Blancaneaux Lodge

There was a time when the fact that the film director Francis Ford Coppola had a special fondness for the jungles of Belize would have simply been celebrity gossip, or Hollywood trivia. But now that he’s opened his holdings to the paying public, it’s a matter for the travel pages.

Blancaneaux Lodge was first something of a vacation home; the landscape apparently reminded him just enough of the Philippine locations used in Apocalypse Now, with the added benefit of being quite a lot closer to California. Now Coppola’s house is just one of the twenty units available for rent, in Blancaneaux’s new incarnation as an upscale eco-lodge.

Of course you don’t have to splash out for the owner’s villa: humbler cabanas are available, and they’re all in the same vein, equal parts rustic escapism and unpretentious luxury, right at the frontier where carefully tended gardens dissolve into wild rainforest.

That rainforest is easily half the appeal when you’re talking about Belize, and Blancaneaux is no different. Ultimately it’s not your bedroom or some infinity pool that you’ll remember, it’s the setting, the dramatic landscape and the lush rainforest, teeming with life. So what it lacks in high-tech amenities, as they say, it more than makes up for in outdoor offerings, from rushing rivers to Mayan ruins, on foot, bike or horseback. And when the day is done it’s back to Blancaneaux for authentic Guatemalan cuisine, wood-fired pizza and other hearty Italian classics, all accompanied by wines from the Coppola estate.

How to get there:

The property is a two and a half hours drive from Belize International Airport or a 35 minute charter flight. It is a three hours drive to sister properties La Lancha or Turtle Inn. Transfers and charter flights should be pre-booked.