Sandos Caracol Nature Resort & Water Park All Inclusive

Beautiful eco hotel, loved the animals and the beach is really nice (sandy beach, blue water)

We stayed at Sandos April 4-11, 2026 and for the most part the stay was good. We are experienced travellers and been going to Mexico for almost 25 years. They have a serious issue with booking a la carte restaurants. I’m not sure why it’s an issue to get a reservation and their suggestion is to wake up at midnight to book it, can you imagine? We even tried that but we were unable to book our 3 a la carte, we only got two. This is unreasonable in my opinion. My wife and I stayed with our family, we were a party of 7 and there was 4 adults trying to book our restaurants at midnight. The Brazilian was amazing, the other was Los Liros. Los Liros was very disappointing, the steak was like shoe leather and we were unable to eat it because it was so tough. One dish was “BBQ ribs which turned out to be just pork with BBQ sauce dumped over it and the baked potatoes we half cooked and hard. The service was good and staff was attentive. The rooms were cleaned daily but our rooms toilet didn't flush very well and we had to have maintenance come to the room to fix it, I think the issue is that it’s so close to sea level and heavy use because it only seemed to happen during high usage like heavy shower times. The beaches in the area have been hit hard the last few hurricanes and are rocky but they are working hard to reclaim sand for the beach. We only had one day of Sargassum and it was out last day but staff was working hard to clean it up. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

Lovely stylist, did just what I wanted and quickly. Enjoyed my visit immensely.

Got my hair done in the salon and they were excellent! Did a great job and copied my inspiration picture well. Very friendly!

TWO WEEK STAY OVER EASTER 2026 – OVERALL LOVED IT AND WOULD RETURN We spent two weeks around Easter 2026 at Sandos Caracol Eco Resort. I made notes throughout the holiday, and while this review may seem focused on negatives, that is only because those are usually the most useful details I would look for when researching a resort. Overall we really enjoyed our stay and we would happily return. MONEY, TIPPING AND CHANGE We brought Mexican pesos with us. At check in we asked for change but the check in desk was unable to help. I had the best luck getting change from the breakfast waiter. I gave him 200 pesos each morning and he consistently gave me 50 pesos notes. I used pesos for tipping at restaurants, and tried to get USD for tipping at bars. Late in the afternoon tip jars at bars are full of 1 USD bills. Some bartenders would exchange larger peso notes for dollars, but not all would. The exchange rate is roughly 19 pesos to 1 USD, so you would think they would not mind exchanging 100 pesos for 5 dollars, but some reluctant. Barmen almost always wanted to give 50 pesos notes as change. No one wanted to give 20 peso notes even though you do see them in rotation occasionally before they disappear again. It felt like they were trying to make 50 peso tips the minimum. When staff refused to make change into 1USD denominations I sometimes could not leave a tip at all. That was surprising as surely a smaller tip is better than none. DINING AND A LA CARTE RESTAURANTS Food in buffet restaurants are decent, but similar every day. We struggled to book a la carte restaurants when we first arrived but was then informed you need to book at midnight to secure a table. I ended up setting my alarm for midnight every night. This sometimes worked, but some night there was no availability anywhere. We noticed timetables on the app keeps changing for the a la carte restaurants showing some closed on some days the second week of our stay. I contacted guest services who confirmed that restaurants were open every night and advised booking at midnight. I explained that I had tried, but they said other guests had booked ahead of me. It was strange that all restaurants were instantly fully booked on some nights when on other nights spaces remained available for hours. We managed to get bookings for La Riviera Mediterranean, Fogo de Brazil, El Templo Tepanyaki and Los Lirios steak and fish restaurant. All the restaurants we visited were very good. Los Lirios was our favourite. The resort app is unreliable. Opening times change daily and are often incorrect. While bookings are supposed to open at midnight, not all of them actually do. The app is glitchy and I took screenshots of all bookings just in case they disappeared. Once a booking was confirmed, it was fine, but getting that booking was the challenge. ROOMS AND HOUSEKEEPING Rooms are well equipped with a safe, iron and ironing board, coffee machine and fridge stocked with soft drinks and a few beers. Storage space is limited so you cannot fully unpack. We had six hangers as standard, two already used by bathrobes. We asked for more hangers and received some additional ones promptly. The pillows were very large and hard. We requested softer pillows through the guest services app and this was resolved quickly. POOLS, BARS AND DRINKS Getting drinks usually involved queuing. The pool bar is very busy. There is a swim up bar but most days there was no bartender assigned to it, meaning you had to get out and queue at the main pool bar anyway. On day 12 of our 14 day stay there finally was a bartender at the swim up bar for most of the day. Occasionally staff would come around sun loungers to take drink orders, but this was irregular. All drinks are made to order, which is good, and the margaritas and mojitos were excellent. However they consistently ran out of mint in the afternoons at the pool bar. The pool bar was listed as open on app, and stocked so it looked open but with no one serving. KIDS CLUB We used the kids club a few times and were pleasantly surprised. It is open until 20:00 in the evening, which gave us some flexibility to enjoy activities or dinner. Staff were friendly and the kids enjoyed their time there, which is always a good sign. We would definitely use it again on a future visit. EVENING ENTERTAINMENT The evening entertainment was honestly some of the best we have ever come across at any resort. Shows were varied, professional and genuinely entertaining, not just something to sit through. It became something we looked forward to each night and added a lot of value to our stay. BEACH AND ACTIVITIES The beach suffers from seaweed. The resort has teams cleaning it every morning but they are fighting a losing battle. The amount varies day by day. We did some snorkelling but visibility was often poor. That said we still enjoyed beach time. The sand is great for building sandcastles by hand, but not ideal for building towers with buckets. On Friday nights there is a street party with drinks, street food, entertainers and stalls selling tourist items at inflated prices. There were also extra food options like pancakes at around $7 each. They looked good, but it felt expensive given it is an all inclusive resort. STAFF AND SERVICE Our breakfast and lunch waiter Dani in Laguna Buffet Restaurant was amazing and deserves a special mention. Check in was slow and poorly organised. It started as a single queue, then a staff member enthusiastically asked everyone to form four queues even though there were only two check in clerks. This caused confusion and some people who arrived later were served first. There was no sense of urgency and no welcome drink, which would have been nice after a long journey. OTHER USEFUL NOTES Pool towels carry a 50 USD charge if lost. This was not an issue for us, but the towel quality did not match the price. They are not towels anyone would want to steal. Dinner dress code according to the app is smart casual, no swimwear or wet clothing, shirts and shoes or sandals required, no flip flops. This was not strictly enforced. Take bug spray. We forgot once or twice in the evening and regretted it. There are bug spray dispensers around the resort, but we only noticed them after the first week. They are easy to miss. Wi-Fi was decent throughout the resort, with occasional drops while walking around. FINAL THOUGHTS Despite some frustrations, we really enjoyed our stay. The resort has a lot going for it, great a la carte options if you can access it, lovely setting and many hardworking staff. With better organisation around restaurants, drinks service and the app, it would be excellent. We would return.

This is a great resort for kids. Food was great. People were great. Decent room. Overall very pleased. Now please look up Mariana at the Concierge desk. She is such a beautiful person and very helpful.

Genry from Laguna was great! ~ try the mimosas

We are a family of four that travels each year and have stayed at various resorts in Mexico, Jamaica, Dominican and Cuba. Pros: Rooms- This resort has bunk beds for kids with a king sized bed for parents which is awesome. The rooms were modern and the beds were very comfortable. There was great water temperature/pressure and the cleaning/fridge stocking was great. We were in building 53 and we saw monkeys daily. We asked for extra pillows/blankets which were promptly delivered. Resort grounds- This is a unique property with cenotes and so much beautiful wildlife. There’s a bit of walking involved as the resort is large, but it’s nice to walk around with all the daily wildlife sightings. Food- The food was plentiful and yummy. Tacos/pizza for lunch or head to the buffet. Always lots to choose from and the food is well prepared. We especially enjoyed the Mexican Street festival Friday evening with empanadas, nachos, tacos, street corn, churros, etc. Activities- There is so much to do at this resort! I enjoyed the 8am morning yoga by the cenote. My boys loved the water polo, pool volleyball, beach soccer, pool parties, water slides, etc. Cons: Pools- The pools are a bit small for the size of this resort. They feel overcrowded and are extremely murky by the end of the day. They are still enjoyable, but they really need more pools or a renovation to increase the size. Beach- The beach is nice, but not amazing. The water is mostly clear and swimmable, but some areas are quite rocky (water shoes recommended). I am an experienced swimmer/snorkeler so my son and I went out beyond the rock barrier one afternoon and saw some interesting fish. I did end up stepping in a hole and getting fragments of sea urchin or something in my foot (wear water shoes). Restaurant reservations- We got lucky and the first day we were there I was able to make two à la carte reservations. We were unable to get any for the remainder of the trip. Overall this is a great family resort with an amazing atmosphere. It has so much to offer! We did the sea turtle/cenote excursion which was phenomenal. I would consider coming back to this resort which we don’t often do. It’s worth the trip!

He was very Friendly and made a good Job.