Cabanas Playa Condesa — Hotel in Tulum

This is an absolutely adorable place to stay. It's small, it's rustic, and has beautiful views. The staff is great, Emilio is always helpful, Dave at the bar was wonderful, and the others I met were consistently friendly.||But, if you plan to stay here I want you to understand what you're getting into. If you start with the mindset of the camping or glamping as opposed to the expectations that I had of staying at a tropically located hotel, then you will be fine. There were certain things that I simply thought would be there that simply were not, and I do not think my expectations were too unfounded.||First of all there is no air conditioning. It was not explicitly mentioned that there was none. But if you look closely it is not mentioned in the amenities. There are room fans but they are older and ours had to be adjusted constantly to get enough air to sleep.||Second, there is no room fridge. To some this may not seem like a big deal. However, as the hotel restaurant opens late and closes early, you find yourself most often with no ready source for food or refreshment. They also do not have ice available on the property, so anything that you bring in to drink will be warm within hours and any perishable food will be spent in short order. So, be prepared for drinking warm water in a sometimes very warm room. Emilio runs a small store in the front and did open it for me in off hours a couple of times.||Third, there is absolutely no accomodation for your clothing aside from a suitcase valet. Everything you have will live in your baggage, if you have more than one piece of luggage this gets more complicated. While this again may not seem important, it changes the, at first clean aesthetic into a messy, unorganized living environment.||Lastly, and this can be seen as a pro or con depending on your position, the hotel is within the boundary of a national park. This means that other than other hotels and one pharmacy there is no place nearby to shop or eat. It also means that when you leave and return you're generally stopped and have to pay a toll to get in. During those stops you may be asked to drink or pour out anything in plastic bottles... like WATER. Taxi rides that only take 10 minutes, will cost 20 to $25. Emilio does rent bikes for $20 a day. They are in decent condition but are single speed, beachcomber style bikes. Riding them out of the national Park and into town will take you 15 to 20 minutes at a minimum and the Tulum heat and traffic can be rough especially in the middle of the day.||I stayed here with my 17 year old son for 4 days. After getting adjusted to the reality of our stay we made the most of our time here and did truly enjoy ourself, despite the room. The picture perfect sunrises and natural beauty of the area, as well as the wonderful people outweigh the deficits in the facilities. And, as the property is on the lower end of the pricing spectrum for the area, some trade offs should be expected.||My goal with this review is simply to prepare any future guests. If you accept this property for what it is without the expectations for the things that I mentioned, you will have a wonderful stay at Cabanas...

This is an absolutely adorable place to stay. It's small, it's rustic, and has beautiful views. The staff is great, Emilio is always helpful, Dave at the bar was wonderful, and the others I met were consistently friendly.||But, if you plan to stay here I want you to understand what you're getting into. If you start with the mindset of the camping or glamping as opposed to the expectations that I had of staying at a tropically located hotel, then you will be fine. There were certain things that I simply thought would be there that simply were not, and I do not think my expectations were too unfounded.||First of all there is no air conditioning. It was not explicitly mentioned that there was none. But if you look closely it is not mentioned in the amenities. There are room fans but they are older and ours had to be adjusted constantly to get enough air to sleep.||Second, there is no room fridge. To some this may not seem like a big deal. However, as the hotel restaurant opens late and closes early, you find yourself most often with no ready source for food or refreshment. They also do not have ice available on the property, so anything that you bring in to drink will be warm within hours and any perishable food will be spent in short order. So, be prepared for drinking warm water in a sometimes very warm room. Emilio runs a small store in the front and did open it for me in off hours a couple of times.||Third, there is absolutely no accomodation for your clothing aside from a suitcase valet. Everything you have will live in your baggage, if you have more than one piece of luggage this gets more complicated. While this again may not seem important, it changes the, at first clean aesthetic into a messy, unorganized living environment.||Lastly, and this can be seen as a pro or con depending on your position, the hotel is within the boundary of a national park. This means that other than other hotels and one pharmacy there is no place nearby to shop or eat. It also means that when you leave and return you're generally stopped and have to pay a toll to get in. During those stops you may be asked to drink or pour out anything in plastic bottles... like WATER. Taxi rides that only take 10 minutes, will cost 20 to $25. Emilio does rent bikes for $20 a day. They are in decent condition but are single speed, beachcomber style bikes. Riding them out of the national Park and into town will take you 15 to 20 minutes at a minimum and the Tulum heat and traffic can be rough especially in the middle of the day.||I stayed here with my 17 year old son for 4 days. After getting adjusted to the reality of our stay we made the most of our time here and did truly enjoy ourself, despite the room. The picture perfect sunrises and natural beauty of the area, as well as the wonderful people outweigh the deficits in the facilities. And, as the property is on the lower end of the pricing spectrum for the area, some trade offs should be expected.||My goal with this review is simply to prepare any future guests. If you accept this property for what it is without the expectations for the things that I mentioned, you will have a wonderful stay at Cabanas...

Please be mindful this hotel sits within an area which is in a national park area - this means as you arrive you have to pay a fee to enter; 120Mxn (£6). This will apply to any hotels along this strip. You’re not allowed to take any plastic water bottles through. Armed security take them off you when you arrive. This hotel does not have free drinking water or anywhere to refill a reusable bottle. If you do want their drinking water they’ll happily charge you £4.50 for a 300ml bottle at the bar - if it’s open. On our last full day we learned that you could get bottled/canned water for 20MXN Pesos (£1ish) from the shop on site. But they neglected to tell us this from the start. Poor. The rooms have no AC, only fans which just blow warm air around. Very hot and stuffy. No accessible drinking water and high temperatures. Was made to feel unreasonable when I asked for water we could drink/access. I would say the photos online are deceptive. This hotel is close to a lovely public beach but you have to clamber over sharp rock and seaweed to get to it. The wifi doesn’t work very well. The basin is more or less in the shower. The lighting in the room is dull. The floor is gritty and dirty in the room. No atmosphere or character at all. The mosquito nets do nothing, we got bitten so much during our stay no matter how much deet we applied. No housekeeping at all - not expecting the Ritz but not to even empty the bathroom bin is not good. It was overflowing by the time we came to leave. Disgusting. Lose light switches in the bathroom. Some of the plug sockets didn’t work. The manager/staff are rude and seem inconvenienced by you asking for basic things. Lack of any level of service. Never saw anyone doing anything to clean, tidy or make the stay more enjoyable. No one was ever on the desk, had to go and find someone to check out. The priorities of this hotel are backwards - they’ve got a rooftop jacuzzi (didn’t look clean). But no drinking water or AC. A shame as it could be so much better than it is. Living off its great location. Stay in town or spend a few more quid further...