Ka’ana Resort Takes You Off the Grid

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THE THING ABOUT MOST LUXURY RESORTS is that you feel penned in after a while. Except for the ride to and from the airport, a guest never gets a sense of where, exactly, they are. Ka’ana Resort is breaking that mold. The five-star boutique adventure camp outpost in Western Belize gives you the slipper-and-robe treatment, while immersing guests in the country’s fascinating culture and history. Spend a rough-and-tumble day exploring jungle waterfalls and discovering Mayan ruins, then enjoy the meal of your life at the most luxurious, bespoke accommodations in Belize.

Imagine this: you walk through the hotel’s beautifully manicured gardens after dinner and retire to one of its 15 private suites—to find a personal itinerary waiting for you, along with a basket of homemade granola, dried local fruit and chocolate. The following day you head out with your sweetie, two boxed lunches and a personal guide to ride inner tubes through an ancient system of caves. That afternoon, somewhere between exhausted and inspired, you return to your 700 square-foot master suite — complete with two private decks, outdoor shower, king-sized bed, robes, flat screen TV and wi-fi (if you must) — to take a nap and dip in the pool before cocktail hour.

Other adventures on the docket include touring sacred caves in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve, cooking classes in the 1,000-year-art of Mayan cuisine, flying to Hol Chan Marine Reserve to swim with turtles and nurse sharks, viewing the Tikal Maya Ruins and canoeing underground caverns in Barton Creek Cave.

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Back at the resort, chefs at Ka’ana — a staff of 50 runs the hotel — spend the day preparing a nightly feast of Belizean cuisine, using vegetables and herbs from the organic garden and plenty of local secrets. The ceviche and garifuna sere taste like they were just pulled from the ocean. The grilled snapper and achiote roasted chicken are worthy of the finest restaurants in New York. A 1,000-bottle wine cellar offers the perfect pairing and cocktails by mixologists in the resort’s bar, The Wallace, take your meal from excellent to ecstasy.

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Travelers are fickle creatures. We always want what is on the other side of the hotel fence. At Ka’ana, there is no fence. Or, at least there’s always a helpful hand to lead you over it.

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