While this island is teaming with eating options around every corner, we went ahead and compiled a list of our favorites for you! This way you can have a list of everything all in one place and can spend your time exploring instead of yelping 🙂
- Hungry Grouper: Hungry Grouper is located in San Pedro. It was only a 10 minute golf cart drive from where we stayed, but it was a local open-air spot with only 6 tables and a sand floor. The specialty is Snapper, served a variety of ways. We tried the lemon garlic snapper and the blackened snapper plate, both of which came with rice and salad/coleslaw for a total of $26.
- Robin’s Kitchen: Robin’s is another local outdoor spot located in San Pedro that specializes in an island specialty – jerk chicken. Jerk chicken is basically marinated chicken with
Caribbean “jerk” spices, grilled on a charcoal grill for about 30 minutes, and served with BBQ sauce. He also offers a few other dishes, some of which is fish, which is also fabulous. This was one of our favorite meals on the island, and we only paid $17 total! Robin is the owner and grills everyday and is super friendly. Half the experience is just hanging out with Robin and is worth the trip for that experience alone! Pro tip: bring your own alcohol if you want it, Robin’s doesn’t have it on the menu but allows you to bring your own.
- Boogies Belly: Boogie’s Belly is breakfast-only local joint in San Pedro that you have to check out once while you’re there! Their specialty is meat pies (you can get 3 palm/muffin sized pies for $1), which comes in chicken or pork (maybe more, those were the only options the day we went though). They are essentially meat and a sauce baked inside a mini dough pie and are definitely worth a try!
- Belize Chocolate Company: The Belize Chocolate Company is an adorable little shop right by the water in San Pedro that is great for a quick stop-in! It’s like a cute little coffee shop, except for chocolate – what’s not to love?! If you have the time, you can even schedule chocolate “tours”/classes which I’m sure are great!
- The Dive Bar: The Dive Bar was our first meal in Belize near where we stayed in the
Tres Cocos area where we had fantastic fresh seafood dishes, but the atmosphere and location were even better! They are located right on the water and have several hammocks you can relax on, a dock, cornhole, beach chairs, and a swing set in the water itself! If it wasn’t a seaweed year it would have been absolutely perfect and we would have returned every day, but unfortunately since the seaweed was bad at the time we visited no one was getting in the water there. Any other time though this would have been our favorite spot so check it out!
- Estel’s: Estel’s is located in San Pedro (shocker, I know) and is right by the water taxi dock, so it’s super convenient to visit on your arrival or departure day! We visited for breakfast on the day we left right before we caught the water taxi and tried the Mayan Special – it’s a plate of flapjacks (fried dough), topped with eggs, ham, and beans.
- Elvi’s Kitchen: Elvi’s is a cute little place in San Pedro with a wide range of options. We got wonderful seafood basil pasta and coconut curry dishes and loved them!
- Caroline’s Cookin’: Caroline’s Cookin’ is another local spot in downtown San Pedro that is known for their fish tacos and fish fillets, which are fabulous! A little spicy, so be prepared, but wonderful flavor!
- Taco Bar at PUR: This is where we stayed (read more here), but they also have a
pool with a full swim-up bar, and serve food that is great for snacking if you’re in the mood for snacks and drinks! Stop by for a huge plate of nachos for only $7, taco bar, or their footlong breakfast burritos ($6). Since it’s north of the bridge in the Tres Cocos area, it’s a great spot to stop for breakfast if you’re headed up to Secret Beach, which is only about 30 minutes away from PUR.
- Paradice Cream: Paradice Cream is a cute little ice cream shop in San Pedro where you can grab chalk and write on
the walls as you wait. We tried the coffee and absolutely nutty flavors, which were full of flavor and super great! We had 2 double scoops for $10 total…would be a great place to bring kids to!
- Secret Paradise Beach Bar: Secret Paradise Beach Bar is in Secret Beach, obviously, and is pretty much in it’s own private cove. The people at this cove are usually only the ones at this bar/restaurant. Try the ceviche – it’s fabulous!
- Flight Cafe: Flight Cafe is right in downtown San Pedro across from the airport and is a super cute little coffee shop that is aviation-themed. We got 2 iced moccachinos for $8 total, which were great! Be sure to stop in for your morning coffee fix!
- Random “Fast Food”: Both on the island and on the mainland we stopped at several random places for “fast food”, which often times are locals who cook food in their house and run it out to you, or have a grill right in front of their house that they sell food from. Sounds sketchy, I know, but it was the best way to try the most authentic Belizean food, and it was all so great! The food was mostly Belizean staples like tacos, empanadas, tamales, etc. and we enjoyed it all, plus, it was SO CHEAP! I’m talking, like, fifty-cent tacos cheap, can’t be that! Don’t be afraid to go out of your comfort zone a little and try something new!
To read more about our Belizean activities and excursions check out my post here!
To read more about where we stayed visit our reviews for the island stay and the jungle stay!
There’s a reason why the French are regarded so highly in the cuisine industry, and, from what I’ve experienced, rightfully so! We visited Marseille, France in the Fall of 2017 (read more about that trip
and served with french fries on the side. Again, this is often large enough to share, and is absolutely AMAZING. Then again, I’m a big fan of white wine sauces, so I may be a bit biased 😉 This is definitely a French staple in the town of Marseille, and you see people eating this in every restaurant as you walk through Vieux Port, which is always a good sign!
Everywhere you go you see locals siting in cafes sipping on an espresso or a cappuccino. If you’re not huge on coffee flavor then go for the cappuccino, which has milk/cream in it. If you’re a fan of coffee and like it strong then do it like the locals do and drink straight espresso….bonus – the espresso comes in those adorable little espresso mugs! Everywhere you go you see the French sipping on espressos and smoking cigarettes. I’m not a smoker, but apparently the flavors go well together….then again, what DOESN’T go well with coffee?!
in. Come to find out, macaroons are more of a PARIS thing than an actual FRENCH thing. Still fun try if you’re in France, but don’t get too excited about them unless you’re actually in Paris, and don’t waste half a day trying to find them. Moral of the story – if you can’t find them easily then they probably aren’t a popular staple, which means there’s probably a good reason why 🙂
don’t know the name of the restaurant, it was just a random waterfront restaurant in Vieux Port, but it was absolutely fantastic, as I’m sure any scallop risotto would be in that area. Be sure to try it out if you’re a fan of amazing meals.
flaky, light, airy croissants. And with all the air in there, it’s really only half the carbs, right?! In fact, with all the carbs you’re saving you can even justify filling your croissant with chocolate Nutella!! Sold!
French cookbook…so we’ll call it French 🙂 This rich dessert consists of baked custard, usually vanilla flavored, that is then 
sprinkled with sugar and caramelized to a hard brittle top with a blowtorch. We found ourselves to be big fans of crème brulee (which is big for me since I’m a total chocolate girl) and shared this dessert every night we were in France. Highly recommend trying it!
Vieux Port is the main harbor and marina of Marseille, which is guarded by Fort Saint-Nicolas and Fort Saint-Jean. It’s the perfect place to eat, stop for a cappuccino (or glass of wine), or just spend time meandering through restaurants and shops. We did every Marseille meal here, and none of them disappointed! French food is absolutely AMAZING, the rumors are true 🙂 But more about that later….. (you can read about our favorite French foods to try 
Marseille, so you’ll find lots of adorable little soap shops with walls full of colorful bars of soap. One thing that DID surprise me was 
the lack of bakeries around town. Not that they weren’t there, but I was fully expecting to see a bakery around every turn with lots of bread and pastries, which was not the case. So, word to the wise, when you do find a bakery be sure to stop because you may not see another one for a while!
back to the 19th century. Situated on a hill that overlooks the city, the view from here offers amazing panoramic views of Marseille and is definitely worth carving some time out for. Be sure to look out over the Bay of Marseille at the Frioul archipelago from the vantage point of the basilica. One of the four islands that makes up this archipelago is If, which is the location of Chateau d’If, from the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Admission is free and you can get to the basilica 
by walking, driving, or bus. Keep in mind that it is on top of a hill though, so if you’re walking you’ll probably get a pretty good workout, so maybe don’t wear heals that day 😉 The intrinsic artistic detail that adorns the entire church is simply breathtaking, and is worth a visit just to view the inside of the basilica alone. Colorful mosaics adorn the walls and ceiling, priceless paintings hang from the walls, pillars of marble run all throughout the interior, gold is present around every turn, and statues of gold, silver, and bronze live inside the magnificent halls. It is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and I would highly recommend checking it out!
on the water, near Vieux Port. As you may have guessed, it is devoted to the history and culture of European and Mediterranean civilizations. This museum is split up into 3 different sites, the J4 building, Fort Saint-Jean, and the CCR (Center for Conservation and Resources). The CCR houses the museum’s actual collections and requires a paid ticket to explore. We explored Fort Saint-Jean (free), and the (free) J4 building, which is an astounding concrete cube that forms a perfect square. It is a see-through lacy screen made of concrete that you can’t miss. It’s actually super hard to explain, so PLEASE do your due diligence and google photos of it because it really is an amazing architectural feat. The J4 building is known as the “heart” of the MuCEM, and hosts permanent and temporary exhibits (although, we didn’t see many – but that may be because we were too interested in the building structure itself). Please do yourself a favor and walk through this unique building if you find yourself in Marseille – you won’t regret it. Be sure to come back and see it at night too, as it is lit up from the inside!
century and is just a short walking distance from the MuCEM. We just walked over to the 
outside of it, took a quick peak inside and left. It was cool to see, but small compared to Notre Dame de la Garde. If you’re only going to do one historic site I’d definitely recommend choosing Notre Dame, but if you’re visiting the MuCEM too it’s worth a quick walk to check this one out as well. However, I probably wouldn’t make a point to go out of my way to see it if I wasn’t already in the area.
to get this far down! Calanque de Sugiton is a portion of France’s Parc National des Calanques, which lines the Mediterranean coast from Marseille to Cassis. Calanques are rugged coastal areas interspersed with narrow, steep-walled inlets developed in white limestone or other similar rock. Think the fjords of Norway… these are dry limestone cliffs that jut into the water. Sugiton is the most
popular area of the park because it is the calanque that is most easily accessed by hikers and is open even during the hot season. During the summer some of the other calanques are closed due to high fire risk, so if the calanques are in your travel plans be sure to do some research to see which ones are open during your visit! Sugiton is the one closest to Marseille, but if you end up staying closer to the town of Cassis you’d probably want to visit a calanque that is closer to that town. If the trail is open, you can actually hike from Marseille to Cassis through the park along all the calanques. We didn’t have time to try this, but I’ve heard it’s a rather strenuous and sometimes dangerous hike at parts, so be sure to do your research ahead of time if you decide to go this route! You can access Sugiton through Luminy College, which you can GPS to.
and the city itself was actually kind of dirty. In fact, we ran into a family from Paris on our hike who just talked about how dirty Marseille was and how it was nothing like Paris. Honestly, it wasn’t THAT bad, it’s not like we saw rats running around or anything, it’s just a normal city. While the port and the history make this an interesting city, it’s still a city and isn’t designed specifically for tourists. The family that we met on our hike were shocked to find out that we were from the US and visiting on vacation since Marseille isn’t a typical vacation destination. However, the beauty of a non-touristy area is that you get to immerse yourself in the real culture of a French city, not just a watered-down tourist version with astronomical prices. And while we loved our visit and we were glad that we did it, we probably won’t put it on our return-to list now that we’ve done Marseille already. We WOULD, however put the Calanques on our return-to list for SURE 🙂
Mountains. Built in 1766, this elegant old-timey resort is brimming with history at every turn and has even hosted 23 different US Presidents! The owners have gone to great lengths to preserve as much of the history as possible, even down to the wallpaper and carpets that really take you back in time. With over 2,000 acres, it offers just about any activity you could possibly want! We only stayed for 2 nights, so we chose to experience skiing, golfing, and the spa, but a variety of other activities are offered throughout the year including 2 different 18-hole golf courses, archery, carriage and hay rides, falconry, fly fishing, hiking, horseback riding, ice skating, kayaking and canoeing, mini golf, mini snowmobiling, paintball, Segway tours, shooting club, shopping, tennis, tubing at the ski mountain, and zip lining!
king bed and a view, which typically runs about $280-$310 per night, but you should be able to find cheaper deals through TripAdvisor, Groupon, Expedia etc. The room was nice and cozy, and included a bedroom with a flat screen TV 
and Keurig machine, a bathroom (complete with robes), and nice big closet. Extra features included an iron and ironing board, hair dryer, ice bucket, and safe. There was not a kitchenette or mini fridge in the room we had, which we were completely fine with, but if that is something that you care about you may want to look up other room options or plan to not bring food back to the room 🙂 You will honestly probably be pretty busy and not spend a whole lot of your time in your room since the activities at the Homestead are so amazing!
trails! Lift passes look like they typically run $35-$59 depending on the day and when you buy them, lift passes along with rental equipment (ski or snowboard) run from $62-$94. This mountain was perfect for families and beginners. Since we went on opening day it looked like there were some trails that weren’t open yet that may be better suited for advanced riders, so I can’t speak to those, but we did both runs that were open and had a blast. Trained ski 
instructors are on site to give private or group lessons, and the kids all looked like they were having a great time….if we had kids I would TOTALLY drop my kids off with them to learn! There is a cozy lodge up on the mountain where you can grab a bite (or in our case a beer and an Irish coffee) in between runs that has both an indoor and outdoor fire pit to warm you up. The ice skating rink is also located up here as well. We didn’t get a chance to skate, but it looked like prices were about $15-$20 per adult. If you have kids or are new to skiing I’d highly recommend checking out this mountain to grow your skills and have fun as you gain confidence in your skiing ability, as this mountain is fantastic for new skiers or snowboarders! (Note: if you purchase tickets on-site on a weekend it looks like it is $49 lift tickets for non-guests, and $45 for guests of the resort, with rental prices being $35).
experience was literally life-changing. I left telling my husband that he created a monster in that I may have picked up a new hobby 🙂 The Spa at the Homestead is actually ranked #9 in Robb Report’s top 12 spa destinations around the world! As a massage newbie I can understand if you don’t want to take my word for how amazing it was 😉 Check out the article 
the actual massage was, and you could absolutely spend a full day there. The Aqua Thermal Suite offers a variety of different therapeutic options for anything you may be craving! Experiential showers (different “storm” experiences: Arctic mist, Atlantic storm, or Caribbean storm options) offer multi-sensory cooling after exposure to heat. The Herbal Cocoon is a series of heated niches below a starlit ceiling that enhances the purification and detoxification process by warming your body and relaxing the muscles. Thermal heated lounges look similar to nap pods and are heated lounge chairs that sit you in front of a relaxing scenic moving photo (mine was a waterfall). The aromatic steam room opens pores and infuses lungs with essential oils 
that are carried in the steam and is insanely relaxing. After all of the heated experiences be sure to cool off in The Chill, which is a cold cabin experience that cools your body with a crisp misty vapor and flaked ice. Of course, the locker rooms are amazing too and offer normal showers, bathrooms, lockers, and refreshing areas with everything you need. They also offer a co-ed lounge room where you can wait for your massage, or hang out after your massage before you go to your separate locker rooms. The room is super comfortable and offers a magnificent view from the top of the spa that overlooks the spa’s Serenity Garden and the main
Homestead building. The Serenity Garden is the spa’s exclusive adult oasis that includes an infinity pool, hot tub, geothermal pool fed by hot springs, shower, and river reflexology walk that massages your feet. Any 50-minute (or longer) massage, facial or body treatment includes a day pass to the Serenity Garden. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to visit this part of the spa…..a.) Because we went the weekend before Christmas and we weren’t wanting to be in pools outside (even though they are heated), and b.) We had a tee time to play golf that afternoon and didn’t have time to spend all day here 🙂 However, I’d highly recommend treating yourself to a beautiful spa day – you could literally spend all day here! The spa would be perfect for couple’s trip, girl’s getaway, babymoon, anniversary celebration, or bachelorette party!
golf courses that The Homestead offers. The Cascades is the other course located here, and is apparently amazing. Unfortunately it was closed for the winter so we didn’t get a chance to check it out, but we’ve heard great things! In 2017 alone it was ranked
GolfWeek’s #1 course in VA, GolfWeek’s #19 best resort course in the US, and Golf Digest’s #27 greatest public course in America….so if you get a chance you should definitely try it out and let us know how it is! It costs about $50-$70 to play the Old Course in December, and while the course had a few holes with snow, it was still a blast and absolutely gorgeous! I just rode in the golf cart while Andrew played a quick 9 (it was pretty cold), but we had a ton of fun! He fully intends to come back for a guy’s weekend to play The Cascades at some point so let us know what you think 🙂
specialty drink of theirs called the Champagne Cobbler, which is the hotel’s interpretation of a classic cocktail from the 19th century. This one in particular was AMAZING…..raspberry vodka, lemon and strawberry purée, and rosé. Andrew was a big fan of their Kentucky Mules too 🙂 I highly recommend grabbing a drink at the lobby bar and cozying up next to one of the fireplaces in the grand lobby area!
from 3:00-4:00 they serve tea in the lobby area and it’s so cute! Options include hot tea, cold tea, and a pastry (ours was some kind of pumpkin bread that was fantastic). Everyone in the hotel comes down and grabs some tea and hangs out in the lobby by the fires, or meanders around to find an empty room to sit and enjoy their tea. It’s a very fun time and is a time honored tradition (and free!), be sure to try it at least one of the days you’re there!
Pilot Life for Me 