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Hotels

A quick guide to Cancun beach hotels

By Faera Siegel

The following reviews are based on my own personal experiences and reports from friends and relatives who have stayed in these hotels. I selected these hotels from those in the Hotel Zone on the basis of overall quality and reliability, with the Ritz Carlton as the guide for what a perfect large hotel should be. These are all large, corporate hotels -- not very intimate, but they all provide as close to a perfect stay as you can get in Cancun.

All rates are in U. S. dollars plus tax. Not all hotels had set their next winter rates as of press time. The rates quoted are what are known as "rack" rates -- probably the highest rate the hotel offers. You can expect a much better rate in a package or by simply asking for a better deal from your travel agent or the hotel itself.

The details on rooms and facilities were obtained by telephone at press time. If some items are not included it's because the hotel was unable to provide them. Most of these hotels have fairly elaborate websites and are well-connected with travel agents, so you can easily obtain up-to-date information on your own.

Please note that when dialing from the United States or outside Cancun, drop the first "8" in the telephone number. In cancun, you must dial the full 7-digit number.

Ritz Carlton

PHONE 885-08-08 FAX 85-10-15. E-MAIL ritzb@cancun.com.mx MANAGER Luis Marcó; ROOMS 365 SUMMER Std $220 Jr $275 WINTER Std $415 Jr $675 MEETING FACILITIES avg. max cap. 1,000 pp. (12 meeting rooms)

Everything that you would expect from the Ritz. Best Hotel of the year award winner for two consecutive years. Considered the fourth best hotel on the world, according to Travel & Leisure.

Westin Regina

PHONE 885-00-86 FAX 85-02-96 E-MAIL westin@sybcom.com MANAGER Mauricio Martínez de Alba ROOMS 395 SUMMER Std $200 Jr $400

Very quiet, decent food and beautiful interior design. The gym (complete with sauna and steam bath) is especially refreshing. Ocean front pools (heated, perfect for swimming at night) and Jacuzzis. Esthetically, this is one of my favorites.

Sun Palace

PHONE 885-15-55 FAX 885-20-40 INTERNET http://www.palaceresorts.com MANAGER Alfredo Espinoza ROOMS 227 SUMMER Std $384 (all inclusive)

Small, great view from the pool and deck which is situated about one story off the ground. Special scuba diving pool, an excellent facility if you plan to get certified or need to brush up on your scuba skills. It is an all-inclusive hotel. Most all inclusive (and the Sun Palace is not an exception) include a peppy activities staff, who pursue guests to join noisy bathing suit/drinking contests and volleyball.

Hilton (formerly Caesar Park)

PHONE 881-80-00 FAX 881-80-80 MANAGER Patricio Galeana SUMMER Std $190 Jr $360 WINTER Std $330 Jr $550

The hotel lobby and restaurants beam with natural light. The staff is very friendly and the pool area has a very open feeling. The Caesar Park has its own golf course. The landscaping is beautiful.

Club Internacional

PHONE 881-51-00 MANAGER Lorrenzo Chan FAX 881-51-80 INTERNET http://www.royalresorts.com ROOMS 221 Club does not publish rental rates which may be obtained from OWNERS RENTAL POOL 1-800-933-5555

All the urban comforts of home. Food is reliable, the apartments are immaculate and ample with great kitchen space (about the only dishwashers in Cancun, complete with the correct detergent). This is where my mother and her husband stay when they come to Cancun. So do my dad's landlords, James and Mae Pope.

Part of Royal Resorts group with very low-keyed, high-integrity interval sales program, this is an excellent place to stay if you have a time share elsewhere with an exchange program.

Melía Cancun

PHONE 885-11-14 FAX 885-12-63 E-MAIL meliavta@cancun.rce.com.mx MANAGER Ricardo Verdayes ROOMS 491 SUMMER Std $190 Jr $345 WINTER Std $330 Jr $520 MEETING FACILITIES main meeting room 450 pp. and 3 with 150 pp. cap. each.

The hotel is absolutely beautiful. The lobby ceiling is a tremendous skylight. Dangling plants and indoor garden paths surrounded by trickling water falls give a cool jungle green house effect.

Marriott Casa Magna

PHONE 881-20-00 FAX 881-20-85 MANAGER Manuel Ovies SUMMER Std $140 Jr $450 WINTER Std $355 Jr $600 Std garden view includes full buffet breakfast for 2 adults and two kids under 12 years old. ROOMS 450 MEETING FACILITIES Main meeting room 600 pp dinner 100 theater. 4 smaller rooms 20 to 40 pp each.

Excellent food, great snack bar on the beach. Possibly Cancun's most efficient and reliable service. Excellent for those who don't take chances.

Fiesta Americana Condesa

PHONE 883-14-00 FAX 885-16-50 ROOMS 476.

Surrounded by multicolor lagoons, waterfalls and tropical vegetation. The Condesa has the best beach of the Fiesta American hotels in Cancun

Fiesta Americana Coral Beach

Blvd. Kukulcán;Punta Cancun PHONE 883-29-00 FAX 883-31-73 ROOMS 602 winter $342 All rooms are junior suites with an ocean view, color TV (via satelite), AM/FM radio, bathroom with an independent dressing room, hair dryer, air conditioning, purified water and safe deposit box. 24-Hour Front Desk. Physically Disabled Services. Children under the age of 12 are free.

Massively imposing architecture featuring much polished marble and ornate wrought iron. If you like the Morgan Library in New York, you'll fall in love with the Coral Beach. Designed especially for large groups and business conferences with superb communications facilities including 1500-seat theater and street TV satellite unit hook-up

Fiesta Americana Cancun

PHONE 883-15-44 FAX 883-10-29 E-MAIL jlmarquez@fiestaamericana.com.mx MANAGER Sr. Giovanni Ronghi ROOMS 281 SUMMER Std $169. Jr $300 WINTER Std $202. Jr $299.

Good Mexican food, great lobby, very professional service.Pretty architecture and interior design with relaxed Colonial themes; good for windsurfers and divers because it is located on the bay side.

Hyatt Cancun Caribe

PHONE 883-00-44 FAX 883-15-14 MANAGER Sra. Susan Devine rooms 201

Quiet, quiet, quiet. Great beach, pool and food. Casually elegant. For understated yuppie families or comfortable couples.

Flamingo

PHONE 883-15-44 FAX 883-10-29 MANAGER Roberto Cintrón Díaz ROOMS 222

Nice, small hotel. Less expensive than the major corporate hotels. Nice outdoor dining area. Grounds have a cozy, comfortable feeling.

Camino Real

PHONE 883-01-00 FAX 883-17-30 E-MAIL cun@caminoreal.com MANAGER Robert Vanderbeck ROOMS 381 SUMMER Std $185 Jr $305. WINTER Std $210. Jr $475.

Located on Punta Cancún, where the bay and the caribbean sea meet. Saltwater artificial pond suitable for swimming and windsurfing lessons. Surrounded by a walkaround path with excellent landscaping. Pleasant grounds and reliable service. Close to shopping malls and night life. Meeting facilities 5 fully equipped meeting rooms.

GOLF CLUB

Ocean Club

Paseo Pok-Ta-Pok Lt.2 PHONE 883-33-00 FAX 883-33-00 MANAGER Hugo Boyancé rooms 39 (suites only) SUMMER $80. WINTER $120. Next to the Pok-Ta-Pok Golf couse. MEETING FACILITIES 200 pp.

All suites with kitchenettes in very quiet neighborhood on an island within lagoon formed by the main island of Cancun. Beautifully designed. Some suites have kitchenettes, jacuzzis.

Downtown

Antillano

Av. Tulum & Claveles PHONE 884-15-32 & 84-11-32 FAX 884-18-78 $56 double

White stucco and red tiles

We stayed our first night in Cancun here in 1983. It was then only $12 and a spectacular bargain. Air conditioning, phone, color TV with cable, small interior swimming pool. Outside rooms face Av. Tulum and are quite noisy. Interior rooms are quieter.

Caribe Internacional

Av. Yaxchilán Sunyaxchen PHONE 884-39-99 FAX 884-19-93 $80 per room. Rooms can be converted into suites. Swimming pool and garden.

Modern commercial hotel

Good-sized rooms in well-designed modern building with cafe and lobby bar.

María de Lourdes

Av. Yaxchilán toward Cobá. MAIL Apdo 147, Cancun, Q. Roo 77501 PHONE 884-47-44 & 84-17-21 FAX 884-12-42 $28 single or double

Family-operated budget hotel

Nice shady garden with big trees and swimming pool, pleasant airconditioned rooms, cable TV, direct dial phones, laundry. Friendly Mexican atmosphere on busy downtown commercial street. Interior rooms are quieter.

Hotel Tankah

Av. Tankah 69 a couple of blocks past Mercado 28. PHONE 884-44-66 & 84-48-44 $36 double.

Sort of antique architecture and decent rooms with phones, air conditioning and color TV, parking. Ask for special weekly rates.

Villa Rossana

Av. Yaxchilán 68 PHONE 884-19-43 MANAGER Miguel Manzur Simón. $12 single or double.

Downtown budget hotel

Utilitarian but clean and pleasant with an excellent cafe and pastry shop in the building. No airconditioning but all fourteen rooms have fans.

Puerto Morelos

Motel Eden

Puerto Morelos, about three blocks north of main square $25 a day, $300 a month. Tel 52-998 871-0450

Kitchenette ocean-view efficiencies

Clean studio apartments in fishing village 15 minutes from airport, these are easily the best bargain in the entire area. Hot water can be erratic, service incomplete if friendly, but the price speaks for itself. If no one is in office, check at liquor store on main square, or look for palatial ocean-front residence of owner, Ing. Emilio Muñoz, who speaks English. Prices above may have changed, but you'll still find this a bargain. Emilio usually also has houses and apartments to rent.

La Maroma

Punta Maroma (south of Puerto Morelos). INTERNET http://www.wunderground.com ROOMS 36 $246 to $752 depending on unit and season, with some suites of up to two bedrooms. No children under 16.

Architectural Digest tropical retreat

Featured in Travel & Leisure and The New York Times, this is the area's yuppie-preppie hotel supreme with exquisite traditional coastal architecture and all the rest of the upscale getaway script. Seems like a nice place, but we wish they didn't make nasty cracks about Cancun in their media interviews.

Posada de Amor

Puerto Morelos, 2 blocks south of main square Always a bargain

Friendly rustic hotel with good restaurant

The architecture is very home-made, the decor simultaneously cute and spartan, the atmosphere truly friendly. Posada de Amor is the kind of inn that makes Mexico so much fun to visit. Not all units have their own showers. Restaurant open to public. Daily special is always a good deal. English, French spoken.

Tulum

Rancho Sol Caribe

Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. Km. 48 Camino Blanco Tulum-Punta Allen. Apdo 67, Tulum Pueblo, Q. Roo 77780 PHONE [987] 12-091 FAX 12-092

Sand road hideaway

I met the lady who owns this and she was cute and intelligent and we are sure that her hotel is too. This is way down there beyond most of what you would consider civilization. The phones are at an answering service. We are planning a major expedition to check out places such as this and we'll let you know what we find out.

  

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