Akumal Beach Resort Reviews

we would never have travelled to any resort more that 4hr flight from uk but our daughter decided to get married in mexico - and now i kno i'll be booking similar holidays in the future. the akumal beach resort is absolutely beautiful. our accomodation was clean - fresh sheets towels everyday - lovely towel art! and the view from the balcony - we were in tulum block - was stunning - beautiful sunrises that take your breath away. the location was just perfect beach, bar, swimming pool - what more do u need?! there were loads of activities - aqua aerobics - this was fun, learn how to dance the merenga ( i think thats how u spell it) the staff were really friendly and enthusiastic but not pushy. theres a games room, archery, cant comment on the kids club ours were to old for this.

we were unable to eat in the italian restaurant because it was fully booked we tried a few days before we went home - so that was a bit disappointing. the self service restaurant was basic but plenty of it - always a fresh dish being cooked either meat or fish - we definitely didnt go hungary. i think the hi-light of our holiday apart from the wedding was swimming with turtles this was brill. we hired the equipment ourselves later in the holiday for 6 dollars and swam with them again. akumal village - about 10mins down the beach - has well stocked supermarket and souvenier shops also internet cafe - cheaper that the hotel - for keeping in touch back home. we went to tulum - that was a lovely day out - if u go take a towel theres access to the beach from the ruins - beautiful turquoise bay - just right to cool off in - alot of steps down to the beach but worth it. lovely market there to and only 2 dollars on the bus! we took the bus into playa del carmen thats a good day for retail therapy! but if you dont want to move you have everything you need at akumal beach.

we shall definitely be going back!

This was our first time to Mexico, so wasn't sure what to expect. It looks like each hotel complex is in its own grounds. The drive down the dual carriageway from the airport would indicate so, with big entrances to hotel complexes about 5 miles apart. The Akumal Beach Resort (ABR)being no exception. The drive from the airport was a bit boring. There are no roundabouts, so every drop off meant a 3 mile trek back up the dual carraigeway, heading back the way we'd just come to find a retourno (an area designated for turning around on the dual carriage way).
The ABR was the last drop off on the bus, so the journey took about 2 hours.

The place itself is very nice. Its basic, simple, and uncomplicated.
The room was clean and tidy, maid service and fresh towels everyday, bedding changed every few days.
A few things could have done with some finer details though. On arrival, our toilet as blocked and the hair dryer didn't work. The repair man turned up inside about 15 mins of me reporting it, and was resolved in less than an hour.
The shower door wasn't in good shape, and looked like some sort of bodged repair had been attempted a few times. I didn't report this as we only spend about 5 minutes each in there anyway.
In general the rooms were nice, but not what you'd call posh or plush.. basic and functional..

All the staff were really friendly.

From what I could see, late arrivals are well catered for, as the staff would put out a small buffet occasionally late at night in the reception area, we could only presume for those guests arriving after the restaurant had closed.

There are a number of bars dotted around with snacks being served from about 11am until 6pm.
Breakfast in the main restaurant at 6:30am until abou 10am, Lunch at 12:30 until about 3, and evening meal from about 6:30pm until 9:30 ish, so no shortage of food or drinks.
The food in the main restaurant was superb, no shortage of choice.
The kids were well catered for too.
There wasn't what youd call kids meals available, but lots of stuff that they are familiar with, pork chops, chicken, lamb chops etc.
There are also 2 a la carte restaurants.. Italian and Mexican, which you have to pre book.
The Italian was rank bad.. we joked about throwing the lasagne out of the window, then commented about lasagne on the pavement everytime we walked past.
We never tried the Mexican.

The pool area is well maintained and clean, with sunbeds dotted around.

One word of warning aout the sunbeds on the beach.. You need to be prepared to get up very early if you want one in the shade. Most of them had been taken up with towels before 6:30am. However, we found that if you walked down the beach to the right behind the main restaurant, you could find some down there even upto 9am. The only problem with this, if your'e a drinker or like to be in the middle of it all then your'e away from the bars and other stuff. I suppose an advantage to this, your'e also away from the noise of the entertainment crew doing water aerobics and other things around the pool.

The place is a little isolated. There is a so called village about a 5 minute walk up the beach, 3 shops and an internet cafe, and that's your lot. So don't plan on going anywhere in the evening unless you book a taxi.
Incidentally, the internet cafe in the village, is much cheaper than the hotel for Internet and telephone. Saved us a few quid with the kids emailing home etc.

Playa Del Carmen is worth an evening out, but everything closes at 11pm, so if you are going to go Carmen, go there about 5pm. Taxi to Carmen was about 18 quid each way if i remember rightly, so not a cheap night out.
Tullum ruins is worth a quick visit if thats your bag, but don't do what we did.. we asked our taxi driver to come back in about 3 hours.. we had nothing to do for the last 2 of them.

The diving is nice, and for any qualified divers, I would recommend doing a cenotes dive. Cenotes are fresh water cave systems. Its not as daunting as it sounds. You have a guide who knows the system like the back of his had, plus all the routes are marked out with ropes, so you follow a rope around a set route, with caverns to ascend into every five minutes.

This was one of our best holidays.

The location is superb.Our room was spacious but basic.We were there for relaxation and sightseeing and certainly got both. The excursions are expensive but are worth it. Our favourite was to Coba and Aktunchen.Also not to be missed are Chichen Itza (booked through the hotel) and Tulum and Xcaret. We took a taxi to Tulum and the collectivo (local bus) to Xcaret and Playa del Carmen.

We found the food in the hotel just ok. If you arrive late on at the buffet the choice is very poor. Lunch was marginally better than dinner. We ate once at the Mexican restaurant and twice at the Italian. Both were better than the buffet, understandably so as they were catering for fewer people. Cocktails at the Moonrise bar were better than at the main bar. The singers were absolutely awful - especially the woman - and they were on every night! However we weren't there for the entertainment. Akumal means place of the turtles and on our second last night we were priviledged to see a turtle lay its eggs on the beach just in front of our room.What an experience!

Apart from the excursions we spent very little money. Our advice is to take pesos and forget the dollars. Departure tax can be paid in pesos as well as in dollars and tips in pesos will be appreciated. Don't forget high factor suncream. We had seriously underestimated the strength of the sun. Start off with factor 45.To sum up this holiday has finished us for the Med. It was excellent value and we shall be looking at something similar for next year. Highly recommended.

The flights were very good on the First Choice Airways ";revamped"; Boeing 767 planes which have ample leg room ,comfortable seats and individual consoles for t.v. ,films, radio and games.Transfers and booking in was pleasant and hassle free.

All ";First choice"; rooms were advertised as ocean view.Ours was fine (in the 700 block -called Itzel )but in some rooms views were partially obscured by trees.Some of the rooms on the complex were not ";ocean view";.
Our room was not luxurious but clean and comfortable and we could have done with a little more storage space.

The staff were always friendly and attentive without being ";pushy"; and spoke good English.

Food - plenty to choose from in the buffet restaurant with always at least one option being freshly cooked (either meat or fish). Italian restaurant - we found was very good during our first week but the menu was not so good for the second week. The Mexican restaurant we thought was good and we went 3 times.

Bars - friendly and efficient staff (although did 'run out' of certain spirits at the end of our first week and didn't replace them.) Personally, we were disappointed that the 'Moonrise' bar was only open until 1700 (therefore was not aptly named!) but would do any cocktail you asked for.There was also a third bar at the pool.

Pool - plenty of activity if you wanted it, clean, sufficient beds but not much shade.

Beach - clean. Not all areas suitable for swimming (due to rocks) or snorkelling. Sufficient beds but, once again, not enough shade areas.
Our biggest moan of our holiday was perhaps the 'having' to get up at 5.30 am to reserve beds with shade - although this did enable us to see many beautiful sun rises over the sea. We have to complain about some of the people who reserved the beds and then didn't use them all day!! - we find this most unfair and this was perhaps the main reason that there wasn't enough beds/shade to go round.

Entertainment - was supplied by the animation staff (morning, noon and night) and they worked very hard. The hotel has its own theatre for evening shows. There was a resident duo in the main bar each evening who were both very good.

Akumal - itself is a small village with not many shopping opportunities - Playa del Carmen being the nearest shopping centre. (Buses - 2 USdollars each way)

Excursions - we booked ours through First Choice but could be booked through the Hotel. We went to Tulum (half a day) and to Xcaret (full day). Enjoyed both and guides were good and entertaining and 'knew their stuff'. In Xcaret we stayed all day (though there were options for you to return to your hotel for lunch or before the shows began) and we stayed for the shows. The first was brilliant but, to be honest, the second one went on a bit too long. And, the park which had been relatively quiet during the day was very busy for the shows.

Tipping - was not necessary but we found our friends from the USA were doing it quite a lot (bars, restaurants). We left tips for all the staff at the end of our holiday. (Being English we are not habitual tippers - as a Canadian pointed out!!!)

Reps - our First Choice Reps were very good and helpful.

Weather - while we were there is was hot and breezy (some days it was positively windy!)

We found Akumal Beach Resort to be quiet and relaxing. Good for snorkellers. There were people of varying ages and nationalities at this hotel and some young children but no noisy teenagers.

Would we return? Yes.

we stayed at this hotel in june having read previous reviews we thought this would be out of this world for a 3* but all i can say is dont go if you expect to be waited on because this hotel runs off self service.

good points the beach was out of this world you cld snorkel for hours and get lost its amazing all the kind of fish and tutles you see.and always somewher to sit wheter in the shade or not always plenty of longers

food was okay at this resort but did get a little boring on the 2nd week as for the drinks this was the best place for cocktails all fresh ingredientd bananas orange all blended together

overall wlnt go bck as too quit at night and we like quiet but i mean this place is boring after 7

BEWARE OF MOZZIES

ALL IN ALL NOT THAT BAD BUT WILL PAY THE EXTRA NEXT TIME TO STAY IN MAYBEE 4 OR 5 *

ENJOY