What a pleasant time we had here! My wife and I spent four nights at this hotel, one in the Cabana Calista and three in the Cabana Chica (both at about US$ 85p.n.). Both were very nice, we thought; but we had asked in advance to have the Cabana Chica, since we had read that it was somewhat nicer, and indeed it was. We moved into Chica when we could. Chica has a wrap around porch and views straight across to the beach and ocean. We very much enjoyed sitting out on our porch in the mornings having our breakfast, and in early evenings having some rum & sprite before heading out for dinner.

The Hotel del Rio is the last good place north on the main beach road, as you approach 'the cut.' The seaside is the very best location, generally, if you are going to stay in the main part of San Pedro. The seaside road is a lumpy, sandy, unpaved one that is used mainly by pedestrians and golf carts with tourists. It is contiguous with the beach (such as it is) so that you don't feel as though you are by a road, really, when you're staying here. Further south, beyond the main square, you don't have a road by the seaside. But the prices go up around here, and I'm not sure that your situation really improves. I wouldn't have traded our place, for example, with a seaside place at Ramon's Village, which would have cost two or three times more. Apart from the wretched barking dogs--a universal curse of the third world, from a tourist's point of view--the hotel is generally quiet.

The staff that we met--Javier, Sweeapa (sp?) and Sylvan--were as nice and as helpful as could be. We were very grateful also to have an unlimited supply of bottled drinking water, available in the office from a large dispenser, which we used to fill up our smaller bottles. These we put in our fridge.

Perhaps the main drawback to this place is that the social, public area is right out front of the Cabanas so that if you have a really lively crowd of friends staying here, who want to socialize here rather than at a bar, you may feel intimidated about asking them to shut up. I don't (didn't), but then I'm a fairly aggressive sort of person, especially where this sort of thing is concerned.

My wife and I thought the location of the Hotel del Rio was ideal, really. It's very easy to walk from here down into the very centre of town. You don't at all need a golf cart, unlike those who choose posher, much much more isolated places north of the cut. If I were to come back to Ambergris Caye, I'd stay here again.

But I don't think I will come back, if you care to know. You can't really swim from the beaches, here; the snorkelling soon becomes an old story, with the stupid guides feeding the rays and sharks so that everyone gets a show; and the diving is mediocre, compared with that on Glover's Reef, where we spent a week, or other atolls. Where are the fish, I want to know? It's rather barren, comparatively, and much of the coral is dead. Boo hoo.