Orchid Bay Resort

Choose Orchid Bay Resort! If you are like me, you have researched other resorts before choosing one. Let me please prompt you to stay at Orchid Bay! My experience here was like no other, everyone here made me feel welcome and special. David and Damaris were excellent hosts, they run a tight ship and made sure I had everything I needed to enjoy my stay there. Darwin, Laura, and all the staff at Tradewinds were so attentive and kind. The food was beyond what I expected, so fresh and delicious. Ricky and Victor took us to Bacalar Chico and to Shipstern refuge, a great team, very knowledgeable about the area, the wildlife, and so fun to be with. We laughed and learned. The lodgings were special, I loved the thatch roofs. If you are expecting a pristine single room that smells like cleaning products, look elsewhere. Part of the charm of this place is the adorable thatch roofs cabanas. Clean, air conditioned, spacious, with a kitchen too. Wake up early and walk around the resort to see birds, or go swimming in the beautiful pool, or soak up the sun by the beach. Orchid Bay Resort is a magical place!

Orchid Bay is off the beaten path if you are expecting a party scene this is not the place for you! If you are looking for nice people and relaxation this is it! The owner, David, is super helpful and gets you all set up with transportation. It is about a 2 hour drive from Belize airport. The casitas are nice, we were even upgraded to an oceanside one! The fridge is stocked with drinks (water, powerade, beer and wine), coffee, sugar and creamer. Two TVs are available for streaming. The bed, while large isn't super comfortable. Be sure to take an excursion with Ricky and Victor they are the absolute best! So knowledgeable and friendly. We did snorkeling and the ruins, what an experience! There is a restaurant on side with farm to table food, be sure to try the shrimp ceviche!

Orchid Bay is such a Gem! I’ve been going there 2 times a year for the last few years! When there, you can choose to relax in comfort or you can be as active as your heart desires. You can book almost any tour you want through the staff. You can choose to eat all meals in Tradewinds Restaurant on site or you can have them delivered to you wherever you are in Orchid Bay. Additionally, if you bring your own groceries, you can cook your own meals.

We went on a bachelorette trip and had an amazing time! Orchid Bay had beautiful beaches, an on-site pool, a restaurant, and a bar with delicious food. Dave from the Tradewinds took us snorkeling in the beautiful waters. We swam with nurse sharks and explored an uninhabited island. I can't express how perfect our trip to Belize was. The accommodations at Orchid Bay were better than I expected, and I can't wait to go back!

We stayed at Orchid Bay for 4 nights in a two-bedroom condo, and unfortunately, the experience was a letdown across the board. From the start, we didn’t receive a welcome email or any kind of information about what the resort had to offer. There was no check-in or follow-up to see how our stay was going, which made the whole experience feel impersonal and disconnected. The condo had several maintenance and cleanliness issues. There were multiple loose and cracked tiles throughout, which was especially concerning as we were traveling with a baby—a clear safety hazard. One of the ceiling lights didn’t work in one of the bedrooms, and tiles were missing in another room, adding to the sense of neglect. The kitchen counter had ants on arrival, and they remained there throughout the stay despite cleaning efforts. Housekeeping was also subpar. Not only were the bathroom towels extremely worn out, but not all of them were replaced during cleaning—some were clearly just re-hung while still dirty. For a place advertising itself as a resort, this kind of oversight is unacceptable. The on-site restaurant was overpriced and mediocre at best, making meals feel like a waste of money. The most alarming issue was the fire alarm. Halfway through the stay, we realized the batteries had been removed. When we called about it, the agent told us that smoke alarms aren’t required in Belize, and that they usually leave them without batteries to avoid the beeping. I explained that we were traveling with a baby and that it’s completely unacceptable not to have a working smoke or carbon monoxide detector, especially given the recent tragedy where three tourists died from carbon monoxide poisoning at another Belizean resort. Only after I pushed the issue did maintenance show up and install batteries—which worked just fine. The location itself is beautiful—we were just steps from the bay, which was the one redeeming quality of the entire stay. But even that couldn’t make up for the ongoing frustrations. Finally, our unit was on the third floor, and when we called for help with luggage during checkout, no one answered the phone. We had to haul everything down ourselves with a baby in tow—again, not what you’d expect from a "resort." In the end, this property felt more like a poorly managed Airbnb than a functioning resort. It lacked hospitality, maintenance, cleanliness, and most importantly, basic safety standards. I can’t recommend Orchid Bay to anyone—especially not families.

First, the pros of this resort. The casita I was in was clean and large, the bed was comfortable, the A/C ran cold and there was plenty of hot water. The restaurant/bar was nice, nothing fancy, but it was clean, the food was good and the service was super friendly and helpful. The bar is almost comical in that you'll see the same locals sitting in pretty much the same spot every night. The staff was top-notch. Everyone was patient, helpful, and accommodating. If there was anything you needed or a trip you were interested in, they would do their best to make you happy. The pool is small but clean and nice. The beach is also small, but the water is warm and you can walk out pretty far. Now the cons. It's remote and I can't stress this enough...it is REMOTE. This place is about 20 minutes from Mexico, which means you are in north Belize. Now on the face of it, this doesn't sound like a big deal, but it affects the entire experience, at least for us it did. No matter where you want to go, either by car or boat, you are looking at easily 2 hours of travel time each way...sometimes more. This means that you are sort of limited in the places you can get to. We did a Mayan ruin trip and a snorkel trip, both were fun, but the travel time was a killer. If we had stayed more central in the country I think there would've been more day trips available to us, without the full-day time commitment. While the bar and restaurant are nice, and the food is "good", there isn't anywhere else you can go, so by day 5 you've eaten pretty much everything you want to eat on the menu, but there aren't any other restaurants or bar options. We ventured to Corrozale (sp?) and found a decent restaurant, but there wasn't anything there that made the trip into town worth it. No stores, no shops, no nothing. Now I realize for some people being remote is exactly what they want. If so, this place is for you. But, if you want to walk around, check out the local vibe, and try some different food, this place probably isn't for you. Finally, the beach isn't the type of beach I was expecting and this may be a Belize thing, I don't know. A good chunk of the beach is pebbles and crushed shells. Yes, there is a sandy area of the beach, but it's not the floury sand you find in Costa Rica. Also, the beach chairs and chaises are looking pretty tired, they could use a refresh (on a positive note you do get bar service down on the beach.) The people, the rooms, and the food are all really good, but I don't know if they are good enough for me to return.