My wife and I spent two nights here in mid-April for nature viewing and touring nearby ruins. We didn't rent a car so arranged for BEVL to pick us up from our boat transfer from Turneffe Caye. Spent the next two days touring ruins (Altun Ha, Lamanai) and the adjacent Crooked Tree sanctuary.
Rooms were basic and clean. Our room was US $90 - second floor (extra $) room with A/C ($10 extra)). We really enjoyed the reasonably priced (US $8 and $12 as I recall) breakfasts and dinners at BEVL.
The Lamanai tour was booked through BEVL, but run by another company. It probably would have been excellent but we were put in a group staying at a Caye. As a result the tour was on a very tight and abbreviated schedule. Almost no bird/nature viewing during the boat ride on the river to Lamanai, and a brief stay at Lamanai. Other guests had described their tour, where they enjoyed an extensive nature/birding experience during the boat rides and plenty of time at the Lamanai site. I complained to the BEVL owner and she did refund part of our tour cost, and discounted our return shuttle to Belize City. She also said she made it clear to the tour operator that her guests are not to be put on tours with people from the Cayes (due to their abbreviated schedule requirements). In all, I thought the deal was fair. Still, watch for this if you go on that tour.
Since we didn't have a car BEVL we booked transportation to the sites or (for Lamanai) the tour operation. If you do one tour a day, this would probably pay for a rental car as BEVL charged about US $75 per shuttle (each about an hour's drive one-way).
We spent most of our time with one guide (I forgot his name, a statement of my memory not his performance). He was extremely knowledgeable about wildlife and birds, and very accommodating as we asked to spend some time when returning from tours looking for toucans or revisiting the nesting Jabiru storks for example.
I booked this expecting it would offer a fairly unique experience for viewing birds and nearby ruins. Our expectations were met but I didn't budget nearly enough for all the tours we enjoyed.





