Originally Posted by
ArnoldB
Very interesting about the nature part. Are there any small trails around the property that you can walk? Is the resort surrounded by actual jungle on the inner sides, or just some scrub? And as for the excursion, where there any other excursions (other than Tulum Ruins) on offer, particularly jungle hikes or something along that line?
In my expectations, I (probably wrongly...) imagined this (and the Hilton Tulum) to be sort of like a mexican version of the Hilton Seychelles Labriz, with beautiful beaches (with corresponding water activities on offer) on one side and beautiful lush jungle (with corresponding hiking activities available) on the other side. But if now on one side most jungle is cut down with hardly any animals left, and on the other side the beach is constantly unusable due to seaweed, then what is the point. Seems more like a sandbox for americans to lie around the pool all day and inflate F&B prices with their addiction to insane tipping (no offense).
I would say that *for the Riviera Maya* this is not a bad option. Walking/biking around the Conrad/Hilton area is peaceful and serene; there isn't much "jungle" of canopied trees because I don't know that it ever existed like that here. It's dense trees and they've built a couple hotels in the area. There is a major highway (Cancun-Tulum) about a 5 minute drive from the hotel building, so if you look at a map you can see it's not remote, but at least not in the middle of Tulum nor Cancun, but kinda off on its own.
As I said above-- if you are trying to escape busy areas, drive inland an hour or two and you're in traditional, lovely Mexico. We spent 2 nights in Piste (walking distance from Chichen Itza Mayan pyramids) and 2 nights in Valladolid and loved those.
We did a "turtle swim" just north of the Conrad and while we did see several turtles, it's mobbed with people and didn't feel very much like a jungle adventure.
Tulum Ruins are very good but again-- go super early or you. will. wait. for. an. hour. to. even. buy. a. ticket. to. enter.