Mystic River Resort

Silvia, the front desk concierge/manager/person in charge (I'm not sure what her exact title was), did a fantastic job arranging out daily outings and customizing it to meet our requests and giving her recommendation to make out 4 night stay for our family of four memorable. The dining staff made special arrangements to make my daughters birthday special, it was a great surprise for all of us.

Mystic River has a lovely set of villas by the river in the Belize rainforest. We had two 1-bedrooms and one honeymoon suite. The good things about this property: beautiful grounds, amazingly helpful and friendly staff all the way from the front desk staff to the restaurant staff to the drivers/tour guides. They take a lot of care with the room set-up; fresh flower decorations on the beds and bathroom were really pretty. The food at the restaurant was good though not amazing. The resort is a good jumping off point for a number of excursions in the local Belize area and we also visited Tikal in Guatemala. All our excursions went smoothly and were enjoyable. There are some areas that the resort could improve though. The furnishings in the room feel old; in particular, the mattresses and pillows are not very comfortable. I think with some updating, it could really be great again. Some of the resorts had light bulbs that were a very harsh white light; others had a softer spectrum light that would have been appreciated throughout. In general, more lamps would be helpful, especially in the one-bedroom villas. We were traveling at the end of the rainy season and there were some days where it rained lightly; in some parts the flagstones were a bit slippery for my elderly parents and if I were traveling again with them, I'd probably need to chose a different place for their comfort. On the other hand, my husband, kids, and I were not bothered by that.

Petra, Peter, Sylvia, Penny & the staff made us feel so at home from the moment we stepped on the property. The welcome was on an open aired porch surrounded by lush foliage, butterflies and chirping birds. The property is well planned out to give privacy from each cabin / room with a tucked away pool site, hammocks for relaxing, and beautiful views of the jungle and river. We were impressed with how well staff took note of our preferences and remembered them each day. The cabin was comfortable and, while no AC, the breezes kept us cool and even chilly at night (for which they had already prepared for with a down comforter on the bed). My husband especially enjoyed the 7am coffee service basket and fresh baked banana bread delivered quietly to our door. Having no WI-FI in our room gave us space to unplug, decompress, and rejuvenate. We highly recommend Mystic River to singles, couples, families. There are fun activities to do on site (birding, kayak, floating down river, hiking, relaxing by pool) for a low-key getaway. This has definitely become our go-to resort in Cayo. Home away from home.

Mystic River is a jungle resort on the Macal River. It's fairly isolated, but that was what we liked about it. We had a view of the river and jungle from the back of our cabana, and enjoyed watching birds and wildlife from our little back porch. Every night, at dusk, we would sit there and listen to the sounds of the jungle (we were in cabana 1, which is just off a resort trail). The staff is lovely. Very warm, kind and helpful. Our interactions with them were one of the highlights of our stay. The food in the restaurant was very tasty, and vegetarian and children's options are offered. You don't have to get a meal plan. If you don't order multiple courses/drinks, you may save by ordering à la carte. Things I wish we'd had time to do: the free birding walk; taking a canoe across the river to Sweet Songs resort to go to the botanical garden; exploring more of the resort trails in the early morning/evening. The ATM tour from the resort was incredible. Absolutely do not miss. We did it with our 16-year-old son, and he loved it. We were there during dry season. The cabana cooled off at night and was consistently comfortable for sleeping. The cabanas do take some time to cool off in the evening. The road to the resort can be rough. When they tell you to use/hire a 4x4, listen to them.

This place is ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!! We stayed here for 5 nights and by the time we left we felt like family. The staff was amazing and so accommodating to all of our needs. They were always available and happy to help us. Every person from the front desk to the restaurant attendants to the cleaning staff was always happy and kind. The property is breathtaking. We love Mystic River and will stay here again if we are ever in Belize.

Our family (39F, 38M, 6M, and 2M) stayed at Mystic River for 4 nights. We flew into Belize City and hired a car, then drove ourselves to the resort. We did a lot of exploring on our own, but used the resort as our home base. Although we didn't use the hotel transportation or have them arrange tours for us, they offer those services and other guests raved about them. The hotel itself was clean and welcoming. Our room, Mahogany (all tree themed), was perfect. There were two twin beds and a king bed. It had a fireplace and a magnificent balcony overlooking the river. We ate breakfast everyday at the resort restaurant, and quite a few dinners there. We often ate lunch out. The staff was so accommodating, they made us several meals off menu, and catered to the kids who literally ate them out of watermelon. We were able to take a birdwatching tour at the resort, and saw some beautiful birds. The resort also offered onsite hiking excursions, canoeing, tubing, and goat milking, although we didn't have time for them. This resort and the accommodations they offered is part of the reason we had such an amazing experience in Belize! 10/10 we recommend staying here.

We had a completely phenomenal stay at Mystic River. The staff ensured we could reserve whatever daily excursions we wanted with departure directly from the hotel, and made everything as stress-free as possible, allowing us to have the absolute best time in all of our trip in Belize. Concierge Jamie in particular was a wonderful presence around the resort and on our trip to Tikal. We loved our patio with plunge pool, watching the toucans during breakfast, and the incredible dinners at the hotel restaurant, with most ingredients sourced from their on-site garden and farm. This resort would be our best recommendation to anyone visiting Belize, a guarantee for an incredible adventure with amazing caring staff who really treat you like family.

This is a wonderful place to spend time in nature. The property alone has so much to offer. It’s on the river and they provide inner tubes so you can go tubing on your own. Ami, their staff bird expert gave us a wonderful bird walk where we saw 13 different species including a keel-billed toucan family! We wandered the large garden with one of the gardeners who show us all the varieties of plants and fruits. They offer lots of tours to the local Mayan ruins and natural wonders but we had a car so went exploring on our own. The staff is amazing, always friendly and wanted to help make your stay perfect. They will bring coffee and banana bread to your room in the morning upon request. We were upgrading to a room with a plunge pool which was fabulous for cooling off in complete privacy! Stay at the Mystic River Resort if you can, it’s really wonderful.

Mystic River Resort is in a beautiful jungle location on a hill above the Macal River about 20 minutes from San Ignacio. The employees were all very polite, welcoming and helpful. We were there at the hottest point in the year, 100°F with high humidity. We were very thankful to be staying in a Cloud 9 suite with a small pool on the deck over looking the river. The rooms do not have AC so that made it a bit uncomfortable, but we managed. They provide fans in the rooms which help immensely and keeping all the windows open for cross breeze. Lots of wildlife to see as well. The bird watching is top notch. They have activities and tours they provide for a fee and you have use of canoes and tubes for the river for free. The food was delicious, some of which is grown in their garden and everything is locally sourced. I would definitely recommend staying here to family and friends. The only minus i would say is not having wifi in the rooms. But some may not mind that. They did wifi in common areas though. Thank you for the wonderful stay everyone at Mystic River.

The property is beautiful and charming. The staff makes you feel like family. They are wonderful. I had an amazing massage. The tours and guides were fantastic. The food is good but very overpriced and they should be more competitive since you’re stranded there if you don’t have a rental car. They need to seal the rooms off better. There was a post rain flying termite incident that is part of jungle life but we had hundreds of termites in our room and that was one of the worse nights ever in a hotel. My children were traumatized and it was horrible. The next night there was a scorpion on my daughters bed. No AC and tons of bugs in the room was rough on us and we were very ready to leave. We could have handled the heat but the termites and scorpions were more than we could bear. They gave us a small discount, but only after we requested one due to very little sleep. My entire family of four had to share a bed because of the termites and scorpion in the kids room. It was not relaxing and we spent thousands of dollars on food and activities.