After years of traveling to Puerto Vallarta on the west coast of Mexico we opted this year for the Yucatan area, aka the Riviera Maya as the tourism industry here likes to market itself. As much as we loved Ocho Cascadas, and are fairly sure we are unlikely to find a place as unique as it is, we weren’t prepared to re-up as owners. There is too much uncertainty over how well the property will be managed once the Giddings family that developed it gets its money out and moves on.

We stayed for a few days at the El Dorado Royale Casitas resort, which is operated by  a Mexico-based company called Karisma. It is a large resort, one of many that run up and down the coast from Cancun to Tulum. It is about 20 minutes outside of the town of Playa del Carmen. The resort island of Cozumel is off the coast from Playa del Carmen. So a heavily tourist oriented economy.

First the pros of this resort. It is very large, beautiful and generally well-run property. We stayed in an individual casita that was steps from beach. The stretch of beach nearest us was thin, but it widened out a short walk away. There are multiple “beach beds” throughout the property that are freshly made each day’ plus numerous pools, small and large, each with a swim-up bar. The bars are well-stocked and the bartenders knowledgable. As an all-inclusive resort that can be a good or bad thing, depending on your perspective. There are numerous restaurants and overall the food was quite good. The best was called Fuentes, which does a single seating that is billed as “culinary theater.” The head chef prepares the courses in the front of the diners, explaining what he is doing, ala the old Emeril TV show. The house wines are just ok, so for this meal we paid extra for a wine pairing, which was worth it.

As for cons, not much leaps out. The staff appears well-trained and responsive, and for the most part friendly. The all-inclusive aspect is both good and bad from our perspective. We had not been to this type of resort before; it is essentially a land-based cruise. For this trip it worked because we just wanted a quick getaway, but while you are in Mexico, if you don’t leave the property you don’t really experience Mexico. We know that for most of the people that came, that is what they wanted, and that is fine, but we tend to enjoy some cultural immersion. We did take a free shuttle via a bus to Playa del Carmen, where we had a nice dinner, but this resort was too far to walk into town as we did in Puerto Vallarta.

Beyond that, we made the mistake of listening to the resort’s pitch for its loyalty program. While they say it isn’t like a time-share, it is an equally confusing hard sell. Needless to say, we passed, but it did earn us a $100 resort credit and some other discounts, so I guess it was worth it for that. Our only other activity was a round of golf at the Mayakoba resort, home to an early season PGA Tour stop in mid-October, so we have added to our list of tour venues where we have played bad golf. Oh well, it was a lovely course. First Greg Norman design that I have liked, not all tricked up like many of his layouts. More photos follow.