Secrets Huatulco: Photos do not do it justice!

Our representative Teelah Brown made the best recommendation possible when it came to this resort. This surprise anniversary gift for my wife was beyond our expectations and the travel photos do not do the Secrets Huatulco justice. The oceanfront room views with mountainous terrain sunrise and sunsets were incredible. The rooms were immaculate for cleanliness and the layouts were perfect for anniversary/honeymooner couples to celebrate. All the restaurants including buffet food were excellent  [... read more]with the service of a top rated dining establishments at home.The weather was sunny and hot the daily quiet walks along the resort only beach were amazing.The service personnel were incredible. Teelah, Thank you for your assistance with this wonderful trip!You and trip central have all my future travel business because of this experience.

Secrets Huatulco: Relaxing vacation.

As this was our 2nd time to Secrets Huatulco, we did know what to expect. Upon arrival we were put into building 3, but asked if we could change to building 5. They could not do it that day, but 2 days later. We really enjoyed our new room. Our room in building 3 had no coffee maker, nor were there the usual touches like flowers in the room, or rose petals on the bed. When we arrived to our room 5306 these touches were here. It is just the small things that can make a difference. Just cu [... read more]rious why the standard rooms would not have the same amenities? Our flight home was not until 6pm-pick-up from hotel was 2:45pm. Upon arrival we asked for either a late check-out or a hospitality room to shower before we leave. The hotel could not accommodate us until the day of departure. It would be nice to give an automatic late check-out for those flying later in the day. All in all, this trip was exactly what we were looking for: good weather and a relaxing week and we got both! The food was pretty good-our favorite was the French restaurant. The steak was fantastic! We will definitely go with Secrets again!

Dreams Huatulco: Outstanding

This was our first time at this resort and won't be our last, the resort is spotless and the staff are all very friendly. The food was great we mostly ate at the buffet and there was lots of choices, there is 6 pools 2 adult only which were very quiet and 3 regular pools and 1 kids pool all were excellent. The beach was beautiful and is where we spent the entire trip. The kids loved it you can swim with the fish and the waves were fun to play in. The beach staff was very good if you needed a cha [... read more]ir they would get one for you.the room was always cleaned daily and turn down service every day. Your fridge is filled every day with what ever you want. Very little bugs only a few wasps when you have a sweet drink, but tolerable.very happy.

Barcelo Huatulco: Beautiful Location

The resort is lower end to what we are used to, but even so, they do it very well. The location is great. The weather can't be beat. There is ample shade at pool. There is a great selection of foods. Sometimes a little cold. It would be nice if they had more than one grill station in the main buffet. This is a drawback to a small resort. The rooms were nice. Shower only in room. No tub. The room was clean and always made up nicely. It is an idyllic spot. The market vendors are kind  [... read more]and not aggressive. You will feel safe in most spots. There is a homey, relaxing energy to the space. There are a number of excursions you can take and it is easy to hire a private boat off the beach. All in all it was very enjoyable and we will likely go back.

Secrets Huatulco: Fabulous !

For the most part it was excellent. The room was a bit disappointing as the shower flooded twice into our room but the staff was very accommodating .. the grounds and hotel was immaculate. We truly enjoyed the stay.

Camino Real Zaashila: Relaxing vacation at the Camino Real in Huatulco

The resort is spectacular, rooms are very clean, food is good but must like to try something very different. Seafood, lots of fish, Mexican food from the region. The pool is nice and spacious, could use more chairs around the pool. The beach is very clean and accessible, but again more chairs would be welcomed. Overall a nice resort for people who like to relax. If you are looking for existing nightlife, dancing, music, well go somewhere else. However if you would like to relax and get away fro [... read more]m a busy life, this is the place!!

Barcelo Huatulco: disapointed

Had booked a room with a king bed and a view. What we got was a ground floor with double beds. When asked to upgrade we were told that it would cost $60.00 U.S per night. The staff was great, hotel itself was fairly small, the beach was good and the weather was also great. Don't know if I would go back just for the fact that when booking we didn't get what we expected.

Barcelo Huatulco: Excellent resort at a great price, except for the alright food

We spent a week at the Barcelo Huatulco (13-20 Dec. 2016) just before prices rose for Christmas. Overall we very much liked the resort: for everything but the food I’d rate it as a 4.5 star; for regular eaters I’d rate it as maybe 4 stars and, for those with special diets (e.g. vegetarians), a 2 to at most a 3 star. Things we liked. Resort. Like most resorts in the area, this one was built maybe 30+ years back and so it is not the most modern. That said, it is compact, well designed,  [... read more]easy to use, with nice gardens and large palm trees, and the views over the beach and ocean from the lobby and many rooms are beautiful. There are two adjacent pools – one for children and the other (with a bar) for adults. Water levels are never deep – this is not a place to do laps. There is a well equipped gym, tennis courts, a mini-golf area, a games room (pool and ping pong tables…) and I believe that the use of all including equipment (not verified for tennis rackets) is free. There is the main buffet and four restaurants which are not always open every night (Italian, Spanish, Mexican and a small sushi restaurant that did not require reservations). There are a lot of places to lay down around the pool and overlooking the ocean but, despite that, at the end of our stay just before Christmas the idiotic towel game – people getting up at 7AM to “reserve” chairs - was in full swing. Beach The beach is one of the largest in the area. Facing the beach, at the far left past Dreams, is an area where there are many fish – take some bread to feed them. The beach goes down fast to the water and then beyond – the water gets deep fast. When we were there waves were moderate, other beaches in the area have much more violent surf (Chahue) or less so (Santa Cruz and Entrega), but you will need to take taxis to go there. The hotel has some equipment for water sports (small sail catamarans, plastic kayaks…) that they can show you how to use, and water skidoos you can rent for a I think $60US per half hour. Entertainment Every evening there is music in the lobby bar (pretty good musicians and singers), followed by a show in the theater (varied and better than most I’ve seen in AI resorts), and mostly Mexican dance music starting around 11PM or so in the bar across from the Japanese Sushi restaurant. Clients were over half Mexican, with a lot of Canadians, a few Americans and a handful of other nationalities. Rooms have been recently renovated and are nice. If you pay considerably more for premium status, you get an ocean front room (plus better food and drinks); otherwise you get an ocean view or garden view room (like us). Higher rooms give better views (rooms on the inside of the U shaped buildings have views of the pool area and sea). The beach and resort face almost directly south. Rooms with odd numbers give you better sunrise views while those with even numbers have the afternoon sun. Staff As is often the case in Huatulco, the local staff are wonderful. A suggestion to guests: tip the staff well – they do their jobs very well and their salaries are not high; the area is not well-off. Excursions We went twice to the small town of la Crucecita (fixed price taxi 43 pesos) – a pleasant place, with good jewelry and clothes shops including one behind weaves being used to make local tablecloths. They have ice cream at one corner of the zocalo (central square) – you choose the ingredients that are combined and then “fried” in an extremely cold pan in front of you – neat. Two places to hang out for snacks, pizzas and drinks are on the second floors overlooking the square – one above the ice cream place (only open in the evening) and the other diagonally across the square (open all day long). Prices are good and they are great places for people watching. Santa Cruz (fixed price taxi 43 pesos) is a smaller town with a marina, with a real nice small organic open market the 1st and 3rd Saturday mornings of every month. There is a fair sized tourist souvenir area (hats, tee-shirts, etc.) and elsewhere some good stores and restaurants (including a few right along the waterfront where you can eat guacamole and have a margarita with your feet in the sand). One day we took a taxi outside of our hotel (excellent safe driver who speaks very good English and knows the area very well – Fernando, taxi 045, phone 958-109-5001 – spent 1200 pesos for the day plus a tip of 150 and we bought him lunch too) to travel first to the Santa Cruz organic market, and then onto the turtle center in Mazunte (a 75 minute drive up the coast), and the lagoons in Ventanilla (huge iguana, crocodiles…), and finally to drive through other nearby beach towns on the way back. It was an excellent day and cost less than half that of a regular tour for the four of us. Another half day we went snorkeling with Hurricane Divers (located in Santa Cruz) – saw some fantastic fish and paid somewhat less for the experience than a tour bought in the hotel. Worth the experience. Now the less good – the food. The food was of variable quality, and we most liked breakfasts (and the omelette ladies who often also could cook small quesadillas with added mushrooms…). Loads of fruit, juices and breakfast food. Coffee was pretty good (and we are picky). For lunch (buffets) and dinner in the main buffet, there was an overwhelming number of choices of generally low-quality meats (pork slices, fish fingers, hamburgers…). There was a good number of salads, a few vegetable side dishes, and some good natural fruit drinks too. But for people wanting to avoid eating much meat, other options were often very scarce. We only tried the Italian and Mexican restaurants. The Italian one was quite good but had a pretty limited menu (as they were often out of some items, like green salad) but their entrées (hors d’oeuvres, salads…) were pretty tasty and well presented, as was the pasta. The pizzas, however, were lousy. It had the best reputation of all a la carte restaurants and from our experience we agree. That restaurant is located outside beside the pools, and so they allow men to wear shorts and sandals – in the other a la carte restaurants you need long pants and shoes. The Mexican restaurant was hit-or-miss – excellent poblano soup, just acceptable mushroom soup, quite good cheese chili rellenos (a special order), just alright tlayudas, etc. Service (as always) however was excellent. There were vegetarians in our group and, despite really liking the resort, their problems were such that we may not return. A resort that offers maybe 40 meat and seafood main dinner dishes in the buffets can make an effort to have a couple main dish veggie options for those who prefer to eat otherwise. They often use chicken stock in soups and rice, lard in beans… and this is not marked, making it real hard to know what a vegetarian can eat. This was a problem even in the a la carte restaurants, with the exception of the very good Italian one. Luckily for us there was no limit on the number of times we could eat there – we ate dinner there 4 nights out of 7. (That said, this is our second trip to the Huatulco area and our general impression is that, unlike some other resort destinations, most restaurants and resorts in Huatulco make little effort to accommodate vegetarians...) Finally, we were drawn to this resort in part because of the advertised $500 bonus coupons being offered. These were moderate reductions for expensive room upgrades and for spa treatments – things we never used. So don’t count on these being all that useful when you make your resort choices…

Hotel Castillo Huatulco: A relaxing vacation in a hotel located in downtown Santa Cruz, Huatulco

The Hotel Castillo is a wonderful place to stay if you are looking for a relaxing vacation. The hotel is an all-inclusive that is located in downtown Santa Cruz. My husband and I had not travelled to Huatulco and had always heard such wonderful things about the town. We wanted a vacation where we could have easy access to the town & restaurants and the opportunity to explore the area. We did not want to stay in an all-inclusive that was located 15 – 20 minutes out of town. After readin [... read more]g many reviews, we picked the Hotel Castillo and we were so glad that we did. What we liked best about the hotel; 1. Old world Mexican charm – an older hotel but very clean 2. Many locals stay here – it was really enjoyable seeing 3 generations of family travelling together and having a good time 3. The staff are genuinely friendly and provide exceptional service 4. Food was basic, very good… you will not go hungry. The fruit & vegetables were fresh, ripe and had amazing flavor, I could have eaten that alone all week (and I am not a vegetarian)! Eggs cooked to order and bacon were offered for breakfast every day (as well as other fare), the guacamole & salsa at the beach club was excellent as well as the fresh fish & clubhouse sandwiches. An evening barbeque was held in the backyard of the hotel on Monday night. Staff put a lot of work into creating a wonderful evening with linen covered tables & chairs and live music provided by a jazz duo. The food was a mix of Mexican and Canadian and the barbeque steak was really good. There was also an Oaxaca night held at the beach club one evening. Again, the staff put so much work into creating this special dinner & entertainment. 5. Beach Club – In my opinion, this was the best part of staying at the Hotel Castillo. The beach club is situated 2- 3 minutes away from the hotel when you use the shuttle bus. We had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel each morning and would arrive at the beach club between 10:00 am – 11:00 am and we never had any trouble getting a palapa on the beach…… and we were there for 10 days. The view of the water in the bay was amazing. Staff were super friendly in the restaurant and also provided drink service at the beach. There is also a large pool at the beach club. Lunch, either a buffet or an alacarte menu was available in the large palapa restaurant. There are other hotels in Santa Cruz that offered beach club services but in my opinion, this one was the best in town. 6. Hotel is located in downtown Santa Cruz and a short cab ride away to La Crucecita (30 pescos = $2.00 Canadian?). Excellent location. The only down side to our vacation is that I came down with an infected tooth. The hotel concierge directed us to a dentist at the medical clinic in La Crucecita – which was a 5 minute cab ride from the hotel. Dr. Jorge Arturo Blanco Cordova was the name of the dentist and he was fabulous. He spoke very good English so that provided me a huge level of comfort. I visited Dr. Cordova three days in a row and he removed my filling to get the infection out, cleaned out the infection and put in a temporary filling until I got home. He also wrote out a prescription for antibiotics and Motrin which I filled at the pharmacy around the corner. The total cost for his services was less than half of what I would pay for one visit to a dentist in Canada. If you are in need of a dentist while in Huatulco, I highly recommend him. Here is his contact information: (located by the Town Square/Church) Dr. Jorge Arturo Blanco Cordova Central Medica Huatulco Flabmoyant No. 205 Centro CP 70987 Bahias de Huatulco, Oax, Mex Tel (958) 587-01-04, 587-07-43 All in all we really enjoyed this vacation because were weren’t constantly dealing with time restrictions (ie. Getting up early to get a chair by the beach or getting to a restaurant by a certain time for your seating). As far as I am concerned, the Hotel Castillo is a new favorite – a true gem – and we can’t wait to go back.

Park Royal Beach Huatulco: Waves, Birds and...Cumbia !

Interesting layout. The "terrace-floor" concept ( a trolley works as an elevator, taking people up and down from one level to the other) is definitively ingenious, but it is also a bit tedious. The personnel is very friendly, polite, the hotel is extremely clean and the food is adequate. The only problem I found was the music on the beach (the management concept of "entertainment" ) which was playing INCESSANTLY , loud and VERY tiring. The "music" of the ocean, of the birds, of the nature was k [... read more]illed by this permanent sound track "offered" by the hotel . Too bad as the view of the ocean is magnificent.

Barcelo Huatulco: Amazing place

This place is a hidden secret. Staff very friendly from housekeeping to reception and everyone in between. Rooms alway clean and bar fridge always full. Beach very clean (no seaweed ) . Went to buffet and restaurants both had very good choices and tasty food.

Secrets Huatulco: Secrets Resort - Huatulco, Mexico

This hotel was beautiful! The scenery was breathtaking with an ocean view; excellent landscaping and colourful decor. The restaurants served first class meals right down to the Market Cafe which was buffet style. The bartenders were attentive and friendly and served name brand liquors including "grey goose" vodka for a delicious martini!! The weather was perfect for the duration of our one week stay...very sunny and hot!! We would return to this location for sure...

Dreams Huatulco: Huatulco's beautiful and environmentally friendly resort

This trip was by far my best experience to date. The hotel is meticulously maintained and the staff are continuously cleaning or the gardeners and beach staff making sure everything is up to the highest of standards. I am very impressed this resort is very involved in ensuring they are doing their part for the environment, recycling plastics, their food waste along with preserving their wildlife with having natural landscapes left for them. There are 5 beautiful pools to choose from. If you are  [... read more]with little ones, there is a segregated area for families and if you prefer quiet, there is another pool for adults only. The beach and ocean front are simply beautiful and you can not go wrong with the weather being guaranteed to be super warm for 351 days out of the year apparently. The food selection is really good and you do not have to reserve a la carte restaurants and can go as often as you like. One note, the Oceania seafood restaurant is sub-par and truly isn't a seafood place as they even have steak on their menu. General buffet restaurant, Italian and Japanese are really good. If you get a chance to enjoy a Spanish coffee, it will be the best you have ever had. They also have a dedicated little coffee shop called Café Coco which has treats and basically a Williams or Starbucks making fresh drinks for you to your liking. The rooms are quite modern and tidy, even the beds were comfortable. The service at this resort is incredible and they will go out of their way to make sure you are taken care of. The nightlife in the Rendezvous bar area has entertainment every evening however; they should consider making more seating in a quieter area if people simply want to chat or play cards because the music did over power the entire area. The theatre also had nightly entertainment but was small and their volume for showcasing dancers could be turned down a notch. The one downfall of this place, is that you do have quite a few vendors approach you while on the beach trying to sell you anything from jewellery to blankets or hand-made crafts. It would be nice to have this policed more but if you tell them nicely "no gracious", they are not pushy. If you want to buy things I would recommend getting things from them and bring things like candies, t-shirts, flip-flops, hats to barter with and you will score a super deal! Overall, very friendly people, and the hotel establishment was very safe and enjoyable.

Hotel Castillo Huatulco: Some things good some not so good

Firstly there was some construction that we were not warned about. This meant that the outside space was not as attractuve or to useable as it would be normally. It's an Older hotel but has some nice qualities. Firstly, it's Clean, the beach club is great & the service and staff make the place special. The dining room and the lobby bar are a bit grim, they really need a major over haul. Rooms, although old too, are still bright and comfy. Food is not the best, only one dining room with limited s [... read more]elections, especially for North American folk. Area is great, very central to all the beautiful surrounding bays and a 2 minute walk to local swimming beach. Beach at beach club is not always swimmable but pool there is lovely. Area was very reasonable for cabs and the odd meal out if you have had enough of the buffet or limited snack menu. One night there was a fiesta and BBQ with dancers etc. on the beach, another night there was a special dinner in the garden area both nice touches. Singers/guitarists in lobby most nights. Loved Huatulco's laid back vibe and the fact that it is not commercialized like other parts of Mexico. Not a good spot for partners though, suited to families and a slightly older crowd. Great for snorkeling although not quite the same display as the Caribbean. Keep in mind it's way down south, so very warm, reliable weather. Will def go back but maybe to somewhere a little more updated.

Barcelo Huatulco: Amazing resort!

Amanda Garlough, thank you for another wonderful trip! Hotel was very clean, awesome food & service. Beautiful beach & we were able to swim in the ocean. Entertainment in lobby bar in early evening, nightly shows! Weather was awesome! Would return to this resort. Amanda, we will be contacting you for the next trip! Thank you & yes we would love to win trip to Jamaica!

Las Brisas Huatulco: Las Brias

Amazing!! We were there in March 2016 and all elements have gone from very good to EXCELLENT !! An amazing relaxed true Mexican setting. Will repeat many times Laid back, great facilities and staff. Only drawback is they want the review to be 200 characters....how many times can you say FANTASTIC!!!!

Dreams Huatulco: Nice place

Generally hotel was good clean and staff are excelent. Generally no waiting for drinks etc Only issue was quality of food, not very good! Overall weather is great, the people are very friendly. Flight with air canada nothing to talk about at least they didnt lose our luggaga

Secrets Huatulco: Beautiful, relaxing vacation at Secrets Huatulco

Our group of 4 stayed at the Secrets Huatulco from Nov. 27, 2016 - Dec. 4, 2016. My husband and I have stayed at the Dreams Huatulco, twice previously. The secrets is beautiful. It is a very private, picturesque property, with spectacular views. Our room was great, very comfortable, save for the odd bug here and there. The staff cannot do enough for you. The only issue we ran into was the lack of Baileys at any of the bars. Guess it was the popular drink the week we were there!! The situa [... read more]tion was rectified in a timely fashion. The pools are in excellent condition, and spotlessly clean. The entertainment team was a lot of fun. If you wanted to join in, great! If you didn't, great! We visited the spa and the services offered were luxurious. We were treated very well, and enjoyed every minute of it. Our foursome took the Maxi City tour, for 4 hours, with Alfonso (Poncho) as our guide. He was a lot of fun and very very knowledgeable and proud of his city. We ventured over to the Dreams one afternoon just for a change of pace. In order to do this, you must see the Secrets Concierge for a day pass, and then upon arrival at the Dreams, give your pass to the Cocierge there for admittance. It was nice to see the vendors, and other things going on there. But you must get a day pass or you will not be able to eat or drink at the Dreams. The food at the Secrets is wonderful. The a la Carte's were all excellent, with the Italian being our favourite. It was a wonderful, relaxing week away with great friends. Keep in mind that there are a lot of stairs and steep ramps at the Secrets. There are elevators, but I would not recommend this to someone who has mobility issues Thank you to Marnie Savic of Tripcentral.ca She is an amazing agent who gives her full attention to the vacation you want and need!

Dreams Huatulco: Fantastic Resort

This was our second time staying at the Dreams Huatulco. Love everything about this resort. The weather is a guarantee. It was 30-35 everyday that we were there. We were treated very well by the Dreams staff. The room was spotless and cleaned up for us in the morning. Always had a new shampoo and shower gel, as well as a sunscreen. Never had to call down to get towels or refill the bar fridge. Also, no towel cards and no need to make reservations at the a la carte restaurants. Beach was be [... read more]autiful and the pools were fantastic. love this place. will be checking out the Secrets Huatulco as well.

Hotel Castillo Huatulco: Great vacation

Hotel Castillo is a small hotel which offers a high level of customer service. The staff are all friendly and most helpful with any request made. Our very clean 4th floor room had good a/c, a flat screen tv, in room safe and plenty of hot water. The food was fresh with a good selection of Mexican dishes complimented with a wide variety of fresh fruit vegetables, breads and desserts. Toast, bacon and cooked to order eggs compliment the tradition Mexican breakfast items. The bartender [... read more]s make very good mixed drinks and they have both Montejo light and dark beer on tap. The beach club is also very clean and offers a good variety of lunch items. The beach bathrooms were always clean and never without soap or toilet paper. The pool is very well maintained and provided loungers both under palapas and on the pool deck. The hotel is centrally located within walking distance to the marina and many stores and restaurants. 5 pesos for the local bus, 7 pesos for a collectivo or 30 pesos for a private taxi into town. The nearby Super Chey offers excellent prices on liquor and wine as well as a vast variety of food and other items. Safety was never a concern while we were in Huatulco. I would highly recommend this hotel for a true Mexican experience, in the Santa Cruz Marina area.