Hotel Catalonia Royal Tulum, Riviera Maya, Mexico

This was my first experience in Mexico proper, discounting the quick day-trip I had previously taken to Tijuana in my teenage years. Let me begin by saying that this was an excellent introduction to the country, leaving me wanting more.

After considering a few locations, my girlfriend and I opted for flying into Cancun and and purchasing a hotel transfer to/from the airport (about 1.5hrs each way), since this was our first trip to this part of the world. We later found that we probably overpaid by about $20US, so taxi is the way to go. Our lodgings were located between Playa del Carmen and the ruins of Tulum, making access to many of the Riviera Maya's tourist sites very easily accessable.


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Some notes about the hotel. The adults only, all-inclusive hotel has no beach front rooms; instead every room faces a unique walkway made to resemble a tropical rainforest. Well, fact is, you really can't see the walkway due to the dense artificial and groomed jungle off your balconey. The set up leaves a short winding walk to the beach/pool area and to the lobby. The rooms are spacious but not luxurious. The food is delicious! Split between a Mexican restaurant, Tapas bar, Italian restaurant, a burger hut and the sit down grill restaurant, you can switch things up and eat well. The Tapas bar has the must exotic atmosphere, but the food needs to be worked on. The grill is by the beach and serves up fresh catch and good beef, making it our personal favorite. We stayed for nine days and still wanted more. All "top shelf" liquor is available at no extra charge. I had my fair share of Havana Club Cuba Libres and Don Julio Margaritas while sitting on the beach. Also there is a wonderful smoothie bar on the beach which is out of this world! The snorkeling equipment, sea kayaks and the hobby catamaran are all available free of charge. We thought the snorkeling right in front of the hotel was awesome after having seen a school of squid, blow fish, trumpet fish and the regular array of angels and coral. We even spotted a sea turtle while on the catamaran!


The hotel staff was very friendly and multilingual. They have shows every night which basically are mimed or done in numerous languages, much like all of the daily entertainment, such as pool side Bingo. If you do want to get away from being asked to participate in the dance lessons, wateraerobics, waterpolo, volleyball, horseshoes, bocci or whatever other activities they have, I suggest going just beyond the volleyball net by dragging your chair 20ft. to sit in front of the abandoned hotel next door. Its much quieter and less crowded.

We made two excursions away from the confines of the hotel. The first was what we felt the manditory trip to the Ruins of Tulum. Since we were staying at a hotel named after them, we set out one morning shortly after breakfast by waiting across the street from the hotel for a "colectivo" or collective ride van costing only 20 pesos each way.

Once there, you'll find a number of shops lining the unpaved road down to the site, though we found the majority of the merchants to be rude and very unlike the rest of the warm, welcoming locals. One girl, after following my girlfriend around in the shop as if she was going to heist one of the bobbles (she really was looking at bobble head items) changed her price from the floor's 17 pesos to an even 20 at the register. I would save your shopping for the airports duty free, where they sell the same items for the same price.
The tours at the ruins are on the pricy side for Mexican standards. Depending on the number of people in your group, the price goes down per person, so a couple is disenfranchised by this price scheme. We opted to only do the walk through, which in retrospect we should have hired the guide because there is not much in the way of signs to describe what you are looking at or the significance of the site or buildings. The beach there is nice and cool, despite the guards making sure you don't do anything too risky, like go beyond the roped off area or swim too far out snorkeling. Personally, I'd take the beach in front of our resort any day. After braving iguana farm that the site seems to be, the hot sun and the minor rain shower without any shelter, we were back on the trail towards the "colectivo". Before we jumped into one of the waiting vans, we had a bit to eat at a local bar and had what my girlfriend claims the best Mexican meal she ever had with a burrito and some Victoria beer. The 25 minute ride is well worth the trip, however you do it.

The second side trip we took fell into our laps. We were thinking about which of the local parks we should visit and one night at the Tapas bar a man named Tom (I wish I had his last name) gave us a paid for pass for two to Xcaret (pronounced sh-kah-ret) which included food and snorkeling within the park. A trolly bus picks you up at the roadside entrance to the actual park entrance. Inside, don't miss the Mayan huts, or the Mexican mock cemetary. We spent most of the day, after snorkeling through the Cenotes, in the aquarium area. The show at the end of the night is cool and is included in your cost of admission. They have pyrotechnics, falconry and ancient games played in the "native" garb.

So after nine days in the sun, we took it easy most of the time, but had a couple of cool out of resort adventures. The "colectivos" are safe and will take you to Playa or to any of the other surrounding attractions for a fraction of the cost of a taxi. The other folks who had come to the Riviera Maya on previous trips said that in front of the Catalonia Royal Tulum was the best beach they had seen in the area. That, the warmth of Mexican hospitality and the many unexplored attractions has left me with a thirst to see more of what our southern neighbor has to offer.