and grace. Runs the bar, and manages the resort. Her recommendations for things to do, places to see and where to eat in San Pedro were spot on. Try the local food, its amazing.. You may want to diet before going to Belize, to fully experience the flavors of this wonderful country. We hope to be back soon!

We didn't stay at the resort, however we stopped by the Green Parrot Bar multiple times because of how wonderful Miss Paulina (Miss P) is! She made the best cosmopolitan drinks I have had anywhere in the world and the service She and her team deliver was absolutely amazing, above and beyond! My boyfriend and I plan to actually stay at Portofino the next time we visit San Pedro, just based on our wonderful experience with the bar and restaurant staff. Definitely make a point to stop by and have one of Miss P's legendary drinks!!

The Portifino is an exceptional value, the service and staff are 5 star caliber. They also feature a fabulous menu that offers a wide range of dining options. Highly recommended for a trip to Ambergris Caye. It is located close enough to get into San Pedro and far enough to offer quiet and solitude.

Just wanted to drop a line about this place, this was our 1st time in Belize, we were celebrating my wifes birthday for the trip. Our 1st few days were not great it wasnt the resorts fault at all, the wind was blowing so hard, the sargassam had blown in, it looked like a big greenish/brown carpet on the beach and ocean, the guys were working extremly hard to get it picked up but its a losing battle until the wind changes. Then I believe its was Monday evening the power went out, again nothing the resort could do, they do have a generator but it will not support the AC units, just the lights and fans, we opened the windows and Ms. P brought us a stand fan and for us it was perfect, so no complaints. Aaron the GM came by the next day and gave us a bottle of wine for our troubles it was appreciated but not expected or needed. We met Sandra and Jan a few times (the owners) really nice people. Our bartender was Mark another extremly talented person and very nice, Wednesday was my wifes bithday and they setup a table out on the beach and had it decorated up really nice and at the end of the meal they brought her an entire chocalate cake everything was perfect for that evening. Now we make it to the restaurant, Ivan took care of us all week,with Kevin, Oz and Jason filling in thoughout the week, my wife is not a big seafood fan and they made suggestions to sub out the protien for her so all was good. I wish the menu was a bit more expansive but everything was top notch and tasted great, but after a week it did start to get old. The drinks I thought needed more kick, then again maybe that was a good thing, we are not huge drinkers, the 1st part of the week is when we drink a lot and come about Wednesday/Thursday our livers are not having anymore of it, Ivan to the rescue, he suggested Rose tea (a brand, not a flovor) so every morning and evening he would a have a pot boiled up and we drank that, they know how to make a good strong tea. The room, we were in Cabana 4 its a nice little room has everything we needed and was able to sleep quite well, its very quiet on the resort so that was perfect for us. We went to Secret Beach, Mistico to be exact, our cart rental ****** pretty bad but we made do, everytime I would let off the gas, the engine died and then backfired sounded like we were popping off a few rounds it was pretty funny. Wednesday, we got another cart from a different place and it ran perfect, we went into San Pedro, for a little shopping and to eat at Elvi's, parking is a nightmare and the traffic OMG!!! so many carts, Elvi's was awesome, I had Pibil tacos (outstanding) and the wife had chicken and rice both were great. I know I forgot some name of some of the employees for that I'm sorry, every person we met, they beyond friendly and want to make your stay as perfect as possible. We saw Aaron walking around doing GM duties thoughout the day, everbody was busy and always had a smile. We will be back sometime.

Portofino Resort Review We had a great vacation in Mexico and Belize this past winter. In Belize we stayed on the island of Ambergris Caye in two different resorts. We had been here several times before always staying at Sapphire Beach Resort so we thought we would try a different place for several days and then go to Sapphire the last week. Portofino Beach Resort is a beautiful little boutique resort with a fabulous restaurant and gorgeous pool overlooking the sea. The staff are all amazing and the grounds are a lush tropical paradise. Unfortunately the room we rented, “Lower Mansion, was a disappointment. It was a great size with a kitchen, dining area, living room, large bathroom, nice size bedroom and a large covered deck (the separate rental “Upper Mansion” is above). When you first walk into our unit you see this large great space but it’s very dark with poor lighting in every room (Some light bulbs were burned out). The bedroom had a king size bed but good gosh it was by far the worst bed I have ever slept on in my life. I’m sure the mattress was 50 years old or more. It looked inviting but when you lie down on it the springs are completely broken and worn and the bed is a lumpy bumpy blob. It was impossible to get comfortable because you either roll into a groove or to the edge of the bed. I was so sore at the end of our stay I was ready to try sleeping on the floor. And sweat….i never sweat in bed when I sleep but I sure did here. I have no idea what they tried covering the mattress with but it was not breathable. This was by far our biggest complaint and honestly we’ve travelled extensively and not one other bed we have slept on comes close to how bad this one was. The kitchen was a plus and we try to always rent a place that has one. Mostly just for breakfast as we like to relax in the mornings, enjoy a coffee on the porch and then grab a little breakfast. We therefore need some kind of a fridge. I had called before booking to confirm there was a full size fridge with freezer and fully stocked kitchen. They said yes it is completely stocked but there isn’t a stove or oven only a hot plate with two burners to cook on. That’s fine as we would probably only use it for eggs, oatmeal and to boil water. Once again we were disappointed as there were little or no dishes or utensils. We made Several trips to the bar and restaurant asking for items only to have the cleaning crew remove them every morning. We finally got smart and hid items in the bedroom dresser drawer. Also the fridge ended up only being a mini bar fridge which was also fine but barely worked. We had staff in several times to look at it but we couldn’t use the freezer and the fridge barely kept anything cold. We limited our items to stuff that wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t too cold. They told us that it may need freon but they didnt add any during our stay. I didn’t think freon was used in fridges anymore…. Washing dishes was another creative challenge as there wasn’t a p

We LOVED our stay here. Perfect for our honeymoon! We absolutely loved our stay at Portofino. It was so quiet and relaxing and the grounds are so beautiful. We stayed in a cute little thatched room bungalow with a very spacious bathroom. Also loved the huge water dispenser in the rooms that was refilled daily it kept us hydrated! We loved the hammock on the porch and used it often. The complimentary breakfast was simple and so good. We also really liked the lunch menu. The fish and chips were so good. We went to dinner one night but it didn’t have the things we were looking for like ceviche and the delicious Belizean cuisine that we couldn’t get enough of. We loved the drinks from the bar all day at the pool the mojitos were so so good. We also found it so easy to book excursions bc it’s right there on the dock and they are wonderful, you really don’t have to leave! Only cons are- if you want to go to downtown often it’s a bit of a drive but you are closer to things like secret beach, truck stop, Pur (one of our fav places) they do have a scheduled boat shuttle that can take you but we didn’t take advantage of that because we found the drive kind of fun and loved stopping at random places Can’t really do long walks on the beaches. It’s not the Portofino property, it’s the properties around it don’t really keep up their beaches so a path isn’t clear.