CNN
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A life in a secluded island paradise in the crystal blue Caribbean Sea could soon be yours – but you’ll need a few million dollars to realize it.
Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts is set to turn Caye Chapel – a private island off the coast of Belize, in Central America – into a luxury club community with residences, estates, a five-star hotel and a championship golf course. It is scheduled to open in 2025.
The 280-acre (113 hectare) island sits between Belize City and the Bacalar Chico National Park and Marine Reserve, home to the largest barrier reef in the northern hemisphere and one of the world’s largest sinkholes, The Great Blue Hole.
An airstrip, heliport and marina will form the entry points to access any of the 24 ready-to-occupy oceanfront residences on the island’s northern edge, each boasting their own private beach.
The two-to-four-bedroom properties will set prospective buyers back a minimum of $4.5 million, as will each of the 114 lots on the eastern and western shores of the island.
Fully customizable and boasting private pools overlooking the ocean, these lots will be capable of accommodating anything from small villas to six-bedroom grand estates.
Sweetening the deal for homeowners is exclusive membership of the Caye Chapel Golf and Ocean Club, described as “a relaxed yet dynamic retreat” that offers a range of leisure, wellness and dining amenities.
Included is access to a beachfront championship golf course designed by former world No. 1 Greg Norman, featuring a 10-hole reversible setup that allows it to be played in both directions. A nearby practice range can be converted to a par-three golf course in afternoons and evenings.
It will not be the first golf course to have been built on the island. The original 18-hole setup was the brainchild of the island’s former owner, Kentucky coal magnate Larry Addington, according to Golf Digest’s Max Adler, who played the “unparalleled beauty” in 2013.
Addington designed and built the course in 1999 for family and friends but filed for bankruptcy in 2012. In 2014, Belize government officials announced that the island had been sold to a Mexican hotel development group for an undisclosed fee.
Those looking for a less permanent lodging on the island will be able to stay at its 104-key hotel, which includes 18 overwater bungalows that branch out via a pier into the ocean.
The development is a collaboration between Four Seasons and three real estate developers based in Mexico – Thor Urbana, GFA and Inmobilia. It was originally slated to open 2021, and a spokesperson for Four Seasons didn’t give any reasons for the delay.
Covering just under 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 square miles) Belize is one of the world’s smallest countries.
Neighboring Mexico and nearby Costa Rica have often overshadowed the former British colony as a travel destination despite its Mayan ruins and vibrant wildlife, but a proliferation of new hotels twinned with an increase in flights to Belize City’s Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport helped it to multiple wins in the Central America category at the 2024 World Travel Awards – including leading adventure tourism destination.
After speaking at a reveal ceremony celebrating the groundbreaking of the Caye Chapel resort last year, Belizean Prime Minister Johnny Briceño wrote in a social media post: “This new project at its completion will certainly take our tourism sector to another level attracting visitors seeking that more high-end experience.”
