Sandos Playacar Hotel – Playa del Carmen – Mexico

We just got back from a holiday at the Sandos Playacar & what a place it is, just fantastic!  I’ll start with my one niggle – after a ten hour flight & a wait for the other passengers for the minibus at Cancun airport, we wanted to check into our room, drop our stuff off & go for a swim, but you have to meet your own concierge who tells you about the hotel & resort and then tries to get you to sign up to a breakfast meeting in order for them to sell you membership of their Elite Club. The only way we managed to get out of it was to book it for two days later & then cancel it. They want you to take photo ID & your credit card.

Now onto the good things! We were upgraded to a junior sweet in the newest block which was great. The room was massive with the biggest bed (width-wise anyway, not neccessarily length – I’m 6’3″) and very comfortable. We also had a sofa, chairs, table, a nice big terrace (we were on the ground floor), an ironing board, iron, plasma TV, a coffee machine & a minibar full of beer, soft drinks & water. (NB: leave a tip in the fridge & you’ll find it full to overflowing when you come back!)

The bathroom was super with a huge jacuzzi bath, power shower, two sinks & mirrors,a  hairdryer and plenty of room for two at the sinks and even in the bath or shower! The newest block is a 4 minute walk to the main bar & restaurant area through beautifully maintained gardens and it was lovely to have a stroll & not be right next to the entertainment.

The main pool had a buffet restaurant & bar, plenty of sunbeds and the pool itself was lovely, very clean plenty of shallow areas for kids too. The daytime entertainment / activities were held around here. These included lazy games (e. g. how many balloons in the bottle), more adult games (e. g. do a mexican dance, some pushups & then down a big measure of tequila), aqua-aerobics, cookery demonstrations – even Spanish lessons if you wanted them. Plus there is also an adults-only pool which was very quiet most of the time we were there (low season).

It is just a 30 second walk from the main pool to the beach with it’s beautiful white sands, plenty of beds & umbrellas & hammocks too. The Carribbean sea is beautiful with clear, warm, shallow water and just wonderful.

The food at the Sados Playacar was generally great – breakfasts in particular. I loved an omelette freshly made every day along with French toast with cinnamon sugar which is delicious & of course don’t forget to start the day with a “Mimosa” (a Bucks Fizz to us!). The lunch buffets were fine too & even these had different specials each night. The resort was too quiet for them to open all the restaurants so the Italian buffet & Brazilian restaurant were closed.

There are a la carte restaurants which you can eat in three times per week. The Asian restaurant was fine and my salmon, scallop & white fish sashimi was excellent. The steakhouse was good – I had the biggest T bone steak I have ever had. and although they don’t ask you how you want it cooked, mine was served rare which is how I like it – but you’d need to ask if you want it cooked more.  The French restaurant was good although no choice for vegetarians & the service was a bit slapdash.

24 hour room service is available too and I can vouch that the veggie club sandwich & mexican shrimp cocktail were great. The bar service was great and round the pool there was a drinks waitress (Shaday, who is lovely) and in the evenings outside Bar Bambolino there was table service, although often it is quicker to go to the bar yourself. The drinks choice was excellent and all cocktails you can think of are available. I recommend the frozen strawberry daiquiris & mojitos.

The hotel’s onsite shop had souvenirs, tequila, t-shirts and anything that you might need, although unsurprisingly more expensive here than in the shops in Playa del Carmen. We took some trips out – swimming with dolphins & the Mayan tour of Coba, a Mayan Village & a swim in one of the cenotes.

All in all it is a great hotel & I can’t recommend it enough. I’d return in a heartbeat. We got a great deal for a week, All-Inclusive for just ÂŁ40 per person more than a week’s All-Inclusive in Lanzarote. It may seem a long way to go for a week but so worth it. I wish we had gone for fortnight but work commitments meant it wasnt possible. it was my first time to Mexico – & certainly won’t be my last. great place.