Avalon Reef Club Isla Mujeres

hotel staff was not helpful with exchange rate,or money change and there was only 1 atm machine on the island back at the ferry, hotel desk told us thatany place on the island can charge any exchange rate. also housekeeping was differnet every day somedays they would leave coffee some days not, sometimes big towels sometimes only little,same with soap,shampoo, and bed was as hard as a rock, and they give you towel cards to get beach towels but they were ALWAYS OUT... Food was good and breakfast was free, the very best thing about the hotel was the wonderful food wait staff always friendly,helpful, courtesy, hats off to those guys. Hotel looks a lot nicer on the internet

nice location, buffet breakfast very nice, one small bottle of water provided..after that you are expected to pay for clean water...our sliding door barely opened. Pretty good overall

We were looking for a quiet, relaxing vacation. Isla Mujeres definately is the place for it! The hotel itself was very nice, however the beds are so hard, it was like sleeping on the floor. We stayed in the least expensive room, which was very stark. No table or nice chairs in the room, no bedside lamps to read by. We had a little trouble getting a room safe, the front desk ladies were not helpful at all, so we had to get a little firm, and then they were able to help us. Beyond that, the staff was great, the hotel and beaches were beautiful.

Our second stay, I didn't think it could have been better! The hotel was overbooked so we were kindly put in a villa at no extra charge for our entire 8 day stay! The place is stunning. It is very well maintained with workers continually painting, raking the beach, tending the landscape. This was not distracting or noisy. All the staff were friendly and helpful. We were not bothered by sales people either! Great snorkeling all around. Within walking distance of fabulous food in town. So many it is hard to decide. My husband arranged a fishing trip from the guys, (Mundaca) on the hotel beach by the dock and had a terrific time. The chef from the restraunt cooked our catch, (excellent barracuda) for very cheap. Incredible dinner on the deck, nearly private and were treated like royalty. Wow. Met some wonderful guests. Room was cleaned well every day and did not interfere with our schedule. Even more enjoyable and relaxing than the first stay. We will be back.

the Kings Bath was great as the waves were breaking over the rocks for a beautiful scene....don't get the all inclusive, as the breakfast bar had a lot of variety and everyday you can walk to town about 10 to 15 minutes, there you have your choice of different eateries and bars to get a good margarita, we never had a bad meal in the little town and food is cheap and a lot of 2 for 1 drinks...the bed is hard and the shower curtain was about 2 inches to short so every time you showered there was water on the floor...we did the time share to get a free golf cart for the day...lasted 1 1/2 hours and used the cart to go to the other end of the island to snorkel..barter with the store people as they will drop their prices...got some nice jewelry ....over all had a great time in Isla Mujures as we caught the tail end of their celebration for Fat Tuesday...they do it for 5 days .. I definitely would go back to Isla but would find my own hotel and flight down there

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This was the second time that I have visited this resort. It is truly beautiful and relaxing. The staff are friendly and attentive. Besides the incredible location, the staff are the best feature of the resort. The hotel has clearly tried to cut corners the past few years - no hand towels in the rooms despite repeated requests, running out of beach towels, etc. But, it is an incredible resort if you want a relaxing vacation. The people of Isla are warm, friendly and helpful.

location of hotel is great, front desk staff needs some training in customer service. Room we were given was over the service area and we were awakened every morning (@ 4:30- 5:00 am)with the trash and other carts being moved around. In additon the secruity lock on the door was missing. We kept asking for someone to come and replace the missing door piece, but no one ever did. We were finally moved to another room after 3 (loud ) nights and while this room was quiet, it's safety deposit box did not have a lock. The front desk was very non chalant about it, and would/could not find the type of lock that this box needed. They would not store our valuables in their safe. Staff (other than front desk) were very accomadating and helpful.

The Avalon Reef's location is tough to beat if you love the outdoors. The resort is located on an islet off of Isla's northern tip, connected by a 60-yard wooden bridge. The beach and bridge area make for great swimming/snorkeling. We had the studio room with two double beds and we found it just big enough for two adults. The room was very clean and the staff kept it that way. The mattresses were medium-hard but comfortable. The view was fantastic of the rocky northeast shore. The hotel is a 12 minute walk to the ferry landing downtown. We opted for the breakfast plan which was good because the one dinner buffet was just OK. The breakfast buffet was always fresh and good. The timeshare pitch can get you a discount on a tour, but we found it to be longer than promised; ours clocked in at 2:15 with fairly hard selling toward the end. Isla has great food. There are Americanized restaurants lining the main pedestrian avenue, 3 blocks in from the waterfront and ferry, but we stayed away from those. We tried several seafood places on the waterfront downtown, all were good. Our favorite seafood was a little place 2/3 of the way south on the island, just south of the traffic circle – fantastic wood-grilled fish and shrimp. Our favorite Mexican food was a little place called Loncheria Poc-Chuc, a tiny hole-in-the-wall with the best mole we’ve ever tasted. We did a day trip to Xel-Ha and Tulum on the mainland, which was just enough time for us at Tulum (1.5 hours), but not nearly long enough at Xel-Ha (4 hours). Xel-Ha is a huge place and if you want to see all of it and do some quality snorkeling/swimming, you'll need at least a full day there. Xel-Ha includes all food, drinks and snorkel gear/river tubes. Extras are available like the dolphin swim (fun but pricey) and the walking-underwater-helmets. The lagoon there is enormous and one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, but they do get a bunch of people. The snorkeling is all in protected waters that are a mix of fresh and salt water with lots of fish. Be prepared for a really long day – we had to be on the 6:30 AM ferry to Puerto Juarez to catch a van that took us (conveniently) to a huge souvenir shop to wait for the busses that then took us 2.5 hours south to Xel-Ha. It was closer to 3.5 hours on the way back with traffic jams and hotel stops before we got back to Puerto Juarez for the 8:30 PM ferry ride back to Isla. We spent a day at Garrafon park near the southern tip of Isla. We chose the all-inclusive park run by Delphinus, the folks who also do the dolphin swim on Isla. It was very nice. Like Xel-Ha, it includes food, drinks and snorkel gear. The zip lines were a real treat and included in the price, though different staff members gave different answers to the question “is that included”? If you want to do the zip line and have paid the roughly $60 for admission, my advice is not to ask anyone in the park, just walk up to the zip line gear hut and they’ll start outfitting you. The snorkeling at Garrafon is not as protected and calm as Xel-Ha, but is pretty nice. NOTE: There are TWO Garrafon parks. The one next door is Garrafon de Castillo Hotel and Beach Club, where you can spend a lot less to snorkel the same reef. If we go back to Isla, we’ll try that one. Garrafon is no Xel-Ha, but is worth seeing. Our favorite excursion was to Isla Contoy, the marine and bird sanctuary island northwest of Isla Mujeres. We went with Captain Tony Garcia, who was a fantastic captain, tour guide and cook. Contoy had arguably better snorkeling than Xel-Ha, with the setting being less developed, more pristine and with less people. We had a visit there from Samantha, the friendly and hungry stingray, saw tons of fish and some good coral. There is a nice museum on the island and a nature walk loop going over to the rocky east side, north a bit, then back over to the lagoon side.

My husband and I went for a romantic getaway, and it was magnificent. This was our first trip to La Isla Mujeres, and we love the Island. The Avalon Reef Club is beautiful. It is on the best part of the Island -- its almost on its own little Island, with beautiful views no matter where you are. We began our trip in a standard room. It had a beautiful ocean view, but no balcony, and since we were on the 8th floor, we couldn't open the windows. For our last two nights, we upgraded to a Villa. They were bigger and had beautiful patios or balconies with magnificent ocean views. We did not do the all inclusive, and do not regret it at all. We did not spend all our time at the hotel. If you wallk to Hidalgo street, there are tons of restaurants and live entertainment for the evening. Also, if you have a villa, it comes with a fridge, and you can get your own cerveca at the near by stores. It was a great vacation - I highly recommend it!