Mystic River Resort

“Magical”

This place is magical and the people are wonderful! We had the best time there and highly recommend it.

“Perfect base for jungle tours.”

Rustic, but very enjoyable. Make sure you do the night hike and ATM tour. Bring plenty of mosquito repellent. The rooms have fans but no A/C. With the windows open, you start to hear all the animals in the morning, so bring ear plugs. Rooms were clean, with ample storage. Service was attentiv… more

Rustic, but very enjoyable. Make sure you do the night hike and ATM tour. Bring plenty of mosquito repellent. The rooms have fans but no A/C. With the windows open, you start to hear all the animals in the morning, so bring ear plugs. Rooms were clean, with ample storage. Service was attentive. Plunge pool is really shallow, not really a pool as much as a foot bath, but they have a nice pool. Overall, I still recommend it.

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“Great place overall”

Overall, we really liked Mystic River and would likely consider staying again, but there were a few things we were surprised/disappointed by due to some misleading or outdated info on their website. The location is great if you are planning to enjoy the various activities in the Cayo District (A… more

Overall, we really liked Mystic River and would likely consider staying again, but there were a few things we were surprised/disappointed by due to some misleading or outdated info on their website. The location is great if you are planning to enjoy the various activities in the Cayo District (ATM, Caracol, etc..). The property is beautiful and we saw toucans and lots of other birds on property, as well as some iguanas. The river and jungle are beautiful. We did not make use of the pool because the weather was cool while we were there. Our room was lovely, but we had initially booked a 2 bedroom for my family of 3. I was contacted by the staff and they suggested we could save some money by booking a 1 bedroom and they could put an extra bed in the living room. I did not realize that meant that there would be no sitting area in the unit - just two rooms with beds and wardrobes. While I was happy to save money, I would have liked a sitting area since it gets dark fairly early there. Also, the walls in the units do not go all the way to the ceiling (this includes the bathroom walls) - I assume this is for airflow and to keep things cool. Not a huge deal, but there is not a lot of privacy. We did enjoy the patio overlooking the river. The website say that there is complimentary use of canoes and paddleboards. That is no longer true - you can only use them with a paid guide. I love paddling and this was one of the main reasons I chose Mystic, so this was very disappointing. Many reviews mentioned being able to paddle the river to the Botanical Gardens and Sweet Songs across the river, but that is no longer possible. We had planned to do this on our "down day" and were bummed it was not an option. Instead, we went to the Green Iguana Sanctuary in town, which was pretty cool. The website also makes it seem like they have two restaurants - the main restaurant and a pizza restaurant. This was another reason that I chose Mystic over similar places in the area. The pizza restaurant is only open on Sundays, when the other restaurant is closed. We were not there on a Sunday, so we did not try it. The food in the restaurant was excellent. Every night, they offer three specials - a meat, a seafood and a veggie dish (at least that was what was on offer when we were there). In addition to those, you can order off of the "lunch" menu - burgers, salads, make-your-own pasta, nachos, etc... Most items on the lunch menu are affordable ($15USD-ish) and good portions. The specials are more expensive (generally $30USD for meat or seafood and $20USD for the veggie) and the main portion is on the small side - but if you eat the two sides that come with it, it is a good size meal. The veggie dishes seemed to all come from the garden on property and they were delicious. We also got a packed lunch for a day outing and it was delightful. Florita was our server for dinner most nights and she was great! Friendly, offered helpful tips for our trip, and provided good service. Its a bit over 15 minutes to San Ignacio for other restaurants. When we drove to Caracol, we noticed a cute pizza place and a family restaurant that looked charming about 10 minutes from Mystic in San Antonio. We didn't get a chance to try them, but if you want to go off property one night, this might be your best bet. As most reviews note, Steve, the bartender is great. The coffee basket in the morning was a nice touch and well appreciated, but a bit stingy with the banana bread (one slice for my family of three). Continental breakfast is included and is yogurt, granola, fruit and bread. Its good, but its a sit down and order situation, which we didn't really have time for when doing tours. We only booked one tour through the resort - the ATM tour. It was great and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the area. Caracol was and amazing an only took us an hour and 10 minutes to drive there on the beautiful, newly paved road - so great. Cahal Pech in San Ignacio is also worth a stop. Hot tip - If you are driving back to Belize City from Mystic, do yourself a favor and stop at the Shell gas station in Santa Elena (next to Bambu cafe) for some Meat Patties (empanadas). We noticed the tour guides eating them we stopped to meet them, so we got some for our lunch on our way out of town. They were delicious and we wished we had bought more! Again, we overall really enjoyed Mystic and would recommend - just thought it might be helpful to clarify some of the website info.

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