A New Resort in Hopkins, Belize for December 2025
If you’ve visited Beaches and Dreams over the past year, you may have heard about our efforts to build a new resort, just about 1/2 mile up the beach from Beaches and Dreams. We are planning on opening the new location in December of 2025, and I want to tell you how it all started.
Have you heard of Jungle Jeanne's
When we moved here in 2017, there was a resort named Jungle Jeanne’s which had been around for about 15 years. I would describe Jungle Jeanne’s as backpacker chic. All of the rooms were free-standing wooden cabanas with kitchenettes. Each room was either nestled in the jungle-like grounds or right on the beach. There was also a small central building with a kitchen and eating/lounging area for guests to share. And of course, the yoga palapa. Jeanne wanted her resort to be a yoga destination in Belize. Sadly, Jeanne died in 2021, at the age of 83. The resort sat, vacant, for about a year until Ryan and I bought it in the summer of 2022.
Making the new from the old
After receiving no attention for a full year, the cabanas were all in disrepair. Some of the cabana roofs had big holes and a tree had fallen on top of the yoga palapa. There was one cabana, called the “manager’s cabana” which was originally constructed by nailing two pre-fabricated houses together. But you could see the seams; it was still two houses, just connected. At first, Ryan and I discussed building a hotel with 3 or 4 floors, maybe 12 rooms, all facing the ocean. We would have a lobby on the ground floor and build a separate restaurant. But we quickly abandoned that idea in favor or renovating Jeanne’s old cabanas and giving every guest their own free-standing cabana on the beach. In hindsight and even in foresight (is that a thing?), we knew it was not the best financial decision. Individual cabanas take more effort to maintain and we would need to construct the internals for each one separately (plumbing, electrical, waste, etc). However it was absolutely the right decision aesthetically. Not only do the cabanas capture a bit of the vibe of traditional Hopkins living, they will offer more comfort and decadence to our guests. And, Ryan believes they will sell themselves much easier than a large concrete structure that reminds you of Miami beach.
Next up, Gut, Fix and Rebuild
Next up, I’ll take you through some of the construction and renovations we did to get from the old cabanas to the new cabanas. As a preview, below is a photo of the old cabana called “Treehouse”. On the right, it was given new life as our cabana called Solitaire.
