Hotel Xcaret in the Riviera Maya is by far the coolest place I have ever stayed! We were there for six nights in December 2025 as a party of 13 with my dad, siblings, spouses, and our seven kids. I’m going to share the good and the not-so-good in case you are thinking of planning a trip there! Be prepared for a lot of photos!

PROPERTY

Hotel Xcaret is a really neat resort architecturally. We arrived at night and it felt magical! It feels like it is built right into the ocean and jungle. It’s also huge. Expect to feel overwhelmed for the first day as you figure out where everything is.

It’s so big that there are two lobbies depending on what building (Casa) you are in. Depending on what you want to do during your stay, I would recommend being near Lobby 1. This is actually the “old” part of the hotel, but a better location to the main infinity pool, the lagoon, our favorite restaurants, and the beach. We actually switched partway through our stay to Casa Tierra, which is where I would recommend if you get to choose. If you are near lobby 2, it’s not bad (the rooms are exactly the same), just more walking (10+ minutes) to the main pool/beach.

Finch would have loved to stay in Casa Vida because that’s where his favorite restaurant, infinity pool, and arcade were located.
Even though it is a big resort, it did feel safe to let our kids (ages 10+) walk around on their own (after a day or two to get our bearings).
I would recommend downloading the app and using the map feature to explore
Every day in our room we came back to sweet little gifts from the staff! They included bags, baskets, candy, etc. It really added to the magic!
Some of these photos are from the photo package (extra cost) from the resort and parks. You scan your wristband and it’s takes your photo for you!

RESTAURANTS

Hotel Xcaret has almost 20 restaurants, and I think I only experienced five of them. We didn’t book any restaurant reservations before we went, and there were none available when we got there, but we heard the Brazilian steakhouse, Las Cuevas, is amazing.

My favorite spots to eat at Hotel Xcaret:

Mercado (main buffet): We ate here for most meals and loved it. The tacos are so good, and the crepes! Rooney loved the pasta bar. It did get a little repetitive, but I have had much worse food at all-inclusives.
Las Playas: located under the infinity pool; has great guac & burgers
Chibali: smaller breakfast & lunch buffet
Xinema: grab-and-go spot if you have a kid (like Finch) who would rather eat on the go so they can keep playing/swimming (it has a ball pit and big screen where they show old black-and-white movies)

Room service took at least an hour, and we didn’t want to spend that much time in the rooms, but our kids did it a couple of times (especially because they weren’t allowed to go to the buffet on their own).

The virgin frozen passion fruit daiquiris were my and Rooney’s favorite drink! I appreciated the poolside service!

ACTIVITIES

There are opportunities to relax or go on adventures. With such a large resort, there is a lot of walking just to get to breakfast or the pool/beach. There is a beach/ocean, pools, a lagoon, waterslides, paddleboarding, a spa, etc. When we are on a beach vacation, my ideal activity is sitting in the sun reading a book. If you can throw in a little nature encounter, it’s perfection.

My favorite activity we did was swimming in the lagoon around the resort. You have to wear life jackets, and you will also want water shoes if you do it. The water is cold, but we got used to it. It took us two days to swim the entire thing. We swam through caves with crabs! We got lost! It was amazing. Another highlight was finding a great spot to cliff jump, although I’m not sure we were supposed to do that!

NIGHTLIFE

We were surprised that there wasn’t much to do for nightlife. After it got dark and we ate dinner, the resort was pretty dead. This might be when you plan an excursion to Xcaret or Xplor. We would have loved a silent disco or kids’ karaoke! Finch and I played giant chess, checked out the teen club*, and went to the family arcade in Casa Vida.

*The teen club is advertised as for ages 13-17, but is set up for more like ages 5-12. Unfortunately they were very strict with the age limits!

EXCURSIONS

Included with your hotel stay is admission to Xcaret Park, Xel-Há, Xplor, and more! I don’t have much to share on this because we only went to Xcaret Park. Xcaret Park is close to the hotel and can be accessed via boat or bus. We did both, depending on how much time we wanted to spend on transportation. I may have enjoyed Xenotes (cenotes tour), but chose not to leave the resort for an all-day adventure.

We actually went to Xcaret Park twice—once at night for the Xcaret México Espectacular show, and once during the day for the Sea Trek excursion. When we got in the water for the Sea Trek, a huge stingray swam over to us! My siblings and I went to Xcaret Park 20 years ago and still remember swimming with dolphins and in the underground rivers, which was a big reason we wanted to travel back to this area!