OMG, where do I even begin? I'll start by saying, "future travelers, this is the creme of the crop because this place is safe for everyone!" My husband and I traveled with a friend and stayed at Elsa's in April 2019 for 5 days, and we all felt safe and at home.
Arrival - This was easier then I thought it would be because we walked from the airport to the apartment, we had no idea where we were going but we knew it was close enough to walk so we walked and asked one person how to get there and they gave us perfect directions. We got to the building and Elsa came and let us in right away. She welcomed us, gave us the tour of the building, and shared valuable information in terms of where to rent a golf car/excursions/eating/beaches/etc.
Location - The purpose of our trip was to relax and party in Belize so this location was key to enjoying the local culture. The apartment is literally right in the middle of everything happening. We loved that we could walk right outside to all the best beach bars, restaurants, shops and street vendors. You can hear the nightlife from the apartment. Elsa had parking spaces right in front of her place for golf cars and there was always room. There are lots of fun parts of the island to explore and experience, but Elsa's is in the middle of most of it so it was nice that we got to spend a lot of our time so close to home. We could walk anywhere or take the golf car depending on how we felt. Although we did get a golf car for our entire trip duration (discount for longer rentals) we really only needed it twice (to get to Secret Beach), but other then that we only use it for the breeze and because it was just awesome to zip around in with an adult beverage in hand (we had koozies which are sold everywhere). Being so close to everything was also nice in the morning when we just wanted to grab some coffee and breakfast quickly; it was nice to have options all within less than a 1 minute walk to all the beach restaurants. Although my husband and I flew; our friend took the ferry from Belize City and we just sat on Elsa's roof with a beer waiting for him because you can see the ferry's arriving/departing and the walk to get there was 1 minute or less. We saw our friend's ferry arriving before getting his text and by the time we got there we still had to wait because it was so quick for us to get there.
Apartment - Super super clean. I've been to other islands where everything had a damp smell, but not Elsa's. No smell, and you could tell that the apartment was really well maintained. The bed was comfortable and we had enough pillows. The natural sunlight definitely greets you in the morning, but it was a nice way to ensure we rose early daily to experience all that we could. There were clean shower towels, soap, shampoo, dish soap, trash bags, filtered water jug and plenty of toilet paper. It was nice having 2 rooms and 2 full bathrooms (1 in each room). The entire apartment was larger then I expected it to be and it was wonderful having 3 air conditioning units. The Kitchen/living room is an open floor plan so the common space is large and so are the rooms and closets. AC's worked really well. Elsa posts information for excursions and and golf cart rentals in the kitchen and trust me they are the best prices and the nicest people. The rooftop deck and pool was a jewel. After long days out in the sun it was nice to come home and be able to get into the pool and just stand around chatting under the stars. We brought up some beers and the small portable speaker we brought from home and enjoyed ourselves each night. We wanted to respect the neighbors so we didn't stay on the roof too late and our music wasn't loud, but that was never a problem because after we showered we would just hit the beach bars. The roof deck is huge and the pictures do not show you just how big it is, and you can see where the barrier reed is from the roof. Secret breach was about a 60 minute golf cart ride away and Pirates South Beach was only about 30 minutes away and way less crowded.
Departure - Elsa was extremely accommodating. Check out was at 11 AM, but our flight wasn't until 1 PM so Elsa held our luggage in her shop so we could enjoy the island until the vary last minute.