With only one day’s notice and planning, my wife and I visited the Eco Tulum resorts in Mexico. Due to the last minute booking we stayed the first night in Copal and the next 3 nights in the adult only Azulik next door. They share the same beach and most of the staff.
General Description:
Copal and Azulik are clothing optional, but very low key. You must dress for the restaurants.
VERY RUSTIC, much like luxury camping. The stand alone cabanas (aka huts) built with part mud walls and part bamboo, with large windows and bamboo shades. At Copal, the huts are even closer together and closer to the more public areas such as the restaurant and spa. They have no electricity, other than the Azulik ceiling fan which didn't work after the first night, but running water is present with a private toilet area. The Azulik rooms have wood floors, a tub inside the room (not private) as well as a tub outside on the deck and plenty of places to lounge around. The bed was very uncomfortable. The cabanas overlook the water, a million dollar view.
NOT FOR THE MODEST. The walls are somewhat see through and the walkways are close by. The bamboo shades are sparse but do let in a lot of light. Anyone walking by can see in.
The two resort restaurants were good and reasonably priced. The spa treatments were excellent and also reasonably priced. Most treatments are available in the room.
No fitness other than yoga. There is no good place to go running either.
No pool but the beach is clean, when compared to others down there, fairly quite and clothing optional, which we appreciated and is a short walk from any of the rooms in either resort.
Azulik has wireless access so it was common to people using their laptops. You can recharge the cell phones and laptops at the front desk. Cell phone reception is spotty.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: If you go, expect to be completely on your own. Us not knowing very much Spanish was only part of the problem (our fault, not theirs). We just dealt with it, and relied on going consistently to the same staff members, Diego and Jorge, who were great and their English was fairly good. However, very few make much of an effort for the type of customer service you would expect for the price we paid.
No information was offered even in print regarding restaurants in the area, equipment rentals, spa treatments (except a desk copy AT the spa), transportation or tours. When we repeatedly asked for information we received different answers even from the same people.
TIPS:
None of the restaurants in the area accept credit cards. You can eat at the resort restaurants and charge it to your room. If going outside the resort you need CASH, not credit cards or traveler’s checks. The resort does NOT cash travelers checks. They recommend you go to the bank in town. I learned this the hard way. There is a coffee shop down the road (short walk) from the resort and a little tiny grocery store where you can get snacks and drinks, this came in handy and saved some money.
Research the area BEFORE you go. The staff is no help in telling you where to go, what to do, or how much it costs. Our only complaint was that the staff although friendly and very accommodating did not seem to have a great handle on the area. A preprinted pamphlet which could be left in the room with things to do, places to eat and tips of the area would have been greatly appreciated.
Bring flashlights and/or a battery powered lantern. The sun goes down fast and the candles don’t cast much light. Therefore, take out your contacts before the sun goes down.
Pack as little clothes as possible. You don’t need much. Leave the high heels at home. This is island living. My wife did find a wrap/sweater useful at night on the beach.
Azulik's website says that they have safes in every room, ours #8 did not.
We recommend you take a shuttle down to the resort from the Cancun airport which they can help you arrange, but take a taxi back to the airport to save some cash. Or better yet, rent a car, it is a straight shot from Cancun airport to the resort, a very easy 90 min to 2 hour drive.
Finally, get used to island time as everything there slows down quite a bit. Breakfast one day took about 40 min to arrive, even when ordered inside of the establishment.
TO MANAGEMENT: I hope you are listening. Perhaps a book depository (take one leave one) would be nice since there is not a lot of activity on site during the day. The pamphlet explained above would greatly help, as well as perhaps one of the three resorts being able to cash travelers checks and accept American Express, which they do not. More chairs (chaise lounges) on the beach and perhaps a few bamboo umbrellas .You need better beds in the room. A gym would be great, but not mandatory. A single light bulb in the room for general lighting and perhaps a plug to charge phones and laptops, would be appreciated. Other than that, we had a great time.





Service





