On our latest trip to Roatán, Diana and I stayed at three very different resorts: Tranquilseas Eco Lodge, Anthony’s Key Resort and Kimpton Grand Roatán.
We didn’t choose them because we wanted to conduct a side-by-side comparison. In fact, after staying at all three, I don’t think comparing them directly makes much sense. They are simply too different.
Tranquilseas made us feel immersed in Roatán. Anthony’s Key felt a little like going to dive camp. Kimpton Grand Roatán gave us the polished beachfront resort experience you could find in beautiful destinations around the world.
We enjoyed all three, but for very different reasons.

The question isn’t really which one is best.
It’s what kind of Roatán experience are you looking for?

Tranquilseas: The Roatán We Came Looking For

Tranquilseas Eco Lodge immediately feels like you’re in Roatán.
The resort is small, surrounded by tropical vegetation and tucked along the water in Sandy Bay. We stayed in the Scarlet Macaw room, which was spacious, comfortable and distinctively designed with a relaxed Boho feel.
Diana’s first impressions were pretty simple: “Cute. Attention to detail. Very welcoming.”
That describes Tranquilseas surprisingly well.
But what stood out most wasn't our room or the grounds. It was how quickly the place began to feel personal.
The staff was exceptionally friendly. By the time we left, several of them felt more like friends than people who had simply taken care of us for a few days.
Our first evening we wandered down to the Sunken Fish Restaurant for what we intended to be a quick snack.

We ordered the octopus tostones, and they were an explosion of flavors and textures. Sitting there overlooking the palm trees and Caribbean as the sun went down was a pretty great introduction to the resort.

We went back.
Sunken Fish ended up being one of the highlights of our stay. The food was consistently excellent, matched by the people serving it.
And then there was the diving.

Diving Small

Best Dive Roatán operates right from Tranquilseas, and this was one of my favorite aspects of staying there.
The equipment was newer and well maintained. The operation was professional, and safety was clearly taken seriously. But what really distinguished it was its size.
There were no more than six divers on our boat.
That changes a dive experience.
Instead of feeling as though we were joining a system, the diving could be adapted around us. There was flexibility in departure times and the sites we wanted to visit. The entire experience felt more customized and personal.
For a diver who likes small groups, flexibility and a little more say in how the day unfolds, this is a compelling way to dive Roatán.

A Base for Exploring the Island

Tranquilseas also made it easy to get out and experience the rest of Roatán, which matters to us.
We don't generally travel somewhere just to stay at the resort.
From here we explored the island, visited a Garifuna village, traveled through the mangrove tunnels, fed enormous tarpon, spent time on the white sand at Camp Bay and got about as close to sloths as you can get without actually holding one at Maya Eden.
There are also wonderfully unpretentious places to eat nearby. You can walk out to the main road and find Plan B Pizza. Elsewhere we found burgers at Sandy Buns and fresh fish, chicken nachos and patacones at Roatán Pura Vida.
Tranquilseas worked as exactly what we want a great property to be: an exceptional home base for experiencing the destination around it.
At one point during our stay I wrote something in my notes that still captures my impression better than anything I've come up with since:
Tranquilseas reminds me of what Roatán used to feel like.
Small. Personal. Tropical. A little removed from the crowds. And unmistakably Roatán.

Anthony’s Key: Going to Dive Camp

Moving to Anthony’s Key was a dramatic change.
My first thought was that it felt a little like going to dive camp.
And I mean that mostly as a compliment.
Anthony’s Key is built around diving. Divers are everywhere. Boats are coming and going. Gear is being moved around. Everyone is talking about where they dove that morning and what they saw.
The setting itself is beautiful. Much of the lodging sits on the small key just offshore, and a little water taxi carries you back and forth between the living area and the restaurant and dive operation.
It's fun.

Our room was comfortable and functional, although much more bare bones than either Tranquilseas or the Kimpton. The food was adequate, served in generous portions. The fish tacos were my favorite lunch, with just enough spice.
But accommodations and food aren't really the point of Anthony’s Key.
You come here to dive.
And they are very good at moving a lot of people through a lot of diving.
We were assigned to a boat. The dive boats were larger than those we experienced at Tranquilseas, as were the groups. The boats went out on a regular schedule to sites generally selected by the divemaster.
It was organized and efficient.
It was also social.
If part of the fun of a dive trip for you is meeting other divers, swapping stories and spending a week with people who are there for essentially the same reason you are, Anthony’s Key has a real advantage.
We also swam with the dolphins while we were there. It was remarkably interactive and simply a lot of fun.
The tradeoff is flexibility.
If there is a particular dive site you're hoping to visit, you prefer very small dive groups, or you like having more control over the timing and location of your dives, I'd lean toward the smaller operation at Tranquilseas.
Anthony’s Key also felt somewhat more isolated from the rest of the island. You certainly can leave and explore, but the resort is designed so that you really don't need to.
For a first dive trip to Roatán where your primary objective is to wake up, dive, eat, meet other divers, dive some more and repeat the next day, Anthony’s Key makes a lot of sense.

Kimpton Grand Roatán: A Completely Different Roatán

And then we arrived at Kimpton Grand Roatán.
If Tranquilseas feels distinctly Roatán and Anthony’s Key feels like dive camp, Kimpton feels like a beautiful international beach resort.

The grounds are gorgeous and meticulously maintained. There's a large pool just off West Bay Beach, one of the prettiest stretches of white sand on the island. Our room was very nice. The spa and its grounds were spectacular.
And the snorkeling right off the beach is excellent.
West Bay also gives you something we didn't have at our other stops. You can walk down the beach, watch the sunset, choose from several restaurants, or easily connect with a dive or fishing boat.
If your ideal Caribbean vacation involves a beautiful beach, pool, spa, excellent room and plenty of resort amenities, it's easy to understand the appeal.
One of our most memorable meals of the entire trip happened here.
The Green Table experience wasn't available the night we were there, so the resort arranged a private dinner with the chef instead. He personally introduced and described each course as it was served.
Rather than feeling like a substitute for what we'd originally planned, it became something unique to our evening and one of those unexpected experiences we will remember.

But Does Spending More Give You More Roatán?

This was my struggle with the Kimpton.
It's expensive.
Very expensive.
And while the resort is beautiful, I wasn't convinced that spending considerably more money gave us a correspondingly better experience of Roatán.
In some ways, it gave us less of it.
We could have been at a beautiful resort in several destinations around the world. That's not necessarily a criticism. For some travelers, that's precisely what they want.
But we generally want the place we're staying to tell us something about where we are.
West Bay is also convenient if most of what you want is right there, but it isn't necessarily the easiest base for exploring experiences scattered around the rest of the island.
So the Kimpton creates an interesting tradeoff.
You get the most polished traditional resort experience of the three. You also pay substantially more for it.
Whether that's worth it depends almost entirely on what you're coming to Roatán to experience.

So Where Should You Stay in Roatan?

After staying at all three, I wouldn't tell someone simply to book the “best” one.
I'd ask a few questions first.
If you primarily came to dive: Anthony’s Key for a more social dive-resort experience. Tranquilseas for smaller groups and a more customized, personal experience.
If you want to experience more of Roatán: I'd lean toward Tranquilseas. It gave us excellent diving while still encouraging us to get out and explore the island.
If you want a polished beach-resort vacation: Kimpton Grand Roatán. West Bay Beach, excellent snorkeling, a beautiful pool, spa, restaurants and higher-end accommodations are all right there.
If you're bringing a non-diver along: I'd probably choose between Tranquilseas and Kimpton depending on the experience they want while you're underwater.
And if you asked where Diana and I would choose to stay again, we'd choose Tranquilseas.
It gave us the combination we value most: a distinctive place to stay, people we genuinely enjoyed getting to know, excellent food, great diving and an easy jumping-off point for exploring the rest of Roatán.
But that's us.
The most interesting thing about staying at all three wasn't discovering which resort was best.
It was realizing how dramatically where you stay can change the Roatán you experience.