TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

Beautiful grounds in a well established hotel, couldn’t ask for more being next to Xcaret Park with fun packed with well earned rest days

A stress free vacation ever! It's worth every penny you spend. You will never be bored inside the resort. Guaranteed fun!

We spent 9 nights at The Occidental at Xcaret from April 6th 2026. We traveled as a family of four, two adults and two children aged 13 and 10. It was approximately a 70 minute transfer from Cancun Airport by private taxi (which we pre-booked with BA). The hotel was beautiful and the wildlife was everywhere! We see Coatis, Iguanas, Howler and Spider Monkey's, Agoutis, Deer and lots of beautiful birds. One day we were on the balcony applying sun cream when an inquisitive spider monkey jumped onto our balcony. I recommend you keep the patio door closed at all times and your eyes peeled. We had no food on the balcony and thankfully he had just come to say hello. There are several restaurants. It was not always easy to get a reservation. For example we did not get to eat in the Italian restaurant or at the Taco restaurant. We ate in the Mexican and in the Steakhouse but we preferred the Steak House personally. We as a family found the food "ok" in the buffet restaurants but not amazing. Breakfast was our favorite meal of the day! If you have children that are fussy eaters then be advised they do not serve chicken nuggets, pizza and burgers every night like some venues. There was often rice, potatoes, meets in various sauces, fish and always a lovely selection of fruit and salad. There was also plenty of fresh bread and desserts. The waiters and waitresses were all kind, especially Roman in the snack restaurant! Our room was nice enough and it was cleaned regularly (as well as the mini fridge topped up every other day). Fresh towels always supplied as well as the towel pass for your beach/pool towels. The pool's were a decent size although sunbeds weren't always easy to come by. We were always up early, so we did not have any problems but as the day went on others sometimes found it tricky to locate a bed especially around the fun pool. The fun pool offered entertainment for those that like that kind of thing including a quiz, Zumba, Aqua workouts and games such as volleyball. This is also where you can collect crazy golf equipment and tennis equipment etc The tennis courts and golf course open before the fun pool desk, so you can't always get the equipment to play. The desk didn't open till 10.30am but it would also sometimes be unattended for periods of time. There are several bars. By the fun pool there was a pool bar but you have to go under a waterfall to access it. I did visit this bar once but the people at the bar had sat there most the day and were tipping well which meant you may have to wait a while (as well as your drink getting topped up from the waterfall water on your way out). There was another bar open just over the bridge but this was then closed after a few days of us being there and this meant relying on waitresses around the pool. Again people who paid tips were priority. The snack bar (by the fun pool also) did have a bar but they wanted you to dress to enter. The beach is not huge but it is peaceful and scenic. The restaurant here had beautiful views and was open for breakfast and lunch. We did snorkel in the cove and found a lobster, crab and some fish. There is a net up which prevents larger fish getting through and helps with the influxes of sargassum seaweed. This did wash up on our visit and the staff were quick to get out the bin bags and collect as much as possible so it could be removed. They worked very hard to keep the ground and beach clean and tidy! We did 3 trips on our visit. We went to Xplore, Xel-Ha and we did a fish therapy (classed as an experience) in Xcaret which gave us access 2 hours prior to our treatment plus 45 minutes after. This was enough time for us to see things we wanted to see in Xcaret and was a huge saving on the day ticket! In total these three trips cost us a total of £755. We also paid £99 for the photo's at Xplore so that we could enjoy the day but get lots of memories. At Xcaret and Xel-Ha we took our own photo's. We enjoyed all the trips but we was glad for us personally, that we didn't pay for a full day ticket at Xcaret as we was not fussed on seeing the shows. We just wanted to see all the animals. The children really enjoyed the Fish Therapy so it was a win-win! All our trips were booked at the hotel. All in we had a lovely time together! We really enjoyed the wildlife, it is close up action and i even awoke to a deer licking my arm when resting on the sunbed! She was beautiful! We enjoyed the trails within the hotel by day and night and enjoyed the Mayan show we see in the bar area. We did not stay up late enough to watch the evening shows as they did not begin till 9.30pm so we cant advise on this. We checked out of our room at 11am but they did offer a room downstairs where you could shower and change. The Bell Boy was also happy to look after our case for the day. This enabled us to enjoy our last day and we could eat and drink till we departed at 4pm. They did take our bands but they gave us a white ticket although no one asked for it at the bar's and restaurants. Tip - Xel-Ha want you to use Biodegradable sun cream to protect the water's wildlife (we even swam with sting ray in the cenote) - We found Badger cream at Holland and Barret (UK) and it was decent (very expensive in the resort).

Resort is beautiful and wildlife is amazing. Resort seemed a little under staffed but was still ok service. Food was good.

. I did not like the dinner arrangements. Felt like it could be cleaner around the grounds. Especially around the pool areas was not very clean. The staff was friendly and accommodating. Lack of communication sometimes with some employees.