Portofino Beach Resort-An Authentic Island Escape!

Portofino Beach Resort is such a wonderful oasis! The grounds are immaculately kept, the staff is super attentive and nice! Food at the restaurant is also amazing! This resort is also super close to Secret Beach! Looking forward to coming back here in the future!

We spent 10 days in this resort with an other couple. It was a wonderful place to stay. We loved our room in ‘The Mansion’. The staff was amazing-dealt with a medical event with guest with kindness and grace. Loved the main restaurant and bar-the lunch menu was especially good. Recommend renting a golf cart for fun trips into San Pedro if you are here for a while (but we did not love Secret Beach). The best place to stay on Ambergis Caye!

We were so very happy with our vacation at Portofino Beach Resort. The resort itself is a gem with a beautiful pool, delicious restaurant & bar, comfortable accommodations, and stunning views! But, the best part is the staff. Every one of them made us feel welcome and treated us like family. I can honestly say that I miss the people as much as the location now that I’m back in the frigid north. We would return in a heartbeat!

We arrived at Portofino just before a tropical storm. They picked us up in the pouring rain and made the ride to the resort fun. Furthermore my bag didn’t make it on tropic air so they had someone get it for me and deliver it to the room. The ride from town is about 30-40 minutes. The road is paved about 50% of the way and the rest is a dirt road. For us this added to the appeal as it felt remote but still accessible. While the property isn’t a brand new ultra modern hotel, that’s what we loved about it. The rooms have character and are exactly as I would want for a stay at the beach in Belize. The AC was great and kept us cool; bed was comfy. And best of all were the views! But the only thing better than the views was the people who worked there. Every one from the reservation agent to the security guards were awesome. The night before a tropical storm came I had to go to ER. Portofino got someone on site to get out of bed and drive me and my partner to ER. He waited for us there and got us home safely. Restaurant was delicious. Loved our private dinner by the sea. Thanks to everyone at Portofino. We hope to return.

This is a lovely little beachside resort on Ambergris Caye. It tends to be quiet rather than active and noisy, so if you're looking for a lot of "action, you might be happier closer to San Pedro. We stayed in both a poolside cabana and a treehouse, and both were very nice: well-appointed and well kept. The treehouse is much more spacious, with a big private deck with chaise and a hammock. There's a nice pool that tends to be quiet too: on only one of our six days were all of the lounge chairs occupied. On one day a small group of children played in the pool all day. The restaurant occupies a second-story terrace overlooking the beach, and the food there was really good. I think that it's the kind of place that locals might come for a special dinner out. It's open nearly all day, and there are also snacks at the bar, so it's easy to fit meals into your schedule. Many reviews mention the friendly and helpful staff, and there's good reason for that. Everyone was relaxed and helpful. A big plus for the resort is the dive/snorkel company located at the end of their dock. Two young guys, Chris and Emel, have very recently taken over the location, now called Carpe Diem. I think that the resort's website may still list a different company. I can't recommend Carpe Diem highly enough. We went on two snorkeling trips with them, one to Mexico Rocks, and one to Hol Chan, and both trips were amazing. Boat captain Chris and guide Emel work hard to make sure that you see everything there is to see, and that you're comfortable in every way. And now the beach. A drawback for this location--not just this resort--is the sargassum seaweed that floats in to shore and up onto the beach. The resort has people raking it up and carting it away every day, but it's still floating in the water, for about ten feet out. On one day, the wind changed, and al of the sargassum disappeared. But the next day it was back. For this reason, not many people venture into the ocean. You can walk up and down the shoreline, but you won't be walking on a beach with lapping ocean water. Most properties are fronted by a low seawall or else the mats of sargassum, so you'll walk on ground just above the seawalls or the sargassum. In spite of the sargassum, I'd still highly recommend Portofino. It's a lovely, well-kept spot with a nice pool, attractive accommodations, good dining, and super staff. If you really want to go out into the ocean, you can wade past the seaweed. Fun fact: there's a grackle that hangs out in a big tree by the bar who sings and whistles and mimics a car alarm!