The Resort at Marble Hill

A Hillside Above Diamond Rock, Far From the Piers

Roatan thins out as you drive east. The shops and dive shacks give way to pasture and mangrove, the traffic disappears, and somewhere past the halfway point the island starts to feel like the place it was before the cruise ships found it. Marble Hill occupies a hillside at Diamond Rock, on that far end, arranged as a small colony of colonial style buildings stepping down towards its own beach. The grounds carry the resort's older identity as a farm, and the planting still reads that way. What you notice first is how few people there are.

Why It Works

We chose it for the room sizes and the silence. The units here are built at around twice the floor area of a standard island room, which changes what a stay feels like over a week, and they come in genuinely different shapes: bungalow, studio suite, tree house. The resort keeps an adult register, feeds guests from two kitchens of its own, and sits on a beach that belongs to it rather than to the island. On an island where most addresses are squeezed into two crowded bays, space of this order is the luxury being sold.

Why This Location

The east end is the part of Roatan divers talk about and day trippers never reach. The reef here is lightly worked, the channels and mangrove systems around Diamond Rock and the eastern cays are protected water for kayaks, and the walls are a boat ride away rather than a queue. Behind the resort the island is hills and farmland, with hiking and biking trails through them. Coxen Hole, the airport and the ferry are at the other end of the island, so plan a transfer and then forget about the road for the rest of the week.

Fast Facts

• Price: Premium

• Vibe: Green, spacious, adult, far from the crowd

• Rooms: Bungalows, studio suites and tree houses, each around eight hundred square feet with a sea view

• Best For: Divers, couples, long stays, anyone who wants Roatan without West Bay

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: The tree house units, which put you level with the canopy and still within sight of the water

• Dining: The house restaurant, open all day with garden views, plus a smokehouse and brewpub on the property

• Amenities: Private beach with loungers and umbrellas, spa treatments, kayaks and windsurfing, dive and fishing excursions, hiking and biking trails, private parking

• Attractions: The east end reef, the mangrove channels around Diamond Rock, the eastern cays, the island's inland trails

Bungalows, Studios and a Tree House or Two

The accommodation is the argument. Each unit runs to roughly eight hundred square feet with a king bed and a view of the sea, which on Roatan usually buys a suite category rather than a standard room. The shapes differ enough to be worth choosing between: bungalows set into the slope, studio suites in the main buildings, and tree houses that sit up in the canopy. The architecture is colonial in inspiration, white and shuttered, spread over several structures rather than stacked into one block, so nobody is walking past your terrace on the way to theirs.

Two Kitchens and the Water Below

Eating is handled on site, which matters at this end of the island where there is no strip of restaurants to wander to. The main restaurant serves through the day and looks into the gardens, and the smokehouse and brewpub beside it takes over in the evening, when themed dinner nights and a happy hour give the week a rhythm. Below, the beach is the resort's own, with loungers and umbrellas and a straight walk into the water. Kayaks, windsurfers, snorkelling gear and dive trips are arranged from there, and the volleyball net sees more use than you would expect.

What to Know Before You Book

The east end is a long transfer from the airport, so arrange the pick up in advance and treat the first afternoon as part of the journey. The resort does not accept children and parts of the grounds are steep, so this is a stay for adults who are happy walking hills. Spanish, English and Czech are spoken. There is no pool, which is deliberate: the beach is a few steps below and the water is calm. Come for a week, and rent a car only if you intend to see the island rather than the reef.