Riviera maya hotel sans lizards!
 

Hi all,

We're flying into cancun in March and plan to drive south and stay in a more low key place--Akumal/Tulum, etc... I love the idea of cabanas on the beach but I am really afraid of lizards (I know, Mexico is filled with them and am working on my fear!). But I wanna be in a hotel that isn't gonna be so open that they can easily get in the room...

Can anyone reccomend a place that has screens, etc...? Our budget is under $150/night.


Thanks,

S

I don't think you can find a place on the beach that might not have lizards. My condo in Belize that is on the second floor and has good windows/doors/screens still has geckos on the walls at times. I have no idea how they get in. I used to worry that they'd get trapped in there and die, but I have never found a dead one either.

I don't know if some places might lose enough poison to keep them out, but I wouldn't want to subject myself to that level of pesticide.

I doubt any place in Akumal or Tulum would be using pesticide to get rid of lizards. They are around but don't bother you. They're the little ones that sit on the walls.

They eat bugs...welcome lizards into your room.

Yeah, I know they eat bugs...believe it or not, I grew up around them. Irrational, I know. I just want to minimize encounters! Bungalows are probably worse am thinking...

they're so cute, though!

They're not really lizards, I belive they are amphibians. Maybe that helps! And they are soooo cute, and eat bugs. Gecko, gecko, gecko, that sounds so much nicer than lizard.

Wow. That's a tall order, I'm afraid. My guess is that you're about as likely to find a property in this region without those as you are to find a property in this region which, say, does not get much warm weather. :-)

Steve

Yeah, I kinda guessed that there’s a lot of em around! Same as any other tropical place. But many say that when there’s a thatched room, more geckos tend to be in the room. I am trying to look to at a lizard picture everyday to break the fear….let’s not even talk about the iguanas!

In any case, any recommendation of hotel that have screened windows? I really like the idea of Tulum but I would like the room to be sealed if nothing else.

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it.

S

All due respect sasson, maybe Tulum is not for you. The relative primitiveness is what attracts most visitors.

I can't offer a suggestion, just comfort that you are not alone. I have no problems with them running around anywhere else, but when you are lying in bed and you see them on the wall or ceiling (which I have too many times), I'm with you. I have developed a fear of them being in my room also. I was India several years ago where there were real lizards running around the place we stayed. There was no way to keep them outside and much larger than geckos. There was another woman on the trip who was equally as freaked out so we ended up sharing a room together. We screamed and laughed at the same time. Like the other poster said, maybe it's not for you. I have given up on the thatched romantic room idea for the same reason.

Thanks everyone.

I decided I am not going to let a few lizards keep me from experiencing Tulum, which otherwise is very appealing. So we are going to split our 6 nights between 2 places. Here are what we are thinking: Playa Maya in Playa del Carmen and maybe Posada Del Sol. Any experiences/thoughts on these places?

Good for you! I hate to see irrational fears stop people from enjoying themselves.
Playa Maya is great. I've got trip 2 planned for this March. Steve and company take wonderful care of their guests. You can't go wrong there. I don't know about the other place, we normally stay in PDC and day trip to Tulum.

Unfortunately Playa Maya is booked. But we got our place in Tulum for the second half of the trip. Any rec on where else to stay the first half? Place in Akumal or Playa del carmen maybe? or should we Tulum it all the way?

imho as you only have 6 days to begin with why bother packing & moving. you can drive from tulum to pdc in under an hour.
if you really want 2 locations email www.locogringo.com and tell them what you are looking for and they will write back with several possible suggestions.

Hi all,

Just wanted to give you a quick trip report. We stayed in Akumal for three nights and in Tulum for the remaining three. The break up was great and allowed us to see more than we would have had we stayed in one place.

We rented our car from Executive and they were quick, efficient, and very nice. Akumal turned out to be a great place and I am glad that we didn’t stay at Hotel Akumal Caribe (one of our choices but much more crowded.) Instead we stayed at Vista Del Mar, which turned out to be much more quiet and pleasant…although as most of you know swimming is almost ruled out because of the rocky bottom. We loved Akumal. Vista rooms are small but clean. The sheets occasionally had stains on them, but this was not due to dirt but they looked like stains that just won’t come off. It’s not ideal of course but the price is so reasonable that I think most could live with that.

Tulum was even better. We stayed at Posada Del Sol in their second best room. The room was gorgeous, far better than the room our friend had in Posada Margarita and the view was amazing. But the service left something to be desired for. The owners who lived at the property pretty much shut off everything after 9 or 10 and the place was dark (with no candles or lights in the walkway—these are little points but can make guests feel more welcome). Also, our water kept running out which means that going to the bathroom and showering became an issue at times.

The sheets and towels also had that orangey stain on them which I think may be due to the water, iron perhaps? But they were clean and I don’t think anyone could help that unless they bleach stuff everyday. We had electricity all around and hot water (when we had water!) The owners were very sweet and I enjoyed conversing with them everyday.

The beach was small but nice. The beach at their sister property Posada Lamar (next to Posada Margarita and Hemingway) is much better though…long stretches of white sand where you can just walk for hours. But our room looked better than what we saw at Lamar. Guess it all depends on what you’re looking for.

I am also happy to report that we didn’t have a single lizard/gecko in any of our rooms. Iguanas, however, were plenty outside of our Tulum room, this was because we were really close to rocks. This freaked me out a lot at first but I found ways to ignore it.

All and all, the Yucatan is really fantastic; the people were super nice everywhere and I highly recommend it.

S