Casa Playa Maya is a great option for renting a villa at Soliman Bay. It boasts 4 comfortable bedrooms/bathrooms plus two separate bungalows, it can accomodate 10-18 people. The house is very cozy and comfortable, but the main attraction is certainly the beach and the coral reef. Soliman Bay is excellent
for swimming as the beach is protected by the reef, the water is shallow and crystal-clear. It is the best snorkeling spot on the Mayan Riviera (probably even better than the more famous Akumal bay).
Casa Playa Maya is also very safe as the small community (10-15 houses, spread along 2 miles) is gated. You can contact the owner at www.vrbo.com/17242 Price starts at $2.200/week (low season tariffs).
Of the times I went to the Mayan Riviera (Cancún-Playa del Carmen-Tulúm), only twice I had very disappointing hotel experiences:
1)Blue Parrot Suites: I stayed there last November and almost had to fight to access to my room. Despite I had warned that I would check in very late (around midnight) they had not check in service clerk. The worst of all was that I had to go through a very violent group of bouncers who were “controlling” the access to the Blue Parrot bar, where the small reception is located. It took me something close was to a fist fight to access the hotel. After a lot of discussion a dumb guard (who apparently had not been informed of our late check in) led us to our rooms (300 yards away). The suite was ok, the price was also ok as it was low season (around $100), but it was too noisy. You could hear loud music from all the 3 or 4 beach bars in the neighborhood. On top of this, the last afternoon, while trying to chill out after arriving from the beach, we had to listen to a show of two drunk guys who have taken to the pool a CD player with very loud “banda norteña” music (the music the drug dealers like in northern Mexico).
All hotel service was extremely poor. As a summary, not a place to rest and especially not a place you will like if you also hate (like me) disco gorilla bouncers. A year before I stayed at the Blue Parrot 5th Avenue (100 yards away from the main Blue Parrot Hotel), and the experience was good. The room was ample, we paid $ 65 + tax, it was quiet and the service was ok.
2)Diamante K cabins (Tulúm): located at the hotels zone (“Zona Hotelera de Tulúm”) in Tulúm, Diamante K offers a “natural paradise” for visitors. The location is excellent, the sea is amazingly blue, but the cabins service is a disaster. Personnel lacks a service attitude and the cabins seemed to have gone the last cleaning round centuries ago. This was way too “organic” for me…
If you want to stay in this area, please go to “La Vitta e bella” or “Ana y José”. They are both very good, though they have substantially increased prices in the last years (to around $ 200 in high season).
