Well for once I get to write a short and sweet review.

This newly developed property was done right from the ground up. It's an excellent place to stay, at a good location on this small island.

The condo units are furnished with high quality furniture, and items like granite countertops and other touches throughout show that care was made on the part of the builders to do things the right way instead of trying to cut corners.

On site staff are more than excellent, and very helpful.

Having your own kitchen is a big plus in terms of saving money, it allows you to get up and make a breakfast as an option rather than trying to go into town and find someplace to serve you one that may be overpriced.

This was my first return to San Pedro in 10 years, and much has changed. It was a bit more difficult to find great locally flavored food but the number of options available were much higher. Unfortunately rather than concentrating again on local cuisine, there are grills and sushi and things like this. This makes some happy, some less so (like me). The town is bustling now, with golf-cart traffic jams and you have to wait to cross the street... these were shocks to me. But new visitors won't notice probably.

Overall the water remains as beautiful and the wildlife as noticeable. The locals are still very friendly even though every other person seemed to be on the payroll of Captain Morgans and trying to get you over there for a time share pitch.

This remains my favorite country to visit so I am particularly sensitive about change. I am very happy to have found Pelican Reef because it is my new first choice of places to stay on the island. Quiet, very comfortable, excellent staff, well run with high standards through and through. Many top hotel chains could do to learn some basic lessons from the operators of this outfit.

The *one* nitpick that I would make, and it won't apply to many people, is that it needs a better wireless internet solution. A good wireless-n router would likely broadcast over the entire property, and if not, it is not so difficult to run some cable. But I am a computer programmer and I need my connections wherever I go, most people won't care.

Anyway, Bravo Pelican Reef. 5* for you.

Our family (with 3 college age kids) stayed at Pelican reef for 4 nights last month. It was terrific. Lori arranged our air travel, snorkel excursions, suggested restaurants & even helped us with finding a lodge for the first half of our trip. Elizar was always around to offer a hot cup of coffee in the morning, a cold drink in the afternoon or even hydrogen peroxide for our scraped knees after snorkeling. It felt like a family environment where you were welcome to make yourself at home, do anything you wanted & they were there to help you.
The villa was beautiful. We had an upstairs 3 bedroom unit that was complete with a washer, dryer a full kitchen & jacuzzi tubs in the bathroom. We were in the lap of luxury with granite counters & kohler bathrooms. We loaded up on groceries at the local market (VERY expensive) & ate our breakfast & lunch in our villa. It was a lot easier than going to restaurants for all of our meals.
San Pedro was nice, but very busy. We were glad to be staying outside of town. It was less crowded, no street vendors & more peaceful at Pelican Reef. The golf cart was fun & the kids loved driving it to dinner every night. We heard that if you stay north of town that you need a taxi to get into town due to poor roads.
The beaches in San Pedro are small (or washed away). The sea grass is encouraged to promote wildlife so it is hard to snorkel off the beach. At Pelican Reef, there is a nice beach to play in the sun & you can snorkel off the end of the pier, but it is limited. your best snorkeling is out at the reef on an excursion.
We flew to and from San Pedro on Maya Air. We did not care for this airline.We felt like we had no control over our situation & they really didn't care. We were bumped to the next flight both ways. We were still able to make our connection home, but it made us nervous. I am not sure that Tropic Air is any better, but i would at least try them before flying with Maya air again. By the way, you need $35.00 US (NOT Belizean) or a credit card to leave the country.
We would recommend Pelican Reef without hesitation. There is nothing they wouldn't do for you. They are beautiful, fully equipped villas on a nice, peaceful beach. There is nothing we would have changed to make our experience better. It was perfect!

My wife and I stayed at the Pelican Reef Villas for 10 days on our honeymoon. Words cannot describe oue experience at PRV. The property was one word, UNBELIZABLE. Our villa/condo was all the ammenities that you would have at home in the states. We stayed on the bottom floor and were literally steps from the beach. The beach was beautiful and spent every afternoon catching a nap on the hammocks under the palm trees. The pier off the beach is where my wife and I spent most of our time. Under the pier was a artificial reef where we snorkeled and seen hundreds of different fish. At night time the night before we left we spent time on the pier with a bottle of champagne under the stars and it was amazing. If you are looking for a totally relaxing vacation on a beautiful property PRV is absolutely for you!!!

As far as the staff goes, I have never ever had such good customer service in MY LIFE. Everyone was so helpful and friendly. Lori can not do enough for you. If you need to book a trip off the resort or make a dinner reservation in town Lori will take care of everything. We even went on a awsome snorkeling, fishing and beach BBQ (Caribean Tours w/ Oliver **a must**) tour and got back an hour early and Lori got us a $100 dollars back from the company. The staff will pamper you like you have never been pampered before. I cannot say enough about Lori and her staff. You won't be disappointed and rest assure if you choose PRV you made the right decision. Thanks PRV you are the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My husband, son, and I spent a week at Pelican Reef Villas last month. It was absolutely wonderful. We had a 2-bedroom unit and the pictures previously posted are accurate. The owners, Joe and Rhonda, were very pleasant. Eliazar was our bartender (he makes great drinks!), “tour arranger,” and general host. He was great, to say the least. Eliazar arranged great tours for us, handled all of the details, and made everything easy. He answered our endless questions about life in San Pedro and on Amgergris Caye. He even graciously helped us go through garbage when I discovered I had accidently thrown out a plastic bag that had newly purchased earrings it. He is an extremely valuable asset to PRV.

The units are very nice, spacious, and comfortable. The resort is almost new and it has a large beautiful pool with a swim-up bar. There is an abundance of white, sandy beach in front of the resort, with lots of lounge chairs, a hammock, etc. (They clean and sweep the beach area each day.) With the sea grass at the water’s edge, you don’t walk into the water and wade out to swim or snorkel. Instead, you just walk to the end of the resort’s pier and jump in the water. It was great.

Our entire stay was very relaxing. The view from our unit was wonderful. There were two decks and I really enjoyed sitting on the balcony (that was adjacent to the master bedroom) each morning while I drank coffee, listened to the many birds, and enjoyed the beachfront view. The full kitchen was nice to have because it allowed us to have a simple breakfast on the mornings that we elected to take early tours. We drank the water from the kitchen fridge (it has an additional filter) and we didn’t have a single problem. We also had housekeeping service each day, which we didn’t expect. This included making the beds, fresh towels, and any dishes that may have been in the sink were washed. (Wonderful!) There is a small grocery store (“Mr. Joes”) located just a short distance down the road that also serves great inexpensive breakfast tacos, and sandwiches for lunch.

Generally speaking, the food was fantastic and not as expensive as I expected. Most of our dinners included appetizers, drinks, entrées, and dessert for three, with the average cost being $130. We ate at Sunset Grill (great place to watch the sunset), Wild Mangos, Blue Water Grill, El Patio, and Carumbas. All of them had great seafood and I would highly recommend them.

We didn’t notice any mosquitos and I’m not sure if it was the time of year, the fact that it didn’t rain at all, or both. The weather and temp were great – always a nice breeze. In fact, when the sun went down the evenings were very mild. (We liked it better than Hawaii, and we like Hawaii.)

We had an all-day catamaran excursion (tour) to Caye Caulker. It was a bit too long – lots of sitting as we slowly sailed to the Caye. It included two snorkel stops, but the one at Hol Chan lasted roughly 30 minutes, and the stop at Shark Ray Alley was less than that. (The usual tour operator used by the resort wasn’t available on the day we went, and we were not impressed with the substitute. We should have waited for another day._ We had two hours at Caye Caulker for lunch, but there wasn’t much there besides heat with a limited breeze and vendors selling hand-made items. (The prices were fairly good.) Overall, I would recommend doing a half-day to Caye Caulker if you’re interested in going.

Eliazar set us up on an all-day excusion with Freedom Tours that was fantastic. It was just the three of us and the price was very reasonable. The owner, Hillybo, took us fishing, boating around part of the island, to a private beach barbeque with homemade tortillas, veggies, and fish, where he even cracked open a fresh coconut for us so that we try the milk and the meat. He then took us over to Mata Rocks to snorkel – an area that is very beautiful with lots of different coral and fish. (The three of us agree, hands down, that this was the best day.)

We also went on the Lamainai tour with SeaRious Tours. It is a long day as it takes two boat rides down two rivers and a 45 minute bus ride. However, the guides were entertaining and Lamanai is very interesting. I would recommend this tour as it is a once-in-a-lifetime experience visiting Mayan ruins, especially since you can climb to the top of two of the ruins.

We rented a golf cart for the week as PRV is about 2 miles or so south of San Pedro. (This is the way to go.) The price is cheaper by the week and we enjoyed having the golf cart ready anytime we wanted to go. (Almost all of the transportation is by golf cart.) It really helped not having to plan and schedule our day based on transportation. San Pedro is a fun town and we spent quite a bit of time driving around the town and the surrounding area.

If you like snorkeling, you are set because you can snorkel right off the end of the pier at PRV, or take one of their free kayaks out to the reef. We saw lots of fish, spider crabs, moray eels, barracuda, etc. and enjoyed being able to just walk to the end of the pier and jump in – no excursion, no boat to catch, or as they like to say, “no problem.” (I do have to admit Hol Chan and Mata Rocks were awesome.)

Pelican Reef Villas is the place to go and I wish I was there right now . . . .