Ari

The are around Akumal looks fantastic. Snorkelling is our main activity on vacation and would like to be able to snorkel right near our hotel. Can anyone recommend a 4 star or better hotel. Preferably not an AI but that will be okay too. Have heard comments that the Bahia Principe Akumal is nice but snorkelling not that great right there. Also it's soooo huge!

resipsaloquitur

The best snorkleing around Akumal is in Cozumel. I am not kidding. If you really love snorkeling, you will be horribly disappointed by the poor visibility and lack of viable coral at Akumal, Half Moon Bay, and other spots along the mainland of the Mayan Riviera. On the other hand, Cozumel is known as one of the top diving destinations in the world. While the shore-access snorkeling on Cozumel cannot match that on, say, Bonaire, it is still infinitely better than what you will find in Akumal.

Wednesday

Hi Ari, if you don't want to stay on Cozumel, book a hotel near/in Playa Del Carmen and the ferry comes right there for a day trip over the the island. You can walk around town and eat/shop/drink reasonably with still some samll town feel. Have Fun !

Two_Cats

Sorry, I must jump in here. We just did a week at the Akumal Beach Resort and even though it's an AI, the food was excellent, very simple, but tasty and the entire resort stretches along the beach. Only 240 rooms, so nice and small compared to the Bahia! You can snorkel out front, for better snorkeling, you can walk 5 minutes to the north end of the beach where there is great snorkeling. And for great snorkeling, walk to the north end of the beach to the big white gate of Akumal, ask a cab to take you to Yak-ul (small entrance fee) and you will find yourself snorkeling in what is almost your own private aquarium. This is what convinced us on this wonderful little secret of the mayan riveria:
http://www.ramproductions.com/akumal/

resipsaloquitur

I'm afraid that I must completely disagree with the poster who mentioned Yal-Ku as a good snorkeling spot near Akumal. At Yal-ku, there is not a single live coral, hard or soft, in the entire lagoon! It's just sand and rocks. The extremely few fish consist of a few small chubs, sargeant majors, immature tangs, and other totally boring stuff - not the gorgeous, exotically colorful species which most people associate with coral reefs. And forget about invertebrates (like shrimp, lobsters, shellfish. etc...) There are also numerous pockets of poor visibility, typical of the phenomenon which occurs when water currents of differing temperatures mix. I will admit that the average depth of the Yal-ku lagoon is good for snorkeling purposes, but this just means that you get a close-up view of dead rocks. And to add insult to injury, they charge something like 7 -8 USD a head to paddle around in this sterile tank. We were there in mid-2002, and I doubt that much has changed - you can't transform rubble into a vibrant, living reef in 18 months.

Two_Cats

Wow, guess there are just some people where only but the spectacular best will do. Well, for the rest of us who are happy to settle for second best, we'll just keep Akumal all to ourselves. Keep the unflattering comments coming as the more people that stay away from this area the better for those of us who can take some enjoyment from Akumal and surrounding area - INCLUDING YAL-KU - and what it has to offer.

shymermaid

We are staying at the Bahia Principe Tulum in July, and want to know how we can most easily and cheaply access the snorkeling area at Yalku lagoon. We are planning on taking the collectivo from Bahia to Akumal, but how do we get there from the highway? Is there a bike rental location or what? It looks like a couple miles of walking. I'd also like to know exactly where the other off beach (free) snorkeling spots are that would be nearby, and where are the accessible beaches that are near enough to the reefs that you can swim to on your own?