More about Gran Bahia Principe Akumal
Amazing location on the Riviera Maya
by Jefie about Gran Bahia Principe
I don't think I could have chosen a better spot for my first all-inclusive experience! The Gran Bahia Principe is located about 30 minutes south of Playa del Carmen and 15 minutes north of Tulum, so basically it's near all the attractions on the Riviera Maya. It is a huge resort divided into three sections: Coba, Tulum and Akumal. We stayed at the Coba and our room was big, clean and comfy, the pools were great and the food was excellent. It wasn't exactly near the beach - we had to walk for about 10 minutes to get there or hop on the trolley - but we knew that beforehand so we weren't disappointed. The beach was quite nice but it's near the coral reef so I was happy I had brought my beach shoes with me. The staff was great and always friendly, and they sure know how to mix a drink! Plenty of pools, bars and restaurants to choose from, walking through the resort is an attraction in itself! You can do all your shopping at the Hacienda Doña Isabel - there are many boutiques that offer a wide selection of souvenirs, and it was cheaper than shopping at Playa del Carmen. The nightclub is also located at the hacienda. Oh, and there are plenty of adorable iguanas around!!
Bahia Principe
by cherrybubble
STAY HERE! its an all inclusive hotel and its just amazing!! i love it SO much! everything about the place is amazing!! Everything is great about this place! The pools are large, clean and georgous! They have a swim up bar which is soo rad i think! the view is great..its right beside the ocean which is warm and crystal clear!
and if I listed everything great about this place i'd take forever!!
All Inclusive Resorts in beach destinations
by micas_pt
If you are travelling to some beach destiny in Mexico you should consider an all-inclusive resort, mainly if you intend to stay on the beach the whole day long or just stay nearby, between swimming pool and sports allowed at resort.
We stayed at Bahia-Principe resort, which has 2 hotels - Tulum and Akumal. Both look the same, although my room was at the Tulum. It's a nice, comfortable resort with plenty of space for everybody, both in the beach, restaurants and other infrastructures.
Loved it! Loved it! Loved it!
by A TripAdvisor Member
Ola! My boyfriend & I have just returned from a 7-day all-inclusive at this resort. Amazing week!! These are the positive facts:1. From the first moment we arrived, we felt the warmth & friendliness of the staff. 2. The hotel was spectacular! It was huge, clean, new, and no problems whatsoever. Most importantly, we felt very safe & at-home. At first, we were given a room that was far from the lobby and didn't have an ocean view. And so we requested for a better room. They did end up giving us an awesome room 2 days later facing the ocean. 3. The property is huge & is made up of 3-storey villas scattered along the beachfront. Its 'sister' hotel, the Bahia Principe Akumal, is situated next to our hotel. Don't worry about the distance while you're on this property, as there are 'golf carts' which transports guests from one end to the other. Or we frequently enjoyed the nice walk around the property. 4. This place is the perfect place for a quiet romantic holiday. We would recommend this to anyone who's looking to enjoy the serenity of the Caribbean seaside. Don't worry as at night, there are lots of entertainment as well.5. Food was superb & plentiful. Between the 2 hotels, we had a choice of 7 restaurants to pick for our a-la-carte choices. Alcohol...abundant!!Overall, there are only positive and definitely no negative experience on this trip. We would definitely return. Ariba! Ariba!
First Class Family Resort
by A TripAdvisor Member
The Bahia Principe Akumal is the most well run resort destination I have ever seen. From the moment of your arrival to your fond farewell they have organized your stay so you can relax and enjoy. Well maintained and very professional in all aspects.
This is a popular place for Canadians and families as many had small children with them. The staff is friendly, hard working, properly uniformed and activity directors speak at least 3 different languages. The main buffet restaurant has plenty of choices and the food was good so I felt no need to book the specialty restaurants.
The hotel shares the facilities of its sister hotel "Bahia Principe Tulum" to the north making this place HUGE! Stretch golf carts run by every 15 minutes or so to shuttle you around and to their local shopping and festivity center.
The shoreline is mostly natural and very rocky. There is only a small area safe for wading into the ocean however from that point on to the north you can walk the beach for nearly a mile in front of the other resorts.
If your transfer back to the airport is after the 12:00PM check out time they take your baggage to a secure room. Then they give you a locker for your personal possessions in a clean well appointed locker room with shower facilities. You can continue to enjoy the resort and when its time to leave you can pickup a clean towel, soap and shampoo, take a shower and change before catching the bus. I really enjoyed this feature.
Lots to see and do both at the resort and the many available tours. Truly a fabulous, worry free vacation experience.
americans complain too much!
by A TripAdvisor Member
no this is not the good ol usa , its mexico! we were at bahia principe in nov, absolutely great place! Food was great, and staff friendly, would be better if americans would stay away!
I Want to Go back!
by TripAdvisor Member FINGERLAKER74
My family and I traveled to the Bahia Principe Tulum the week of February 15-22, 2003. My children are ages 14 and 10. We took SkyService out of Toronto. The flight down was on time and smooth as silk. We were met at the Cancun airport by a Conquest tour Representative. It took us about 70 minutes to reach the Bahia Principe Tulum by bus. THE HOTEL We stayed at the Club Hacienda section and really enjoyed it. It seemed less crowded and much quieter than the Tulum Section. The grounds throughout the resort are spectacular - clean and well-manicured. We spent most of our time at the Hacienda pool which was right outside of our villa - #40. One thing that we found on these reviews was the idea to bring 2-way radios so we could communicate with our children back at the room. THIS WAS A GREAT IDEA!! Thanks! The beach is a little rocky at the Hacienda section - an awesome beach can be found in the Akumal part of the resort. I walked most every morning over to the Akumal section which is also beautiful. We spent one day at the Akumal pool and enjoyed that too although it was more crowded than the Club Hacienda pool. It seemed that most of the guests were from Italy and Canada. I would like to say Hi to my friends from Windsor - Jim, Pete and Dennis, that I met while there. LONG LIVE LYNYRD SKYNYRD! FOOD & RESTAURANTS Spectacular! Both buffets - the Yucatan and the Riviera were great. Breakfast at the Tequila Restaurant was especially good. My personal favorites were the grilled fish and pasta dishes. The pizza was fantastic! We ate at 3 a la carte restaurants: Gran Tortuga, Mamma Mias and Frutos del Mar. Mamma Mias was our favorite. BARS & DRINKSBoth were plentiful although top-shelf was not always available. Our favorite bar was the lobby bar. ACTIVITIES If I had one complaint it would be the lack of planned activities for kids age 10-16. There didn't seem to be a whole lot for them to do. There were basketball and tennis courts available and bikes could be signed out to ride - that was about it. I believe the resort really caters more to couples. WEATHER The first day it was a little cloudy and rainy but after that, every day was in the 80's with lows at night in the 60's. It was surprisingly cool at night due to the Eastern Trade Winds which blew continuously. Bring your sun-screen!!! STAFF Most of the staff had a little trouble understanding English which was a little surprising to us. Most of the people were very warm and friendly. Unfortunately, due to my own forgetfulness, a pair of my sneakers, a t-shirt and a watch that I had left out by the pool mysteriously disappeared. Our male maid, kept the room very clean. ROOMS Rooms were generally well-kept and clean - marble floors, hardwood doors, beds a little firm but OK. One day towards the end of the week we had tiny ants on the floor - but a quick spray took care of that. We felt that next time we go (hopefully soon) we would try and get an upper-level room to avoid this and have more privacy.RETURN FLIGHT The SkyService was about 20 minutes delayed leaving Cancun. Once we got to Toronto we waited over an hour for our shuttle from The International Plaza Hotel to pick us up.OVERALL Our trip was fantastic. We are definitely planning a return for next February. We think the best idea would be to bring a GROUP of couples so we can socialize together. I would highly recommend the Bahia Principe Tulum for a vacation! If anyone has any questions, you can e-mail me at JBPez56@hotmail.com RE: John - Bahia PrincipeREGARDS and Adios!!!!John - Seneca Falls, NY
Very Nice,...but not a 5-Star AI
by A TripAdvisor Member
I just returned from a great 14 days at the Bahia Principe Tulum (Jan 29 to Feb 11). My spouse and myself as well as our four children (3,4,7&8) were accommodated in two adjoining rooms. This is a very nice property but regrettably it does not get my five-star stamp of approval. To get a five star rating I have to see excellence (not perfection but excellence) everywhere. Unfortunately I did not see this with the Bahia Principe Tulum/Akumal. A solid four star but thats about it.T his was my fourth stay at an all-inclusive five star, and my first time to Mexico. The grounds and buildings: Four star. This is property is HUGE. It includes two adjoining properties the B.P. Tulum and Akumal. End to End it had to be a decent Mile long, which is a respectable walk with little kids. They have a shuttle service which was quite good but if you hit it wrong you will have to wait a maximum of 15 minutes until the next shuttle comes along. The good part of such a huge property is that it is never crowded anywhere and there is loads of open space. There are areas which are peppy and up-beat where folk were playing water polo to pounding music and 500 meteres away there is the very quiet Hammok Grotto. The beach streches for a long way and If you chose to run on it you are in for a decent challenge. The bad side to the size of this property is the wait if you miss the shuttle and quietness, is seems that there is nothing going on and that no one is around. On the first few days I was wondering what was wrong with the place, where the heck was everybody? The buildings and grounds were very well maintined. The floors are ALL marble and may be slippery if they get wet. I have to give the resort maintenance people a brown star. There were minor repairs to be done nearly everywhere I looked, except for the main lobbies. Most of these jobs were 15 minute jobs at the most but they were not getting done. I requested maintenance twice but never got any visits from maintenance personnel or a calll to say that they would come by later. The gardeners and groundsmen are a different story; top notch all the way. There is an army of gardeners and groundskepers who work very hard to keep the resport grennery brochure picture pristene; they even rake seeweed and garbage off the beach every morning before the guests wake up! You will see what a monumental task this is if you see the beach! The groundsmen do an awesome job, excellence all the way The only complaint that I would have is that the water they used to water the grass and shrubs is drawn form another source (hopefully) than the drinking water and is not purefied or filtered in any way/. It smells BAD when they water, which is usuallt late at night when you are walking back from the bar and may inadvertently stumble through the sprinkler. The restruants and food service and beverages: Five star. The food is delicious whether you go to the a la carte resturants or the buffet restruants. I never asked for room service so I cant rate it. The beach grill (burgers, Dogs, nuggets...) was the only fly in the ointment, the stuff was grossly overcooked, I'm sure the hamburger patties could have stopped a bullet. But my kids liked it so...what cat you say. Other than that I would rate the food as excellent. The Staff: 2-5 Star I will break the staff down into three categories. Cat-1, people wo have paripheral contact with the guests; gardeners, bellboys, maids... Cat-2, people who have continuning contact with the guests; des clerks, waiters, bartenders, entertainment and childcare folks... Cat-3, executives. Cat-1 folks, four star. Hard working, friendly and quiet behind the scenes. Cat-2 Folks, five star. Very friendly, helpful and genuinely interested in your good time. IN one instance we came back from a tour a little late and my kids were cranky and one was sleeping on my shoulder. The bus dropped us off in front of the lobby and the shuttle was due in in abour four minutes. We could have waited easily and I was about to do so when the bellboy ran down to the luggage cart area (streched electric golf cart affairs) at to speed and chauferred me and my family to our rooms two minutes ahead of the shuttle. Totally unnessessary but greatly appreciated. This is the kind of excelenc that earns my five star rating for these people. Cat-3, Two star. I did not see ONE executive in two weeks. Do these people not care? I stayed at an Iberostar in DR and I saw the General Manager (who was a BUSY guy) two times every day in passing. He even remeberd my name and where I was from after our second meeting! I have no idea who the GM of the BH was nor what gender he or she is. Brown star business practices. Childcare Areas: 2-Star. This is supposed to eb a marquee resort advertised a s a great place for families. the childcare area was large and had lots of crafts but the sand box area was dirty, the toys were broken, the ball pit was a homemade enclosure whish was not safe for little kids. They had a "little tykes" stue climber whas was delapitated. The kids are undersupervised. The supervision and involvement with the kids improved late in the second week when a new person, Mariola, came on board. The kids club at the Akumal was smaller but nicer and the staff was more attentive. At night (8:30) they have a kids disco in the theatre which consists of musical chairs on the stage or whatever the host thinks of as he is climbing on the stage. Not very much though goes into entertaining the kids. Decidedly average. Entertainment, eeek, 2-Star: O.K. to be fair, the Mayan Riveria is laid back and relaxing, not Cancun Craziness till the wee hours, so to be fair to the entertainment staff they were OK. The problem is that the shows are short half-hour to 45 Max and they are performed by folks who teach waterpolo and dancing by day. There is no professional tallent or one or two professional dancers on a group of 12 people who ware th entertainment team.. The do not work as a team very well and the probably do not get much time to practice shows or come up wiht fresh ideas. The bottome line is that the entertainment is decidely amateur but...is that what you are ther for. The entetainment folks are nice and try hard, but, they need leadershp and tallent. Afgain, where is management? Overall I would give this place a four star rating. If this is your first all inclusive resort experience you will not be disappointed and you will enjoy yourself. If you are accustomed to excellence in all things then you will find ample areas to cite as falling short. If you are looking for a wild and crazy time, you will be disapointed. If you are looking ro a great priperty with a spectacular beach, great food and friendly staff you will like it. I hope this helps, Cheers, GC
Beautiful Bahia
by TripAdvisor Member kiiyak
The most beautiful looking hotel with ourstanding staff and friendly atmosphere. The pool is awesome, a large area,
with several small 'streams' that wander through the resort with little bridges overtop and lots of bars. Nightly entertainment is a little hokey. The beach is a little rough, not for inexperienced swimmers - lots of coral but also lots of little fish for snorkelers. I could live there 4 months a year.
Forum Posts
riviera maya Gran Bahia Principe
by 98apple
I would be grateful if anyone could let me know if the Gran Bahia Principe has a internet cafe/facilities as I would like to go for hol there but need to be able to email home, have tried to email hotel but no reply many thanks
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