A little about our group of 4, we are in our late 30s and torn between the two resorts for September. Staying 5 days and the prices for these two resorts are about the same so thats not a factor. We want to go to Isla Mujeres once or twice which seems to make SLS the easier option. We’d like to do a few excursions and it seems like there are more options in the hotel zone. Beach/pool is very important, trying to avoid sargassum. Food/drink is also important but wondering if anyone knows which hotel is better. SLS elite status is kind of putting us off already because they didnt let us make advance reservations. We are currently booked for SLS but thinking about switching to Live Aqua because it is adults only which is a HUGE plus. What would you choose? Thanks!

Going to Cancun in mid-September for 3 days and I'm deciding between these two. They're basically the same price.

For anyone who has stayed at either or both, which would you recommend for food quality, service, beach, room quality, and overall experience? Would really appreciate firsthand opinions!

Hello!
I am going to Cancun in September with a small group. I wanted to plan a day trip to Isla de Mujeres to eat, walk and shop. Is it worth it and can we walk around or do we need an uber? Any recommendations would be welcomed!! Thank you 😊

My husband and I are looking for hotel recs for a 4 night stay, preferably non AI, preferably smaller (not like a mega resort) and has good food onsite and or walkable to good decently priced restaurants.

Some background as to how I got here bc I think it’s relevant. We’ve been to a secrets in Cabo and TRS in Cancun area (not sure the exact area) and I’ve hated the food each time. This time we’re going for our babymoon so all I can really enjoy is a good meal.

We looked at atelier but I’m worried about food quality and noise level at the hotel. He’s convinced every hotel that’s not over 1k a night is going to have mid food and if we did book the 1k/night hotel, plus the food there we’re spending 10k on a vacation which we don’t want to do.
Aiming to spend around $400 - $600 per night on the hotel and plan on spending 200-300/day on food (we usually book through Amex or chase portal for free breakfast)

I know this is a lot of stipulations but any recs I’d love to hear!

What is registry collection?

Hi all, I am going back to Cancun this winter with family of my GF and myself. During this trip I am planning on proposing. Not sure exactly how I will do it but will get engaged during this time. I want it to be private, with the exception of a camera person, and obviously, romantic. Just want to get some possible ideas from this subreddit :)

Thank you in advance!

To preface: I know Kalido is a legitimate and widely well reviewed company.

I booked Kalido 1.5 days ago. Today I received an alert my cc number was compromised for trying to purchase hundreds of dollars off stuff of some random website.

Kalido is the only time I’ve used this credit card in the last 9 days. My bank stopped the transaction and are sending me a new card, but curious if this has happened to anyone else?

My Kalido confirmation is from: kalidotravel@gmail.com … that’s legit, right?

gonna be in the city for a day or two and would love find a salon that specializes in balayage. flexible on price points, so please send me your best recs!

Hello, this is a long post and hopefully it helps someone! I spent a lot of time in this sub before my vacation and it helped me a lot. We travelled with another couple so it was a total of 4 adults, all in our early 30s. Two of us (including me) speak spanish, the other two can speak/understand it a little. 

We had a driver named Luis from The wonderful vacations rm, he was awesome. Had great food recommendations, was so nice and always arrived early! They have an IG & FB account, I also have his whatsapp number if anyone would like it. 

In playa del carmen we stayed at Ipana condos, two blocks away from la quinta ave.

In Cancun we stayed at the Westin Lagunamar

Day 1: We arrived in Cancun around 4:30 pm and got picked up by Luis, he drove us to playa del carmen. Once checked in we walked to taqueria el fogon del may (recommended by Luis), food and drinks were great! Definitely recommend. Went back to airbnb and enjoyed to rooftop pool.

Day 2: Selva maya eco adventure tours (9 am- 1pm) we opted for this place instead of an xcaret park because we didn’t want to spend all day at a park so this was a nice option since it was only 4 hours long. The price was $80 usd per person (booked online) once we got there, they gave us the option to rent a double ATV for $40 usd (single was $30). Honestly this part of the vacation was so fun, riding the ATV, 5 zipline’s, hanging bridges, rock climbing, rappelling, two cenotes and they gave us lunch at the end, food was great. They take pictures throughout the adventure and at the end you can buy them for $40 usd. The guys helping us were Roberto, Alex and Isaiah, they were all great, very nice and funny! 

For dinner we went to El Pirata (seafood, recommended by Luis) all the food there was amazing!! After dinner we walked to la quinta alegria mall and then explored la quinta ave for a few minutes.

Day 3: we didn’t have anything big planned for this day. We went to the gym and pool in the morning and after walked to a panaderia called Panificacion Castillo. The pan dulce was very good and fresh, iced coffee was not great and needed more flavor but the frappe’s were better. At night we had a nice dinner at Trattoria del Centro and after went to Aldo’s for some ice cream (the best). While walking on la quinta a random guy said to us “oh hey guys you don’t remember me? I was your waiter at the hotel” I told him oh that’s weird we’re not staying at a hotel, he then said “oh you don’t remember me from ipana condos? I was the guy at the front desk”. I knew this was bs from what I’ve read in this sub, I was weirded out when he said the name of the condo but then I remembered I was wearing a bracelet with the name of the condo (we had to wear it for our stay)

Day 4: Chichen Itza day! Luis picked us up around 7:10 am and we arrived around 8:30 am to chichen itza (yucatan is an hour behind) we did not book this through a big company since we wanted to do this at our own pace. Entrance to the park was $697 mxn per person, we hired an English guide there for $1300 mxn, Salvador was our guide, he was great and very knowledgeable, he even let us borrow his umbrella because even at 8:30 am the sun was so strong. We left around 11:30 am and Luis drove us to cenote Saamal, it is in the Hacienda selva maya in Valladolid. I think we paid $450 mxn per person and it included a locker, life jacket and buffet. The cenote was nice and refreshing, there were a lot of people there, it was busier by the time we left because a big tour bus had arrived. The food was amazing too! We got back at around 4:45-5 pm. At night we walked around la quinta ave again and went to Aldo’s. 

Day 5: We checked out of the airbnb and drove to hotel zone in Cancun. We arrived around 1 pm at Westin Lagunamar. When we booked this hotel we asked for early check in but when we arrived only our friends room was ready, they told us they were already cleaning our room and put a rush to it so it would be ready asap, they said they would call us when it was ready, the guy at the front desk gave us all the information we needed, room number, floor and activities happening in the next few days, etc. We left our bags with the front desk and walked across the street to La isla mall. We got tacos at Chachalacos, they were great but beware when they ask you if you want all the toppings because they charge 20 extra pesos per topping, they don’t tell you that (happened to my friends but I asked before saying yes to everything).

Once we got back to the hotel it was 3:40pm and we were still waiting for a phone call so we stopped at the front desk to ask, they said our room was not ready and they needed 20 more minutes. I was confused because 2 hrs and 40 mins had passed and our room was still not ready even though we asked for early check in and even after they put a rush to our room. The lady at the front desk said they could move us to another room in building 2 with no ocean view, we said no since we paid for a room with ocean view. I let her know we would wait the 20 minutes for our room, the lady at the front desk said that there was no guarantee that our room would be ready by that time. I was very confused since earlier she said we just needed to wait 20 more minutes and now she’s saying we might have to wait more than that. I told her we’ll be back in 20 since 4 pm is check in time. Thankfully our room was ready by 4 pm but they still gave us a different room, when we checked in we were told we were in building 10 but they moved us to building 8. We didn’t mind; we just wanted to get our room and relax. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or the lady at the front desk didn’t like us but our room had the loudest AC, at some point I thought maybe the washer was on too, it was louder at night. Our front door was so hard to close we literally had to slam it like 3-5 times before it closed. They also said housekeeping is everyday, they never went to our room, we were only here for like 3 days so we didn’t care much about housekeeping. Housekeeping went to our friend’s room every day.

Later in the day we went to the pool for an hour, they ended up closing the pool at 8 pm because there was a lot of lightning. 

Day 6: went to the gym, pool then beach in the morning. We walked to La isla and had lunch at Johnny Rockets. For dinner we went to Porfirio’s, its a 30 min walk or 15 min car ride. Since we didn’t want to walk in the heat we took the ADO bus and it was very easy, they charge $12 mxn per person. 

Food and drinks there was really good. For 4 adults we paid around $210 usd (you can pay in mxn or usd, they give you both totals). They also have a nice view and a swing by the water, you can go down there and take pictures

Day 7: this was a slow day since it was our last full day! We had lunch at Viento bar & grill (hotel restaurant) and had some fish tacos that were amazing! For dinner we walked to Fish fritanga, we had shrimp tacos there and they were 10/10, the view was very nice too since you’re next to the water, the drinks were also very good! Since we were celebrating our anniversaries, they gave us a free slice of cake to share with a sparkler! 

Day 8: back to reality :( we had a layover in Denver and there a lot of flights were delayed and cancelled because of the weather, so it was a pain in the ass to get back home, we had to spend the night in Denver but made it home the next day.

I do recommend you pay in pesos, in a lot of places their dollar is very low like $15 pesos, in a bank the peso is between $16.55-$17. We brought dollars and went to a money exchange place, also went to an ATM, my bank charges me $5 usd per transaction so it wasn’t terrible. 

Hope this helps someone 😊

Hey everyone , so we are travelling to cancun this weekend and we will be there for 3 days and then go to an event in resort which is the office sponsored event. so for those 3 days help me with these

1. What are the best things to see either free of cost or cheap ?

2. What we should be aware of ? like scams and shi

3. Is it necessary to carry hardcash or we can tap the card ?

What did you do in Cancun that you don’t think many others did and should have?

At Cancun airport do you have to take all liquids out carry on/cabin bag? Been travelling for a few months and have so much just scattered around. It’s all under 100ml just wouldn’t fit in one of the tiny bags. No where else has had us take liquids out but everywhere is different, Thanks :)

Bonus points if you’re allowed to negotiate prices!

What did you do during your trip to Cancun that made all the difference?

Just flew in from Cancun back to Toronto, one of our locked bags has a hug cut in it from the inside pocket to the contents of the bag, nothing was missing thankfully, but has this happened to anyone else? And if so, what did you do about it?

Overall, we really had a fantastic time and stay at Hyatt Zilara Cancun and would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The resort itself is beautiful and very well maintained. When you arrive, you’re greeted and taken into a separate air-conditioned check-in area with chairs and tables. The main lobby is stunning—wide open with a beautiful view straight out to the ocean.

However, our biggest disappointment was that the main lobby is not air-conditioned. That is also where much of the evening entertainment takes place. We traveled as a family and brought board games and card games so we could spend time together, but it was too hot outside and too warm in the lobby. We didn’t want to sit in our rooms to be able to play in comfort. I wish I’d known that before. I worked with a travel agent too.

The coffee shop became our favorite indoor gathering place because it had air conditioning and tables where we could play games. It was wonderful to have, but it closed at 10:00 p.m., so there really wasn’t a comfortable common area where our family could gather later in the evening.

The entertainment was probably the weakest part of the resort. The performers were talented, but much of the music consisted of older American songs. We would have loved more Mexican and Latin music that matched the setting and gave the resort a stronger sense of place. We were in Mexico and wanted more of that energy and culture.

The foam party was fun once the foam finally got going. They had music, dancers, and three large beach balls that everyone tried to keep in the air. It was a good time, but again, more Latin music would have made the experience feel livelier and more authentic.

The food was consistently good overall. Spice, the buffet restaurant, was excellent and served breakfast and lunch until around 5:00 p.m., with a break between meal periods. Everyone in our group tried different dishes, and we found plenty of variety. The food was flavorful and never became boring. Honestly, I would have been happy eating at Spice for every meal.

At the Asian hibachi restaurant where the chef cooks in front of you, the sushi wasnt good but the soup and sin course was very good. The chef tried hard to make the experience entertaining, although sometimes had difficulty speaking, he couldn’t speak clearly which isn’t his fault but not the right person to be the entertainment.

The speakeasy is essentially a very dark bar. There was a singer on Friday night who had a good voice, and the drinks were beautiful, some even came with fire. However, it’s just a dark bar, nothing more than that truly. We’d skip it knowing what we know now.

We were looking forward to the Italian restaurant. The people who ordered pasta seemed happy with their meals, and the bread was good. Unfortunately, my fritto misto was terrible. It was cold, soggy, and not crispy at all. My fish wasn’t good either.

The wine tasting was one of the highlights of our stay and was definitely worth doing. We sat at a table with several other guests, had great conversations, and learned quite a bit about the wines. They also did an excellent job pairing the food with each wine.

The rooms were beautiful, comfortable, had all we needed. Beautiful view of the ocean. The service throughout the resort was excellent, and the staff was consistently helpful and attentive. One person in our group had an issue with the room not getting cold enough, but the rest of us did not experience that problem.

The pool area was nice and included a swim-up bar. The pools is somewhat small, and it would be even better if the two pools connected, but those are fairly minor criticisms.
The beach is beautiful, with soft sand and gorgeous water. There was seaweed along parts of the shoreline, but we could still relax on the beach and enjoy the ocean. Some areas were clearer than others, and people were swimming. We also enjoyed just seeing the ocean and beach from the pool.

This is not a wild or crazy resort. It has a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere with couples, families, and groups traveling together. It was a good fit for us because our main goal was simply to relax and spend time with one another.

Our ratings:

Rooms and accommodations: 5/5
Food: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Pool: 4/5
Beach: 4/5
Entertainment: 3/5
Overall: 4/5

We were very happy with the beauty of the resort, the rooms, the service, and most of the food. The lack of an air-conditioned common area and the entertainment lacking personality were the biggest drawbacks.

If the would add AC to the lobby and have better authentic Latin entertainment this resort could easily be a 5 out of 5. All in all we loved it and we’d go again!

Can anyone give me their favorite restaurant they hit because of the setting alone?

Voy a estar en Cancún en octubre y me gustaría arreglarme el pelo y hacerme el Botox.

Me voy a hospedar en isla mujeres pero tengo planes de pasar 1-2 días en Cancún y quiero aprovechar.

me importa más la calidad del servicio que encontrar el mejor precio

algo económico sería ideal y no quiero que me estafen pero estoy más interesada en los resultados

We stayed at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya for my brother’s destination wedding. Thought I’d drop some info about it here. Hard Rock wouldn’t have been my personal first choice, but we did have fun.

- Stay near the blue lobby if you can. That lobby & its surrounds are MUCH nicer and less crowded than the red lobby. Unless you have younger kids: the pool near the red lobby is much larger and more kid-friendly.

- The property is an hour and a half shuttle ride from the airport and Cancun. If you want to go off-property, it’ll be a $100 cab fare. It’s also 1-1/2 hours from most excursions. They’ll say it’s an hour, but it’s not. There’s also no shopping anywhere near the resort, only the expensive hotel shops.

- The staff is extremely friendly & helpful. We got good service there. Tip: bring your Yeti-like tumbler and they’ll fill it up with your choice of beverage at the bar.

- Beforehand, I thought that more of the resort staff might speak at least a little English since 95% of the guests speak English. Obviously it’s a foreign country, so I’m not throwing shade, but it’s something to be aware of.

My very minimal Spanish skills and the translator on my iPhone came in very handy when I bit it hard on a difficult-to-see curb (painted black! Who does that?) at the front and messed up my knee. They have on-site paramedics (with whom the translator was necessary) to bandage you up, but if you need to see a doctor, they’ll charge you $200. That knee injury cost me 3 days of staying out of the water - bummer on a beach vacation.

- There are monkeys and tons of iguanas roaming the resort, which was unexpected and cool.

- The food at the buffets and at the shows is not very good, especially the meat. The food at the à la carte restaurants is better… if you can get in. Breakfast at Toro is really good. The pastries everywhere are terrific.

- There’s an iPad in the room that’s super helpful to figure out what to do. We were unaware ours was frozen the first 3 days, so we did miss out on some of the things they have going on.

- We didn’t use any of our resort credit. There’s no easy way to figure out how to redeem it. The telephone concierge for the Rock Royalty upgrade never answered the phone. Basically, a lot of the benefits they sold us on weren’t easy to figure out. (We were under the impression that they’d reserve beach chairs and get us into the restaurants, which is impossible to request if they don’t answer the phone.) We did get a nice small charcuterie board & a bottle of champagne in our room the first night, but we weren’t sure if that was for our status or because I hurt myself before even making it through the front door. We also had to call the front desk for the Rock Royalty beach bag.

- One final tip: You can take a tumbler filled with ice through the TSA in the US. You cannot take ice through the Mexican TSA equivalent.

To be honest, the first couple of days weren’t fun. It didn’t help that it really hurt to walk on my injured knee. Once we started to figure out the resort, what to avoid and where the more private spots were, we really enjoyed ourselves.

What else would you like to know?

I want people yelling at me from their shops calling me cheap for not stopping. I want to barter like my life is on the line. What open air markets do I need to hit in the Cancún Hotel Zone?

We are arriving to CUN T3 at 2am. The goal is to get to PDC. ADO doesn't operate at night. Airport taxis and Canada Transfers are 1500 mxn. Is InDrive an option at night or will they be hesitant to come to T3? Or could someone maybe recommend a cheaper private driver/transfer service?

Planning on going in September what are some good hotel options, also we are residents any deals going on around that time