Sandos Caracol Eco Resort

Checked in to a smart “Airey” reception area, were checked in quickly by the smart friendly reception staff. And were then taken to our room block on a golf buggy. The hotel is spread over a large area, and the walks between some blocks and the pools, restaurants etc can be quite large. The room itself was large with separate toilet/shower rooms, a main double bed that was soo big I think my wife and I were in separate post code areas and a bunked bed, also large, each bed was 3.6ft wide, so great for my 11 and 16 years olds. A large screen TV sat on the wall with a large selection of Mexican and US channels. Our TV had 2 dead spots on it, which was a bit annoying, but not the end of the world. A fridge that was re-plenished every day, a safe and a water fountain, were in a wardrobe and there was a hanging rail next to it. Other drawer units etc were in the room meaning there was more than enough storage for 4 people. Overall I’d give the room 4/5. Most of the hotel facilities, are on “Main Street”, at one end is the lobby, and at the other is the main buffet restaurant, sport bar etc. down the street is also the theatre, shops, Kids club, Activity desk, snack bar. The kids club looked great, had a soft play zone etc.

Restaurants: There are a number of restaurants in the hotel, however access to them was a bit sporadic, the main buffet restaurant, was large, there were short queues at the busier times, but 5 mins wait was the most we waited, the food was always excellent quality and the choice was excellent. I don’t have t strongest stomach, but never had a issue, nor did my family. Free drinks were on tap, but during our stay it changed from self service and waiter/waitress service, not sure why but it was a pain. Next to the Main buffet was an Italian, this was a hybrid restaurant, it had a buffet, but also gave you a small menu that had a choice of 5 or 6 main courses to choose from. This was excellent quality. You have a stand at the door and ask for a table and if there is none available they give you a buzzer thing, and you can go across the road to the bar to wait. The most annoying was the Mexican restaurant, because well, there isn’t one, the building is there, but its closed, all year apparently, not because its being rebuilt etc, its being used by the staff. Theres a Japanese restaurant, this is a booking only, and you have to book BEFORE 4pm on the day before you want a table, so if you want to eat there on Tuesday, you have to book before 4pm on Monday. We never got to try it. There is a Steak restaurant, but that is in the Adults only area, so if you’re a family, you’re not going there. And there is another restaurant, this is primarily for the “executive” guests, and everyone can use it if there’s a spare table, but its lucky if you get one. Now all that sounds a pain, and it was, but the main buffet restaurant always had a great selection of cold and hot food from all round the world, think my daughter camped out at the sushi counter. There are snack bars at the waterpark, the main pool and the bar opposite the Italian restaurant. Overall I’d give the restaurant section 4/5, the fact that the Mexican restaurant was closed really annoyed me.

Pools/Waterpark/Beach: There are 4 pools/waterparks in the hotel, one of the those is adult only, so never saw that, There are 2 main pools for everyone else to use, the main Activity pool, which is next to the beach, it’s a quite a shallow pool, at just 3ft deep, at one end is a swim up bar/snack bar, and that end is the end where water polo is done etc, then a bigger pool, whish is slightly deeper at 4.6ft deep, this is the pool we spent our time at. This also has a bar, but no snack bar. Then there is the waterpark. This is split into 3 areas, the littlies area, with multiple slides of about 6-10ft high, then the slides for people below 130cm high, there are 4 slides about 15 foot high, then the main slides for people over 130cm height, there are 7 slides of different speeds, although the slowest one was closed during out visit. The bar in the waterpark DOES NOT serve alcohol, which is fine, and the snack bar servers burgers, hotdogs etc. The pools, nearly always had leaves in them, and some at the bottom, but when your in jungle leaves are not something that can be stopped, and I’m not going to hold that against them, there was always plenty of beds available, and the surroundings were always clean and tidy. You get cards for towels and the cards must be returned in check out or you get fined $20. The beach was nice and had a watersports hut at one end for Kayaks (free) jet ski’s (not free) etc. there were a number of artificial wave breaks from about 200 yards out, which mean’t there were no big waves breaking, but there was a red seaweed thing which mean the closer bits where not that attractive. Overall I’d give the pools 3.5

Evening entertainment: Evening entertainment was done at the theatre except for Mondays where it is done as a separate show location. They are all a singing/dancing shows of either traditional Mayan or more modern stuff, quality was always good quality. Overall 4/5

Animals: If you’re a bit edgy around animals this may not be the place for you. Whilst we were there we saw, Coati’s, mini capybara, various lizards, spider monkeys, cats, and a tarantula. The coati are everywhere, and are constantly after food, they take peoples bags etc looking for food, and we met a couple of families that had their rooms ransacked by them and monkeys because they left their balcony door open. I haven’t got an issue with the animals, leave them alone and they will leave you alone.

Other stuff: There is a tennis court, paddle court and pickleball court which can be booked at the activity desk, free of charge, the hotel also offer an snorel swim in a in site Cenote and a snorkel river tour as well, also free. There is a bike hire for a path around the grounds, although, you have to be 12+ to rent a bike, and there is Segway hire. The car park is of a decent size but its pot luck if there’s a space, we hired a car for 3 days, 1 of the days we got a space the easily, 1 day took a while to find somewhere, the 3rd day there wasn’t space anywhere, and cars were parked up the hotels drive trying to find a space, the next day the car park was deserted, so its like locals come to the hotel for weekends. There were markets down the main street 2 or 3 nights of the week offering the usual touristy gifts, the shop is well stocked but is quite expensive. A taxi into Playa Del Carmen is 300 Pesos, just ask for the middle section of 5th Avenue, for the main shopping zone. Car Hire: We’re not a fan of organised tours so we hired a car through the Seek & Go desk in the lobby, this was through Europcar, and was $80 per day, it was easy to arrange and Dariana at Europcar was excellent. Driving in Mexico was very easy, we drove to Chichen Itza (2.5 hrs), Coba (1.5 hrs) and Xplor (20 mins), We got stopped at a police check driving to Chichen Itza, but we had been warned that this might happen. The police were friendly and polite, after checking my driving license, the cars registration and quick check of us and the car we were on our way. There were 2 tolls driving the Chichen Itza, one for 356 Pesos, and one for 105 pesos, so that’s about £20GBP/£26USD each way.

The staff at the hotel were always polite, smart and helpful!

So would I recommend this hotel? yes I would, there is a long list of great hotels in the Playa Del Carmen area which I’m sure are just as good, We’ve previously stayed at the Occidental Xcarat hotel which was amazing. But I think this hotel does some good things at a good price. Overall 4/5.

Shout out to the wonderful service we had in the Italian restaurant Toscana.. Angela and Jesus are one of the best servers we have had during our stay. Angela explained the menu well and helped make a, fabulous Choice in trying the Rissoto and the Brisket. Jesus kept our table clean and our drinks filled. Thank you for making our dinner experience a pleasant one.