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Turtle Inn – The Family Coppola Hideaways

A Balinese-style all-villa resort with a picturesque waterfront location, above average food and excellent service.

Location: Placencia, Belize

Review Date – February 2025

Turtle Inn – Know Before You Go

Overall I loved Turtle Inn and I’ve added it to my “places I’ll go back to” list, which is a tough list to make. Some properties are clearly one-and-done for me, but Turtle Inn was the type of place where I was looking to extend my reservation by the 3rd day. The true test is that once I’ve returned, I’m already looking to book another visit.

I gave Turtle Inn 4 out of 5 stars. Normally, 4 stars wouldn’t be good enough to warrant a second visit but in this case the property’s strengths outweighed the few weaknesses of the overall location. Read on for a full review.

A Coppola Family Hideaway

Turtle Inn is a boutique property in the Francis Ford Coppola Family Hideaway collection which includes several properties in Belize/Guatamala, one in Atlanta, one in Italy and one in Argentina. I can’t believe I had not come across this collection before now, but glad it finally hit my radar.

Francis and Sophia Coppola both have houses on the Turtle Inn property as well as other family members so it feels like you are staying on someone’s private compound (because you are). Once I figured that out, I was so impressed by the complete lack of “private” or “don’t go here” signs around their personal spaces. That essentially sets the tone for the overall vibe. I truly felt like I was a guest of the family.

Turtle Inn – Getting There

Turtle Inn is exactly the kind of destination I like – a little further than a direct flight will take you.

Fly into Belize City Airport (BZE), go through customs and head to the domestic terminal. From there, you will take pleasant 30-minute hop on a 10-passenger plane to Placencia. You don’t need to leave more than an hour for connection as it is unlikely there are ever more than 2 full-size planes landing and deplaning at the same time. Book tickets in advance through either Maya or Tropic Air (I flew Tropic Air and the service was unexpectedly above par).

Turtle Inn will pick you up at the Placencia Airport and drive you the 5 minutes to the resort.

Turtle Inn – Arrival

I sort of enjoy an “arrival process” as long as it doesn’t involve too much waiting or a sales pitch. It sets the tone that you are someone’s guest and you will be cared for from that point forward. It’s also a great way to find out about any special happenings. Turtle Inn got this process just right.

Turtle Inn’s reception staff (and Chip and Salsa) greet you and get you settled on a comfortable couch in the open air dining space/lounge. A cool welcome cocktail arrives promptly. After a simple exchange of credit cards and an overview of the dining options for that night, you are escorted to your villa.

Turtle Inn – Accommodations ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

Wow. I love when the accommodations are WAY better than the website pictures had advertised because it is usually the opposite. The Turtle Inn villa was AMAZING. I had a one bedroom poolside villa so I wasn’t exactly waterfront but I did have a breeze and could hear the ocean at night. Seafront villas are definitely the best accommodations, but they come at a price. The two bedroom villa is essentially two 1-bedrooms side by side with a central living space. I need to find a wing-woman for my next trip so I can get one of those….

The refinement of the Turtle Inn villa and the bespoke details just went on and on. I will not be a spoiler but they really thought of everything plus more. There was a full-sized desk and a lamp so you can easily work remote here. Excellent Wi-Fi free throughout property.

Two excellent-condition sanitized yoga mats were provided and I took full advantage. I believe Turtle Inn offers yoga classes but during my stay no one else signed up and there is a minimum group size required for a teacher to come out. I actually preferred doing it solo and on my own time.

Pro-Tip: Turtle Inn Garden rooms have A/C but some are closer to the wall that separates the property from the street. Another guest told me it was noisy at night and in the morning. Look at the property map and request a villa that isn’t near the wall if A/C is important to you. My poolside villa did not have A/C and I was fine. Temps were in the low 70s at night. I think in hotter months it would be a bit iffy, but I was told that poolside villas are next in line to get A/C so probably wise to ask if you are traveling to Turtle Inn May through October.

Pro-Tip #2: Mosquito net. Just do it. Why? Because even one mosquito at night is too many. Plus, this is the kind of place that makes me want to sleep naked (yes, I just said that) so that’s a lot of advertisement. I fell in love with the romance of mosquito netting long ago. It feels so exotic sleeping under one.

Turtle Inn Room Highlight: The enclosed outdoor private garden and outdoor shower. If you have never used an outdoor shower, now is the time to start. Game changing.

Turtle Inn – Property/Grounds

The property isn’t huge, but it was thoughtfully arranged to space out the villas just enough. Meandering stone paths encourage wandering. There are several interesting Balinese sculptures scattered throughout and some amazing plants and trees. Everything was immaculately maintained daily.

The biggest “downside” of this resort is that it isn’t what most of us would consider “beachfront”. Yes, it is directly on the water but a seawall was built to prevent the property from eroding. You can access the ocean at several places but too me, the water was a little murkier than I like. I waded in from the beach entrance in front of Gauguin’s but only got as far as my thighs. The sand around the waterfront is hard packed – you are not going to be building sandcastles or burying your husband here. Coming all the way to Belize and not being able to swim in the ocean was the main reason I gave Turtle Inn 4 stars instead of 5.

Turtle Inn has two pools and both are lovely. My initial impression was that they were small and that there were not enough lounge chairs. I absolutely DETEST resorts where you feel like you have to stake a claim to get a chair, and it looked like this would be the case.

I’m happy to report that somehow they never ran out of chairs. I was there on days when the resort was totally full, but a lot of people left for excursions so it worked out. On one day when it was starting to fill up, I asked to have a chair brought down by the water and a chair magically appeared for me.

I used both the adult and family pool at Turtle Inn. The water was divinely refreshing. They must be removing the heat from it somehow. They also have the most incredible in-pool loungers I’ve ever experienced.

The Turtle Inn beach bar is just a couple of steps away. They played some ambiance music but the volume was kept very low which is key for me. Ice and fresh water was available for self-service. They do have staff that can bring you food and drinks, but you might need to wave them down or just get your butt out of the chair and walk ten steps into the bar to order.

There is more to the property across the main road from Turtle Inn – pickleball court, massage pavilions, Auntie Luby’s restaurant (see food section) and a marina/dive shop. They offer bikes for free and had plenty. Paddleboards and kayaks are also free. This was impressive because it would be so easy to nickel and dime for those items and the fact that they didn’t charge extra is a key reason I rated this resort highly. I only used the bikes on this trip but will definitely kayak next time.

Turtle Inn – Food ⋆⋆⋆⋆

Welcome to all of you who skipped the rest and scrolled right to the review of the food. You’re my people 😉

The main dining room at Turtle Inn is Mare – upscale, open-air and just lovely.

Turtle Inn offers a free continental breakfast (so appreciated since you don’t have any offsite options). It is more than enough for most people especially if you are heading out for an excursion. I chose to take advantage of items from the menu – all the standards plus the option to get pizza for breakfast! I had the Belizean breakfast pizza with black beans and plantains and loved it (but it’s a lot for one).

For lunch and dinner, a full menu is available with plenty of options including the ability to order the wood-fired pizzas. I ate here twice for dinner and the food was really, really good. Reservations are appreciated but I’m solo so I never needed one.

I asked a server what the best items for dinner were and was surprised when he recommended the risotto. I am a huge risotto-snob, but I went for it. One of the best I’ve ever had. The shrimp risotto was perfectly executed and had been prepared with a light tomato broth. It was creamy without being heavy or starchy – exactly as it should be. Fresh basil was added just before serving which freshened it up an provided a lovely aroma. The 8 shrimp were perfectly seasoned and cooked.

I had the shrimp fettucine and that was also great. I’m betting it was homemade pasta.

If you are noticing a shrimp theme so far, that is because I don’t really eat meat AND when you are on a beach vacation on the Gulf, you should eat fish. One reason Turtle Inn missed the 5th star in my rating was due to limited selection of Gulf fish. The fish of the day was snook which I find unpalatable as a grilled dish or in a piccata. I got the snook “fish burger” for lunch (which is your standard grilled fish sandwich) and a couple good squeezes of lime juice made it edible.

I was expecting to live on ceviche during my stay at the Turtle Inn, but that was one of the biggest disappointments. They serve the ceviche salsa-style and in my opinion it had WAY too many onions and very little fish. I had the conch ceviche and tried to pick around the onions but it was too hard.

The next day I noticed a crudo on the menu – that’s your winner dish for raw fish. It was thin-sliced snapper (that’s what they told me) with lime juice, olive oil and a lovely pile of their garden-grown arugula on top. Had that twice during my stay and that will be my go-to lunch next time.

For a more casual evening meal at the Turtle Inn, the pizzeria is a totally unexpected treat. They have the most adorable outdoor bistro with a wood-burning pizza oven and bar seating for about 10 people. It overlooks the organic garden.

That’s right – I said organic garden!! Turtle Inn is growing all of their greens and vegetables on property plus they have chickens which means fresh farm eggs!! I wandered into the garden during the day and a staff member immediately offered me an impromptu tour (and samples of pretty much everything).

Gauguin’s and Auntie Luby’s

Turtle Inn has two other dining establishments for dinner, open on alternating nights. Gauguin’s is an intimate spot they set up beachfront, only about 8 tables. The options are simple – grilled fish of the day, shrimp or calamari. They bring out some basic sides and rice to go with it.

I had the calamari which was fine, nothing special. I dined with another couple who got the fish which was snapper, but it had a lot of bones which made it hard to enjoy. They did offer a lobster bisque as a starter and that was AMAZING but lobster season ended the next day so that is only a seasonal offering. I think this is worth doing for a quiet romantic night when you are not starving.

When I made my reservation at the Turtle Inn, I was most excited about trying Auntie Luby’s which is supposed to offer more authentic Caribbean cuisine. Sadly, this was a flop for me. They had just a few choices – chicken or shrimp curry with rice and beans. Guess what I got?

The dish was so bland. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing I would call “curry”. The rice and beans were very off to me. If I had to guess, they were made using a LOT of lemongrass and cardamom which was overly floral to me. The side options were coleslaw or potato salad. I ordered potato salad but they brought me coleslaw by mistake so I ended up getting both. Both were just as they appear in the photo below – lots of mayo. I spoke with several other guests, most return guests, and all agreed that Auntie Luby’s was a let down.

Room service is available for all meals at Turtle Inn and because you have a dining table, it’s easy to take advantage and still dine in comfort.

Placencia ⋆⋆⋆

One of the reasons I chose Turtle Inn was because it was biking distance to a small town. Due to the clientele that Turtle Inn caters to, I was hoping for a cute little village with a handful of shops and other restaurants to explore.

I did bike into town one day. I found Placencia to be much grungier than I expected. There were a couple of “tourist ready” shops and I patronized what I could. I found an adorable little bakery that offered muffins, pastries, pies and sandwiches to go. Other than that, the only place I would return to was The Chill Out which was quite close to Turtle Inn. It was a more American-style coffee shop but they were also serving ice cream and I had a lovely blueberry scoop.

Turtle Inn – Spa Services – ⋆⋆

The Turtle Inn offers a few basic spa services in lovely outdoor pavilions. I got a massage. Most people would probably be thrilled with a hard-core massage, but I’m more of a Swedish girl. I kept telling my masseuse she was hurting me but it didn’t help. Buyer beware.

Turtle Inn – Other Activities

Turtle Inn offered a variety of excursions. If you want to snorkel or fish, they have plenty of options for you. I am a bird nerd, but the birding excursion required too much time in the car. There is an excursion called “ATM” that was intriguing. I ended up not doing it because I just wanted to lounge by the pool with a book. I spoke with a couple who did it – not for the faint of heart so choose carefully.

Turtle Inn – Family Friendly?

I typically try to choose adult-only resorts, particularly during school holiday seasons. I took a chance on Turtle Inn because it just didn’t look like a place that catered to families.

If you have teens or young adults that enjoy family time, it would probably be fine for 3 days. Past that and your kids are going to go crazy. I saw one family that had 2 boys who appeared to be attached to their devices at the forehead. I arrived at the same time they did but never saw them again.

There was one couple with 2 children under 5 during my stay. I learned that even Bose noise cancelling headphones can’t cancel two children screaming “marco polo”. No worries, I moved to the adult only pool and peace was restored. I have no idea why you would go to Turtle Inn with toddlers. There is nothing for them to do, the pool isn’t really suited for young kids to play in and the excursions offered were not really appropriate for young kids.

Turtle Inn – Service ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the service experience at Turtle Inn. In my opinion, they’re doing a fantastic job. The staff were all friendly, made eye contact and were quick to offer help with a smile. They called me by name despite me never giving my name.

They checked on me just enough to make sure I didn’t want to take advantage of any excursions without being in my face or making me feel pressured to spend money. It was the perfect level of service – there and aware but not intrusive.

The staff seemed to be happy to be there. I spoke with several who had been there 10+ years. The Turtle Inn provides staff lodging and seems to offer a good wage.

Final Pro Tip – Blancaneaux

I spoke to several Turtle Inn guests who stayed at the Blancaneaux property in the mountain/jungle region of Belize before coming to Turtle Inn. Everyone raved about it. The property sounds delightful with way-above-par accommodations for a jungle lodge. Everyone also commented on how the food was even better than Turtle Inn. I plan to take advantage of that next time I go.

Turtle Inn – Final Thoughts

If you want a peaceful, quiet long weekend to relax and recharge by the ocean, Turtle Inn is a great choice. This would be a great couples getaway for those who need to reconnect. Ideal for a solo who wants to veg out, sleep in and read a good book.

One of my favorite memories from this trip will be the hour or so I spent sitting out under the stars after dinner each night enjoying the sounds of the ocean and letting the breeze dance in my hair. No other guests in sight.

If you want to drink all day and have nightlife, this is not your place. If you have kids under the age of 16, this is not your place. If you need a lot of retail to stay entertained or a fully functional gym, this is not your place.

My hats off to the management and staff at Turtle Inn. I was one of the few guests who was a first-timer so when most of the guests are repeat visitors, you know they are doing something right.

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