Hi- spent 2 nights in Belize City at Chateau Caribbean in January. It is in the nicer Marine Parade District of the city, right on the sea- nice views. The hotel has a nice front porch, and rooms were adequate, but what a huge dissapointment after spending the week in Placencia and Cayo. Belize City is sketchy and gross. The souvienr shops are overpriced- get out into the countryside for deals!

We had great food at the nearby Smoky Mermaid. We did not feel especially safe walking around at night, and when you are advised to not get caught on the wrong side of the swing bridge at night, take that piece of advice!

We did not have any meals at the Chateau Caribbean, the dining room and bar looked so emptly and lonley that we ate elsewhere. The staff was not especially accomodating in cashing traveler's checks (easily done next door and the much nicer Raddison), or setting up tours. They did call us to see if we wanted to arrange a tour, and made several suggestions, but it didn't work out- by the time we had been in Belize for a week, we decided against another tour and took a water taxi to Caye Caulker and walked around the island- highly recommended!!

Belize City is OK for a quick overnight on your way in or out from the airport, but don't plan to spend any amount of time there. Pick either a jungle lodge, beach resort or Caye to go to and don't spend any more time in Belize City than absoloutely necessary.

Good Luck!

Well, the staff are very pleasant, the food quite good, so why the rating? The room was ghastly. The carpet was so dirty and rucked up that I did not want to remove my shoes and the bathroom suffered from peeling brown-at-the-edges wallpaper.
An air of dampness pervades. Really, charging $89 for such a room is outrageous.

The owners of this hotel need to spend some serious money on refurbishment. I would not stay here again.

While I did find my stay in the Chateau Caribbean acceptable it left a lot to be desired, especially for the price. Firstly, let me say that the view of the sea is spectacular, and the restaurant is quite good. The service throughout was friendly and accomodating.

But the hotel was badly in need of a renovation. The mattress was terrible. The shower pressure was fairly miserable. There were tears in my duvet, a slat missing from my box spring. The floor was never quite clean, and one night I returned to my room to find roaches in my bathtub. These are flaws I could overlook in a developing world city--but at 89 dollars a night, I would expect more.

Belize city is not a nice place. Sadly, this may be one of the jewels in the crown, but it's not a very shiny one.

Chateau Caribbean was definitely more weathered than what the pic on the "net" reflected. We thought perhaps we should've booked elsewhere? Wrong! The Chateau Caribbean was not only adequate, but excelled in some areas. It's situated right on the Belize City waterfront. An old colonial mansion turned hotel which is being renovated a bit at a time keeping its former beauty and with the original era. The rooms were clean, pleasant, and reasonably priced. Watch your balance though, the original floor throughout is slightly warped. What amazed us was calibre of the restaurant...tables overlooking the bay complete with sparkling white linen table cloths, flowers, exceptionally friendly and helpful staff. It was clear to us that the staff of this hotel was very carefully hand picked... The food presentation, taste and selection was five star !!! Ifyou want a very pleasant experience stay here. Anyone can pick lodging from a major hotel chain ... try the Chateau Caribbean instead ... you won't regret it!!