World > Latin America > Belize > Ambergris Cay

Mata Chica Beach Resort

COST: $

<p>Laid-back Ambergris Cay is just a 20-minute flight from gritty Belize City, but a world apart. The beaches are powdery white, shopping barefoot is encouraged, and the pace is languorous, thanks to the island's car-free roads (locals walk, use electric golf carts, or ride bikes). The newly renovated Matachica Beach Resort, on the private northern side of the island, makes an ideal base: it's sufficiently secluded, but only a short water-taxi ride from lively downtown San Pedro. Not that you'll feel like leaving—the resort has film screenings in its martini lounge and banana-and-brown-sugar facials at the spa. The 14 bungalows are painted in bright Gauguin hues, such as mango and watermelon pink. All offer sea views, air-conditioning, and glass-walled showers surrounded by bamboo plants. The best deals are the four Sea Breeze bungalows—they're a 30-second walk from the water's edge, but cost $120 less than the beachfront casitas.</p>

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From Travel + Leisure , MAR 2007

an ideal base: it’s sufficiently off the beaten track to feel secluded, though only a short water-taxi ride from the lively restaurants and shops of downtown San Pedro....MORE>>

– 25 Affordable Beach Resorts

From Travel + Leisure , OCT 2003

Mata Chica, the creation of French fashion photographer Philippe Berthomé and his Italian makeup-artist wife, Nadia Taricco, is also expanding. The couple lived and worked in Los Angeles for a decade, then sailed the Caribbean for two years before settling on Belize as the ideal place to begin a new life—and create a boutique resort. Mata Chica is five miles from San Pedro and accessible only by boat. When Berthomé and Taricco opened the 14-room property in 1996, they started...MORE>>

– Richard Alleman Bright Young Thing

Last updated March 2007