When we decided on a family trip to Belize, we knew we wanted to split our time between a jungle experience and one of their idyllic Caribbean islands. For the jungle portion of our Belize vacation we decided to stay at the Sweet Songs Lodge in San Ignacio, the adventure capital of Belize.
We chose to stay in the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge as we wanted accommodations which were part of the jungle adventure, while maintaining a high standard of comfort. Our family loves nature-based adventures and Sweet Songs delivered an experience that felt both wild and refined. It’s a rare treat to find a property which balances a rugged jungle experience with such nice hospitality.
As you’ll see from our review of the Sweet Songs Lodge for families, we loved our 5-night stay with our kids (ages 10 & 12). The lodge was amazing, the jungle was adventurous, the activities were fun and the food was great. What more could a family ask for?
We paid our own way here, so you can trust that this Sweet Songs Lodge review is honest and written especially for the families who read our family travel blog.
This post contains compensated links.
Why Families Will Love Sweet Songs Lodge
Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge operates under a philosophy that merges luxury travel with social and environmental responsibility. We really liked that sustainability is so important here. They maintain a strict ban on single-use plastics, and gave us each our own refillable water bottle at check-in.
In addition, philanthropy is very important to the culture at Sweet Songs Lodge, as a portion of every stay is donated to a local charity. In the Treehouse Bar, there’s a sign announcing which local charities will benefit each month of the year. A sign in their reception proudly announced charitable donations have already exceeded Bz$1,000,000!
The layout of the Sweet Songs Lodge is harmoniously integrated into the lush tropical forest. The gardens are beautifully manicured and maintained, with signs indicating the many species of trees on display here.
Our kids love the water, so we were thrilled to discover they have a private sandy beach on the Macal River and a stunning infinity pool. The jungle scenery from the infinity pool was so stunning, we decided that it was one of the most beautiful swimming pools we have ever seen on our family travels around the world.
Sweet Songs Lodge Location
The Sweet Songs Lodge is located on the Macal River in the lush tropical jungle near San Ignacio, Belize. It’s close enough to the major tourist towns in the Cayo District, but far enough away to feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
Located right next door to the Belize Botanic Gardens, the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge is a paradise for bird watching and wildlife spotting. It’s also very close to the important Xunantunich Mayan ruins.
While we loved the remote location of Sweet Songs just outside of the tourist towns of San Ignacio and San Jose Succotz, be aware that some tour companies will charge a surcharge for the extra time and distance. It’s annoying, but ultimately a small price to pay for such a special location.
Read More
The second half of our family trip to Belize was on a Caribbean island. Find out more in our post on 3-days in Ambergris Caye with kids.
Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge Amenities
There is a lengthy list of thoughtful amenities which made our family stay at the Sweet Songs Lodge enjoyable:
We loved the complimentary tubes and canoes for self-guided exploration of the Macal River.
As mentioned above, the setting for the infinity pool is among the most beautiful we have seen anywhere in the world. The pool itself is very nice as well, with many different areas for different purposes. There is a very shallow splash zone for small kids, a jetted tub area, and a deeper area near the infinity edge for swimming or simply relaxing and soaking in the view.
There’s a private sandy beach on a tranquil stretch of the Macal River.
All our meals were at the elevated Treehouse Bar, which is surrounded on all sides by jungle. Bird feeding stations attract a wide selection of birds, from hummingbirds to colorful tropical varieties.
Drinking water was complimentary and easy to access around the resort. Two carafes were filled in our room each day, along with large water jugs at reception and the swimming pool bar. In addition, the attentive staff at the Treehouse Bar restaurant always make sure your large drinking water glass is full.
Sweet Songs Lodge Room Amenities
I would describe the rooms at the Sweet Songs Lodge as “jungle luxury”. Unlike some other very basic jungle lodges we’ve stayed at (such as during our trip to Manu National Park with kids), we had all the comforts of home.
Despite what we had read prior to our visit, the staff at reception informed me that all rooms now have in-room Wi-Fi. We also had very effective air conditioning, which kept us cool at night, allowing everyone to have a very restful sleep.
Types of Rooms at Sweet Songs Lodge
There are several accommodation options at the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge, but not all of them are family-friendly:
Double Queen Casitas (Our Room Type)
Our family of four stayed in a Double Queen Casita, which was perfect for our 5-night stay. The bungalow was much bigger than we had expected, and we loved how it had walls of windows on three sides, pulling the jungle feel right into our room.
We also loved that we had a large outdoor living area with bug screens providing a sanctuary from the jungle. The bugs were not bad during our stay at Sweet Songs in February, but it was a treat to be able to enjoy sitting outdoors in a screened room without having to worry about bugs. Our outdoor room featured two really comfy chairs, along with a hammock (which we couldn’t keep the kids out of!).
With jungle all around, each morning we woke up to the sounds of the jungle. As soon as the sun starts to rise, the birds all start singing. It was a little early for us on most days, but it was a truly pleasurable way to start your day.
Options for Large Families
If you are traveling with a larger group or simply want more room to spread out, the Two Bedroom Casita and the Garden House provide more space and privacy for larger families.
Treehouse Accommodations
The most exciting accommodations at Sweet Songs Lodge are the Signature and Premier Treehouses which offer the ultimate jungle canopy experience. These rooms provide sweeping views of the forest and river, delivering a sense of adventure that guests find unforgettable.
Sadly, the treehouse rooms at Sweet Songs have a maximum capacity of two, so families wishing to enjoy them, will have to rent two (or more) of them.
Dining at Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge
All of your meals at Sweet Songs Lodge will be taken at the amazing Treehouse Bar. It’s not just a fun name, the Treehouse Bar really is an elevated dining room which gets you high up in the jungle canopy.
Seeing many tropical birds and the occasional tree-dwelling critter from our table in the Treehouse Bar was a thrilling part of our dining experience. One of the highlights was watching small toucans eating papaya from one of the nearby feeding stations.
Our son is a picky eater, so we are always a little nervous when we take him somewhere where he has no other choice but to eat the food on offer. We needn’t have worried as the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge had plenty of kid-friendly food on offer.
Breakfast at Sweet Songs Lodge
We loved our breakfasts at the Treehouse Bar. At this hour of the morning, the jungle is alive with birdsong and it feels special.
We would begin our breakfast experience with a coffee from the coffee station (with many refills to follow). They have a wide variety of breakfast dishes on offer for any preference.
Celine and I had the excellent breakfast burritos most days, but we did sneak in the occasional huevos rancheros. The kids had sweet breakfasts nearly every day, alternating between banana pancakes and French toast.
Lunch at Sweet Songs
Lunch is always a quiet time of day at Sweet Songs Lodge. On the days we were not on tour, we enjoyed our quiet lunches among the treetops. Again, there is an excellent variety of lunch options, ranging from hamburgers, fish burgers, ham and cheese sandwiches, nachos, and even a fancy PB&J!
Dinner at Sweet Songs
While breakfast and lunch had extensive à la carte menus, dinner is a little different at Sweet Songs. There is a chalkboard at the entrance to the Treehouse Bar which has the daily dinner menu. This typically consists of 2 starters, 3 main dishes (with two sides) and 2 desserts.
We loved the dinners we had at Sweet Songs! Our dinners ran the gamut from filet mignon, garlic shrimp, tamarind BBQ ribs, shrimp and pineapple skewers, fish fillets, and more!
The kids would sometimes order off the chalkboard menu, but more often they’d opt for something off the “secret” kids menu, which you need to ask for. They have a good selection of kid-friendly food for dinner at Sweet Songs, including chicken fingers, mac and cheese, and pasta with butter. We were impressed with the quality and generous portions of the kid’s dinner options.
Special Events & Holidays
We celebrated Valentine’s Day during our stay at Sweet Songs. To ensure it was a special night for guests, they held dinner by the pool instead of the Treehouse Bar.
They had a special menu for the evening and even brought in a mariachi band for our entertainment. I appreciate the effort which went into making this a special night for us.
Included Jungle Activities at Sweet Songs
One of the reasons we chose to spend 5 days at Sweet Songs Lodge with kids was the wide variety of complimentary activities. These activities are perfect for fun, family activities in the beautiful jungle setting, and ensuring a memorable stay.
River Tubing
We spent a lot of time river tubing at the Sweet Songs Lodge. After spending time picking out the perfect tube from the pile of them near reception, we’d walk with our tubes down the dedicated path to the entry spot on the Macal River.
Once in the river, the tubing at Sweet Songs is such an amazing family activity. The river is quite tranquil in most places, and even the spots with a current don’t take you very fast.
So, your time tubing in the river at Sweet Songs will be spent enjoying the epic jungle scenery, watching for birds and other wildlife on shore, splashing around and simply having an amazing time as a family.
A typical circuit from picking up our tubes to dropping them back off would take us anywhere between 45 minutes and 75 minutes, depending on how relaxed we were feeling. Sometimes we’d be chasing each other around the river, and others we’d just float and enjoy the immense tranquility of the experience. We loved river tubing at Sweet Songs Lodge!
Canoeing at Sweet Songs Lodge
Canoeing is another fun water-based activity you can enjoy on the Macal River. You can pick up lifejackets and paddles from reception, then walk down to the beach to grab a canoe. From the beach, you can paddle upstream as far as you feel comfortable or water levels allow.
When we tried canoeing at Sweet Songs, we were having an amazing time on the glass-like water. It was so tranquil and easy! We didn’t know at the time, but the water level was quite low as we couldn’t go very far before running into very shallow rapids which stopped our progress.
Later in the day when we were tubing, we noticed the river level was much higher. We asked reception and they said the water level fluctuates due to an upstream dam. We always intended on going canoeing again, but to be honest, we were having so much fun tubing that we never got around to it again.
Outdoor Infinity Swimming Pool
As mentioned above, the swimming pool at Sweet Songs Lodge is one of the nicest swimming pools we’ve had at any of the places we’ve stayed around the world. The swimming pool has an infinity edge overlooking a dense patch of jungle, which falls steeply to the river below. It has a truly mesmerizing effect. There’s great birdwatching from the pool; we even saw a large woodpecker with a brilliant red head.
It’s a small swimming pool, but I really liked how versatile it was. It had a 4’ deep swimming area near the infinity edge, but it also had a seating area with jets, for those who wish to sit and relax and enjoy the view. There’s also a very shallow area for little ones who are just getting used to the water.
River Beach
Surprisingly, there’s a true sandy beach at Sweet Songs along the Macal River. The entry into the water is a bit muddy, but the water gets deep pretty quickly and you can easily swim in the tranquil water.
We spent a lot of time in the water in front of the beach floating on our tubes, so we didn’t really go swimming in the river from the beach, but we could see how it would be a great place for kids to play in the water.
Night Walk
We have enjoyed night walks in the jungle in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica and Manu National Park in Peru. No matter where we are in the world, a night jungle walk is always a fun and thrilling family activity. When we heard that Sweet Songs Lodge offered free night walks through the jungle as part of our stay, we were all over it.
We met our guide at 8 PM in front of reception. He handed us each our own powerful flashlight and we were on our way.
Before long we were walking on a road with a large grass lawn next to it. Our guide told us to hold our flashlights at eye level and look at the lawn so we could see the shining eyes of the (harmless) wolf spiders. I wish he hadn’t – haha! There were hundreds of shining eyes starting back at us! Yikes!
Then he pointed out a large jumping spider on a nearby palm tree! Double yikes!!
From there the discoveries just kept coming. Next was a tarantula in his little hole, followed by a coatimundi in a tree. The highlight of the night was a cute little 9-ringed armadillo who wandered right in front of us!
We then found a scorpion on a tree, which our guide lit up with a black light so we could see it glowing.
Our amazing night walk at Sweet Songs concluded with seeing a parade of leaf cutter ants, an inch worm, a huge millipede and a few cute little frogs.
As you can see, we had a very eventful night walk at Sweet Songs Lodge. Walking through the jungle at night gives you wildlife sighting opportunities not available in the daytime. We highly recommend it, and it’s free!
Evening Bonfire on the Beach
Another complimentary family-friendly activity at Sweet Songs Lodge is an evening campfire on the beach.
After arranging it earlier with reception, we arrived at the beach at 7:30 PM to find our bonfire already lit. The staff member gave us a bag of marshmallows and some sticks and then bid us farewell. We got to enjoy our evening bonfire all alone as a family.
We made short work of the marshmallows, then we just lay back in the beach chairs and looked at the night sky. Even with the light from the fire, the night sky was incredible. We could have gazed at the stars forever.
Bird Watching
The bird watching is incredible at the Sweet Songs Lodge. Judging by the number of guests who had powerful bird-watching binoculars with them, this must be a popular resort for birders.
Not only does the natural jungle environment play home to a wide variety of tropical birds, the staff puts out fresh fruit on a viewing platform near the Treehouse Bar in the morning. This attracts birds from the jungle, allowing us to get a close look. Our favorite was the tropical aracari; a small toucan who sat there eating papaya and didn’t seem to mind us watching from close range.
We also enjoyed watching birds on some short walks near the property. There’s one tree in particular near the entrance to the Belize Botanical Gardens, which was home to 3 large, bright yellow toucans!
Walking the Trails
We noticed a series of walking trails near the beach, so one afternoon we went exploring to see where they went. For the most part the trails follow the Macal River and provide some nice jungle scenery along the way. They are short, easy walking trails but they do require good footwear.
Cornhole
Ever since our kids learned to play cornhole at the Riu Palace Cabo San Lucas, they get excited when they get a chance to play again. It’s a small hotel amenity, but there’s a cornhole game just outside the swimming pool area. My son and I played several games during our stay at Sweet Songs.
Top Things to Do in San Ignacio
Although we were attracted to Sweet Songs Lodge by the large number of family-friendly things to do at the resort, we also knew that there were several amazing family-friendly tours from San Ignacio. For example, we took three day tours from Sweet Songs: a full day tour to Tikal, Guatemala, a full day tour to the ATM cave and a tour to go tubing in a cave.
For more information, we’ve written a full post on kid-friendly things to do in San Ignacio.
Note: Due to its remote location outside of town, some tour operators will charge you extra for pickup. Communicate with them ahead of time to ensure you know what the extra charge for pickup will be.
Is Sweet Songs Lodge Good for Families?
While Sweet Songs Lodge is a luxury destination, it a perfect place to stay in San Ignacio for adventure-loving families. The balance of education, physical activity, and relaxation is perfect for kids of all ages. We stayed 5 nights here when our kids were 10 & 12, but we noticed other families staying here with kids of a wide variety of ages, ranging from a toddler to older teenagers.
Kid-Friendly Food
As discussed above, despite traveling with a couple of picky eaters, we had no issues finding kid-friendly food to eat at Sweet Songs Lodge. The breakfast and lunch menus had a wide variety of items, many of which are kid-favorites (pancakes, French toast, hamburgers, nachos, etc).
We loved that the dinner menu varies from day-to-day, but every night our kids could order from a list of kid-friendly menu options. This took all the stress and pressure off dinnertime and we could confidently stay at the Sweet Songs Lodge for dinner knowing our kids would get a high quality, filling meal.
Nature Adventure for Kids
What I loved about our stay at Sweet Songs with kids, is that it’s very educational, but they are having too much fun to figure that out.
There’s over 300 bird species in the area, along with many jungle critters. We were constantly asking the helpful staff to identify bird or animal species we saw, and they always jumped in with some useful information for us.
Wildlife Awareness
It’s a true jungle environment around the Sweet Songs Lodge. It will be endlessly exciting to see toucans, iguanas, and maybe even hear the roar of howler monkeys.
With all that real nature comes the reality of jungle life: bugs and humidity. The rooms here are very well kept, but you will experience the occasional visitor in the room; usually a fly or some ants. It’s truly impossible to keep a jungle this wild out of your room.
Final Recommendation: Sweet Songs Lodge for Families
We hope you found our Sweet Songs Lodge review for families useful. As you can see we loved our 5-night stay at this wonderful jungle lodge. We loved being surrounded by nature and all of its wonderful inhabitants, even the creepy wolf spiders!
The staff at Sweet Songs Lodge made our stay special. The reception staff did an excellent job making sure we took advantage of all of the free family-friendly activities around the lodge. Meanwhile the Treehouse Bar staff always made us feel welcome and took excellent care of us.
Speaking of the Treehouse Bar, the quality of the food was perhaps the biggest surprise of our family stay at Sweet Songs. It was excellent!
In conclusion, we loved our stay at the Sweet Songs Jungle Lodge; it’s an excellent choice for active, nature-loving families who want a “true jungle luxury” experience. If your family values adventure, education, and nature over traditional resort scenes, this will be an unforgettable place to stay on your family trip to Belize.
Sweet Songs Lodge – Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to swim in the river?
Yes, we spent hours of our time in the river and in the swimming area near the private beach area. Always check with the staff about daily water conditions, but tubing and canoeing are daily highlights for most families.
What should we pack?
Prepare for jungle conditions… think moisture-wicking clothing, sports sandals, a sun hat, and bug repellent. A pair of binoculars is also a great addition for bird watching.
Are there mosquitoes?
Given it is in the rainforest, there can be mosquitos. During our stay in February, which is the dry season, there were very few (if any) mosquitos around.
Is the All-Inclusive package worth it?
Given we had several full-day tours off the property, we did the math and determined the all-inclusive package did not make sense for us. I encourage you to do the math and see if it makes sense for your trip.
Our Travel Journal for Kids
Based on our family travels, our kids helped us design this Travel Journal for Active Kids! This engaging travel journal encourages kids to document their adventures, spark creativity, and stay entertained on the go – grab yours now on Amazon!
Dan Brewer is an intrepid family travel blogger with a passion for exploring the world's most captivating destinations. With 62 countries under his belt and a sense of wanderlust that knows no bounds, he has made it his life's mission to share his travel experiences and insights with fellow families who love to travel.
When Dan isn't traveling with his wife and kids, he's either out enjoying the Canadian Rockies he calls home or working on one of his three travel sites (Family Can Travel, Travel Banff Canada and Ultimate Sports Road Trip).