Crystal Paradise Resort

This was my third visit to Crystal Paradise over the years, this time as a volunteer leader for a group of 16 members of an adventure travel club. The accomms at the lodge's thatched-roof cabanas are wonderful and sparkling clean as always. The family-style meals are excellent thanks to chef Carolita, who still makes the world's best tortillas! Many colorful birds can be seen right from the dining area and the staff will identify them for you. The members of the Tut family also made sure our visit was one for the books by arranging our daily adventures for all the amazing activities in this natural, cultural and historical region of the world. Canoeing on the Rio Macal is available right from the lodge. You can arrange for many tourist excursions with the help of the staff there. Since they are natives and helped develop these tours, they know how best to manage your schedule of fun activities. You can also arrange for birding tours with Eric Tut, a family member and renown birding guide for Belize. Once you visit Crystal Paradise, it will become your home in Belize, as it has mine!

Fully enjoyed our 3 nights stay at this amazing place. They go out of their way to make sure to meet our need. Booking Day trip was easy and they would coordinate drop-off and pick-un if needed outside the resort. Good spot for ATM cave or if planning to go to Tikal.

This local family run lodge is absolutely lovely. Victor Tut, the patriarch, his wife and children - all are exceptionally nice and kind people. A special thank you to Carolita and Estrellita who made delicious food and easily accommodated my daughter who is vegan. We also did tours with them and they are reasonably priced compared to some other lodges we stayed at. It's also worth noting that we stayed at 5 different lodges in the jungle of Cayo district, some of them more expensive than this one, but this was the only one that had A/C and a refrigerator. My daughter and I enjoyed our stay and highly recommend this place and this family.

My wife and I cannot say enough about our time at Crystal Paradise. The full experience from booking ahead to our drop off in Placenica was seamless. When booking we scheduled transfers, tours, meals, and lodging. They took care of everything and that made the trip so enjoyable. We were greeted at the airport with a smile and an informative drive to the resort. The following morning they had us on the Caracol Mayan Ruins Tour. Eric was our driver and guide. He was a wealth of knowledge and had answers for every one of our questions. Our next day we were up early for the ATM Cave Tour. They took us to town to meet our guide, Ian, and we were on our way. They were adamant that we go early and we cannot stress enough how great this was. That cave system has a few pinch points that can cause quite the traffic jamb. Being the second group in, we didn't hit any of that. We sure saw it on the way out though so pleas listen to them on this. Don't overthink what you take on this trip. All you need is fast drying clothing, socks, and shoes that you don't mind getting wet. You don't take anything else with you in the cave so it'll alleviate some stress for yourself. Our last day we were driven to San Ignacio for a day of exploring and tasting the local fare on our own. Then we had a transfer down to Placencia where we stopped at a delicious tamale stand. The meals were all different all exquisite. I can be a bit picky from time to time but I finished everything. The staff were wonderful from start to finish. If you have the opportunity to take a trip to Cristo Rey and stay at Crystal Paradise, DON'T PASS IT UP!! The only other recommendation I can make is maybe ear plugs and a sleeping mask if you have a tough time sleeping with some light and noises. The rooms are beautiful and have screened in ceilings under the palapa roofs. You hear the nature all around so plan accordingly. This place is a must!!!

I think the resort is probably 4 stars, but our guide Everill was exceptional moving it to 5 stars. The family resort is nice and I liked the family style meals. It is rustic, however, and it's more of a jungle inn than a resort. The river isn't an idealic pool, but we had a lot of fun in it. The management of our adventures was superb with Everill our driver/guide making our trips to Mayan ruins and cave tubbing/zip lining special for our multi-generational family.

My husband and I stayed here for 5 days and fell in love with this family-run, jungle resort. It's awesome seeing 3 generations work together to manage everything from lodging to tours to the meals; this place is loved and cared for by a hardworking family. We truly enjoyed all of the birds we got to watch every morning during breakfast too. We hope to visit again!