Anyone just return from there? Would love to hear trip reports and general info that might be useful for my trip in a couple of weeks...Thanks

I was at Gran Porto Real for two weeks in February. The hotel is beautiful & very, very clean. The rooms are huge & the bathroom has a shower big enough for a dozen people. The buffet restaurant is fine for breakfast but do go to the specialty restaurants for dinner. If you don't see something you like on the menu you can order whatever you want. We had steak many times & it was excellent. The beach isn't the greatest but a 2 minute walk puts you on a beautiful beach. The staff are lovely & very helpful. You can walk out the front door of the hotel & walk into Playa del Carmen in about 5 minutes. We enjoyed our stay there & would not hesitate to recommend the hotel. If you have specific questions, please post.

Thanks for the report Edward...when did you have to make the reservations for the specialty restaurants? Early same day, afternoon, or days before?<BR>

We usually made the reservations the morning of the day we planned to eat there. El Pascadore is a really nice restaurant with excellent food. They make a great salad &amp; the steak is great. Maria Marguerita is really nice. We went there one night (without a reservation) &amp; they served us. If you go to El Pascadore try to sit outside near the street. You can watch all the people coming &amp; going from 5th Avenue. The staff there are wonderful &amp; deserve every tip they get.

Strongly recommend OceanView room.Otherwise GardenView is of the parking lot.If you care about that.IMHO

Definitely upgrade your room to the oceanview. That's what we booked &amp; our room was actually ocean front - steps from the beach. the room was huge &amp; we had two balconies. I don't know what the other rooms are like but for location the upgrade is worth it.