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| Courtesy Blancaneaux Lodge |
Cinematic is the word that comes to mind to describe Francis Ford Coppola's first small hotel in Central America. The forest views are perfectly framed, the Privassion River serves as the mood-setting soundtrack, and continuity is maintained by the pieces from Belize, Mexico, and Guatemala, many sourced by Coppola and his wife, which fill the 17 guest rooms and public spaces. The filmmaker chose different source material for the one-room spa, but it's no less authentic: The spa building and a small pagoda inside it that holds massage oils and towels were imported from Bali, and the therapists came from Bangkok's Oriental hotel, one of that city's top spas. The exquisite Thai massage I had in a Belizean jungle was a plot twist I didn't see coming. — A.A.
800-746-3743, www.blancaneaux.com
