Club De Playa At Garrafon De Castilla — Attraction in Isla Mujeres

Good snorkeling 🐠🐟 CASH ONLY No minimum spend, outside of the entrance fee

This place was total blast from the past and a bit past its prime. Once you make it down the gravel hill to the colorfully painted entrance you pay $150 MX each. Bring pesos as the exchange rate offered here is $1 USD to $14 MX.

Once you’ve paid and have a wrist band you walk down steps and there a multiple small colorful buildings - a bathroom, changing rooms, storage. The large pavilion is where they serve food, drinks, ice cream. Within the bar pavilion is where you can rent snorkeling masks & fins. Masks are $50 MX each, fins are additional. *NOTE they ask for a $200 MX deposit on each item rented. So if you are renting four sets, make sure to bring enough pesos for the deposits. They say rentals are two hours.

I was so pleasantly surprised by the number and variety of fish! There are small striped yellow fish that you can see in the shallow water without a mask. The water gets deeper at this beach than other parts of the water and there is not restrictions at this beach club on where you can swim.

Overall this place is a little past its prime, but if you want a relaxing place to snorkel and spend a few hours it was great. They do not pressure you into buying drinks or food. There is a lot of shade for lounging. The beach area is relatively small, but they have many more sun beds on elevated areas, with steps down to the beach. People were feeding the iguanas so they do come very close. One ran right over a row of drying...

An absolute joke. The staff? Absolutely awful. No sense of hospitality, not welcoming at all, and downright rude. On top of that, the music was insanely loud!! We had to leave early because if you're hoping for a calm, relaxing day? Forget it. It’s just not possible here.

Tour boats park right in front of the area blasting music for their customers while pointing out the corals, so much for a peaceful atmosphere.

The setting itself is tacky and ugly. The water looks stunning from above, sure, but as soon as you reach the first beach, you’re greeted by old construction barrels in the water that have clearly been sitting there for decades. A bit further down, yes, there are some fish, but also way too many people and tourist boats constantly coming in and out.

And the worst part: I fell, seriously injured my hand and cracked a rib , and not a single staff member came to help. It was another guest who stepped in to assist me, because the pain was intense. When I pointed out how dangerous the place was — especially for children , the only response I got was: “Well, you shouldn’t go over there.” Wow. Thanks, Captain Obvious. Now I’m left with a messed-up hand and a fractured rib.

The service and facilities are downright awful. But yes, the view is beautiful, the only redeeming quality of this...

This is the best shore snorkeling you will ever find on Isla Mujeres without paying premium prices to enter the dolphin prison next door. Twelve dollars USD gets you entry to this paradise, with one of the best beaches the south of the island has to offer. No minimum spend is required and the staff is surprisingly not pushy at all if you care to just post up and enjoy your day under one of their many umbrellas and chairs. You'd be doing yourself a disservice not to at least try a drink however, as both the mojito and margarita were way more well made and boozy than you would think coming from a place like this.

The bathrooms and showers are very clean and they have full snorkel equipment to rent for very cheap. The beautiful blue water is teaming with fish and is some very good entry level snorkeling. Strong swimmers can swim to the left for 50 yards by the neighboring pier and experience an actual small reef with a bigger variety of sea life. Every other inch of good swimmable coastline here is gobbled up by beach clubs charging you a premium for the privilege to use it. A marvel this place and it's perfect beach, snorkeling and beautiful gardens snuck under the radar. Hopefully it will continue to do so for...