Vida Silvestre — Hotel in Tulum

We booked Vida Silvestre for our honeymoon last month, and unfortunately while there are some lovely aspects of the property, for us the trip was extremely disappointing, and would not be enough for us to recommend it to anyone. ||Trying to give a fair and balanced review, so here goes:||THE GOOD |-the location is within walking distance to two beach clubs, aura and Be Tulum which you can use for a minimum resort fee. |-overall, our host Ivette was super sweet and did her best to be accommodating.|-there's a small range and fridge which is rare on the resort side, so |it's great if you want to prepare your own meals and be close to the beach|-there's an adorable dog we fell in love with, maluko, who came and hung out on the porch of our villa- and even does high fives! ||THE BAD |-rats. In the middle of the night I got up to go to the bathroom, and in the dark felt something grab me. In a panic, I let out my best horror movie scream and my husband ran into the bathroom yelling- flipped on the light turned out to be a rat. The next day we searched for it, and found feces in the villa, so it was potentially nesting in there. Ew.|-bugs. Can't be helped in a jungle, but many of the screens aren't 100% sealed, so slather up the bug spray. The first night I had over 30 angry red mosquito bites when I woke up, despite the net, and often woke up to them buzzing in my ears. There were also lots of spiders, and other creepy crawlies about.|-heat & humidity. This is no fault of the villa whatsoever as they make it clear there is no ac. But, the property does get very hot during the day, so would recommend leaving it entirely except to sleep and going to the beach. They provide two small fans, but we still found it very hot to sleep at night.||THE UGLY |-our third evening in we found ourselves without any running water, so we could not shower after a long day at the beach, flush the toilets, wash our hands, wash up after dinner, wash our face before bed....you get the picture. The problem wasn't fixed until the following day, so let's just say it wasn't the most romantic thing ever.|-our fourth night we found ourselves In a tropical storm...and our apartment completely flooded. Water was coming in through the ceiling in multiple points, and seeping in through the floors, there was no where to sit or be in the apartment without being rained on/damp or wet. And, for the second time, the water went off! We spent the night frantically emailing our host and using our only clean towels to try and keep the water from coming in. Our bed was wet from the leakage and we had a terrible time sleeping in the damp, flooded bedroom. ||By that point, we had enough, and with no response from our host, we immediately resolved to throw in the towel (literally) on our honeymoon.||When we left the next day we let our host know what had happened, and they offered no refunds, only a different villa, or two apartments that were not in the location we planned to honeymoon at. We thanked them for the offer and explained we had already made non refundable decisions to leave the property, but still the manager Ivette was speaking with was unwilling to compensate us in any way for all of the discomfort during our stay. ||Thankfully, Airbnb stepped in and granted our refund for the unused portion of the trip.||Overall, I think I would describe the property as beautiful but rustic. I feel/hope our experience was on the rare side, but unfortunately, based on our particular stay there, would definitely not recommend this...

You don’t get what you pay for at Vida Silvestre. Good idea but poor execution. Noisy neighbor, terrible water quality, unclean, just to name a few of the problems. ||We were attracted to this property by its solar energy and other ecological appeals. Booked three nights though Booking.com and specifically requested quiet room away from loud music. Unfortunately it was impossible to stay beyond the first night due to noise. ||When we first arrived, we noticed there was a construction site next to apartment #1 which we were assigned. We did not want to make a fuss|and hope it’ll quiet down. Went out for dinner and came back noticing a constant loud humming from maybe a generator. The humming was so powerful and felt like it was right behind the bedroom. Again we tried to be cool about it and planned to wait it out. By 11pm we realized it was not going to go away, texted the manager on WhatsApp. No response, no one on site to help us. Ended up the noise went on all night. ||The next morning, tired and frustrated from lack of sleep, we requested to shorten the stay and get a refund for the remaining two nights. Manager claimed we were the first guest to complain about noise, which is not true as plenty other reviews said the same thing. ||The management obviously knows about the problem all along with neighbor’s generator. They could have put us in other apartment away from it, especially we requested a quiet room in the booking note. We felt trapped and mistreated. ||Additionally the hot water was iffy, and came out a little red in color. Water dispenser and switches are not clean. ||Overall I strongly advise fellow travelers...

We stayed here for about a week and unfortunately, this place did not live up to our expectations. Tulum is a great place for some relaxing days off with a somewhat odd mix of relaxed, low-key atmosphere but upmarket prices for hotels. ||This place has a great idea behind it: Stay in open villas in the jungle and awake to the sounds of the jungle creatures. Unfortunately, this idea just doesn't work very well as the place is built very close to the road and with the further development of Tulum the road has now become quite busy with large trucks travelling on the road from early to late. The open construction of the villas lets all noise through. Moreover, a neighbour has recently installed a loud generator which runs all evening making even conversation (at least in villa #2) borderline impossible. Management is aware of the problem (we talked to them) but can't do anything about it. It is also important to know that there is no direct beach access from this place, so one either needs to negotiate with one of the nearby beachfront hotels or drive to a public beach. ||If it were not for the noise, this would be a great place for all those who want to get a comfortable place with a feeling of jungle to it but the noise from the road and the generators are killing it from my...