Palmar Beach Resort & Spa Riviera Maya

This was our first time in Cancun and we have already booked a second trip. We booked our transportation to and from the airport through the resort which made it extremely convenient. The resort is absolutely gorgeous! Two swim up bars, several restaurants, everything we ate from the food at the restaurants and room service was amazing. The service and staff were exceptional. We were in a swim up suite at the adult only pool but all of the pools were large and nothing was over crowded. The staff and concierge were extremely helpful with answering our questions and making recommendations. The taxis take you to your destinations and wait for you so that you can enjoy shopping and know you have a ride waiting for when you’re ready to return or go to the next stop. 10 out of 10!

The staff was amazing. We were looked after even on the beach! Mauricio took great care of us. The restaurant staff were friendly and attentive. It was a pleasure to meet so many wonderful Mexican people who cared about doing a good job. The cleaning staff were friendly and kept our room spotless and the fridge always had cold drinks. The resort was not busy except at the weekends when weddings happened or a conference. We so enjoyed the beach cabanas and the pools. The restaurants offered many fantastic salads and seafood options. We loved our bar tenders and others who remembered us and our drink preferences. This was a magical 2 weeks away from ice and snow! It is very safe and it was neat to see amenities for kids of all ages. We would recommend this resort as a wonderful get away. Carol and Bruce British Columbia, Canada

My wife and I visited over Christmas 2024. Have been to numerous all inclusive in Cancun (adjacent) areas including XCARET ARTE.||The resort was recently acquired by a new company and they are pushing sales hard. It is not up to par with what the new resort brand has. IE: we had luke warm water, mini fridge wasn’t refilled daily (even with water). The sales presentation lasted 8+ hours despite saying no, numerous times, early on. Our shower head shot off and wasn’t installed correctly. Management wasn’t helpful at all, and in fact overtly ignored us about anything and everything. No heated pools? Bad go.||However - I will say the staff, however, was absolutely amazing. While there were only 2 restaurants open nightly, getting in (as a party of 2) was not a problem and the food was spectacular.||Javier and his team are some of the best service people we have ever experienced, far superior than xcaret and Disney world (Victoria and Albert’s included). The staff themselves were absolutely AMAZING people and deserves 5 stars all day long. It seems management, and the company that took over, opened it too early and shouldn’t have. Even the sales presentation room did not have functioning restrooms.||I think give it a few months of remodel and it will easily be a 4 star resort.

This resort has much to offer. The grounds are so beautiful as are the many pools. I love the fact that there is an adults only pool. The rooms are spacious and clean. The staff is wonderful. Bettyna at the adults pool was so great, she was so attentive to everyone. Isabella and Carly at the spa were also amazing with facials. Concierge was helpful with setting up transfers back to airport. Food is also very good. There is a buffet open breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The resort has several restaurants open on a rotational basis. I will say that the restaurant service is somewhat slow so I can imagine that would be challenging for folks with kids but we are all adults in our family so while it wasn't ideal, it wasn't a huge deal. If they can figure out the sit down dinner service, it will be perfect. This resort is away from the Cancun nightlife, which was perfect for us. Beach area is on the small side but quiet and secluded. Overall, it was a wonderful getaway for the family.

My husband and I were sent to this resort after our flight was cancelled. We only stayed here for one night, this resort was fairly empty - apparently recently changed ownership. My impression was - the resort was spotless, the staff was very friendly and appreciated our business. It felt more like a retreat - If your looking to read a book and have some down time - this is the place. It was very spacious - huge pools, beach was nice and the food was great. Even though we were only there for 24 hours - I would consider going to this resort. It reminded me of a true Mexican resort. We came from the Royalton Riviera which was also a 10/10 but very Americanized.

Please read till the end- This was our first all-inclusive vacation in Mexico. The resort is approximately 20-25 mins from the airport. Very conveniently located for those traveling late night. The resort also allows you to book transportation with them (which is what I would recommend because taxi at the airport will cost you a kidney). The resort itself is great. Has very clean pools, rooms and overall very beautiful. The staff are beyond helpful. Every single one of them was extremely kind to us and our babies. There's decent amount of restaurants open and has a wide variety of choice in food. Food is excellent as well. Everyone had something to eat! Room service is beyond reproach as well. If this is your first time in Mexico, the only thing you need to be vary of is their sales pitch. This is something we were unaware of. We wasted over 8 hours trying to get out of the conversation. The management was extremely nice but very pushy. They will entice you with offers of discounts but none of them are worth it. Trust me. They always start with ' it will only be a 90 minute presentation.....' but trust me when I say this 'run as fast as you can '. Unless of course, you are interested in such memberships. In that case, please please read the fine print before you sign anything. They say that it is not a timeshare but their legal documents all state that it is. So just read before you agree to put any deposit or sign anything. Other than that, excellent place and I will definitely visit again.

Before I write what will be a mostly negative review, I'd like to note that the employees (other than the front desk) are so nice and helpful, especially Eduardo at the pool bar, who was friendly and offered great service at the beach. Eduardo was the high point of the limited vacation! This resort has a lot of potential such as nice pools, large rooms with decks right on the pool (first floor) but seems to be going through some ownership and management issues. ||I booked what I thought was the Azul Beach Resort in early January for travel January 7-12 through Jetblue Vacations, however, it turned out to be new ownership and a new resort name of Palmar Beach Resort (which Jetblue didn't even realize). Jetblue wouldn't switch me to a different resort in the area so I ended up leaving early on January 9. ||Cons:||- No hot water projected for my entire stay - the whole resort. They didn't disclose this at check in. This may not be important to some but was a deal breaker for me. |- Many of the bars and restaurants weren't open and it was difficult to tell which restaurants were open for each meal. The list of restaurants and hours given at check in was inaccurate and printed so small that it was difficult to read. |- Upon check in I was told my room wasn't ready, which was clearly a ploy for a sales representative to discuss a time share meeting. There was no one else in the entire lobby, so not an issue of the 2 front desk employees being busy. My room was ready.|- Very few people at the resort, which could be viewed as a pro to some (easy to find pool and beach chairs) but seemed to lead to other issues like less was open, not fully staffed, and long wait times for food at dinner.|- The beach is small with 25-30 beach chairs, hard packed sand, seaweed. A staff member cleaned the seawood each morning so not a big issue. The water here is definitely not the clear kind. Not a problem to get a chair at this capacity but I wonder what it would be like at even 40-50% capacity.|- No snack restaurants at pool open so had to go inside for any food. |- Limited food options. The breakfast buffet was definitely the best. No buffet option for dinner so picky eaters may have trouble finding food they like. At the Italian restaurant it took so long to get food that I gave up and ordered room service instead. ||Pros:||- Easy to find a chair, no putting towels out every morning.|- All the bartenders were so nice and easy to get a drink. |- The staff was helpful and nice. |- The 1st floor room I had in building 3 was nice, clean and large. It had a swim out deck.|- The bedroom was clean the grounds seemed well-kept.|- The room service pizza I order took awhile but was very good. ||I recommend waiting until some of the issues are worked out.

The resort was excellent and service was top notch. Great for kids and adults alike. Was perfect for our family trip. Lupita and the room service team took incredible care of our room. Javier, Jesus, and the rest of the staff at Capritchos (the Buffett restaurant) make us feel like family and took extra steps to make our daily visits special. The people and staff at the resort truly made this a special experience for our families first ever trip to Mexico.