We arrived at the hotel just before midnight after a long days journey which involved driving our rental car from Cancun to Tulum. We were greeted by the hotel security guard that patrols the grounds at night who woke up a staff member to check us in.

Our room on the second floor overlooking the ocean was very clean and had air conditioning that functioned from approximately 5pm - 9am in the morning. This is due to Hurricane Emily (2005) that destroyed the power lines from the town to the beach. Most of the beach is on generator power only and is limited to evening and night use.

We had also requested a small bar type refrigerator that was in the room . Even with the power off during the day the refrigerator kept the drinks and food cold that we had purchased at the supermarket in Tulum. There is no food or drink for sale at the hotel but there are a few small shops on the beach road that sell beer and cold drinks.

We awoke the next morning and went downstairs to the outdoor dining area for fresh coffee. There is a free continental breakfast available and a cooked breakfast (eggs, bacon and bean) is also available for less than $5 US.

There is no lunch or dinner available at the hotel but there are many restaurants along the beach that cater to tourists and there are many more in Tulum that cater to both locals and tourists. I would recommend renting a car and driving to Tulum irregardless of your hotel since it allows you to visit the town and surrounding area at your leisure otherwise you be reliant on taxis or hitchhiking.

The beachfront is gorgeous, fairly quiet and is ideal for walking, swimming, sunbathing or just chilling. The hotel also has a salt water swimming pool which we used once but we preferred to swim in the ocean. We stayed for four nights and had a very relaxing peaceful time. When we craved a bit more excitement we went into town but were always happy to return to the serenity of the hotel.

The rooms are simple and clean with a clean comfortable bed with a small closet and drawers. The bathroom follows the same model with a toilet, sink and standup shower. Although the water pressure is not excellent the water was always hot.

The room was cleaned everyday and the staff was very friendly and helpful with restaurant recommendations and providing extra bathroom and beach towels. Their English is not that strong so I would recommend learning a few Spanish phrases or bringing a phrase book with you.

The hotel mainly caters to the type of traveller that is looking for a peaceful relaxing holiday without the brash resort type guests. If you are looking for a resort style environment with constant staff attention I would not recommend this hotel. But if you are happy in a quiet, relaxed environment and can function somewhat independently then I would recommend Hotel Parayso.

Friendly staff and lovely beach can't make up for serial flaws in design, construction and maintenance. There's no power during the day - and the toilet is in a windowless room. No counter space for toiletries. No mirrow for shaving. Towel bar ripped off long ago. Weak shower pressure & volume. A/C didn't work - they replaced the controller but it never blew chilled air. Randomly placed cat-sized holes in baseboard walls. Badly miscut hole for ceiling fan, wiring for ceiling fan - but no ceiling fan. Balconies are shared, yet the only opening window is the door to the balcony, giving others access to your stuff. Bar & restaurant claimed but we saw no activity to suggest either. This is priced like a boutique hotel but he reality is unprofessional and frustrating.

my wife and i just returned from 2 wks in mexico.isla mujeres for 5 days and hotel paraiso for 10 days. isla, where i have gone for ten years has changed. the magic is gone.too much new building, beach erosian, unhappy waiters etc. the magic went to tulum(probably always been there and i just didnt know it.) we didnt have a complain about anybody or anything at parayso. part of the charm is the two spellings of the name. rooms are not fancy, but super clean and comfortable. plenty hot water. sink frige comfotable bed, deck over beach. the staff, although not much english, were so warm and accomadating. no problem having our need met. carlo, the mgr is working on his english and us on our spanish, so we had a good time together. his english is doing much better than our spanish.there is a big ,gentle dog on the beach who asks you to throw a coconut into the ocean for him and he swims in and brings it back for you to do it again.resturants in walking distance on the beach and complimentry breakfast at parayso. i would send anyone who is looking for a laid back beach vacation. tulum is not abou the ritz carlton or the 4 seasons. tulum is about PARAYSO. we have already made reservation for next year. same hotel, same room

My girlfriend and I spent 5 nights at Parayso Hotel from 12/31/08 to01/04/09 and had a great time. I’ve been going down to Tulum for 20 years; it’s come a long way from the days where you could only rent an open-air palapa with a couple of hammocks inside. The area is beautiful, but also still in an ecologically sensitive zone, which means there are tremendous tradeoffs with human comfort at all the hotels and houses in the hotel zone in Tulum. The government has restricted the availability of city water, sewerage and on-grid electricity in the area as well as restricted the type of building structures in the area. Hotel Parayso has the same issues I’ve seen at all the other places I’ve stayed at in the hotel Zone: quirkiness of generator driven electricity, some limits to fresh water and various pieces of equipment showing the quick wear and tear that sun and salt wreak on metal, plastic and wood.

What we liked: Incredibly beautiful and fully swimmable sandy beach, comfortable room with small fridge and AC (although didn’t need this trip), clean pool which we used a few times (very few places have a pool on the hotel zone), pleasant folks running the place, parking in front of hotel (some places don’t have any), serenity of the area.

What we thought could use improvement: Little more shelving or drawers to store clothes while there, beach chairs/lounges could be upgraded, better timing on cleaning of rooms and more/bigger towels, more thorough cleaning in the bathroom area, and a little more attention to the little details of sprucing up here and there.

There are places that run a much tighter ship than Parayso Hotel but there’s a bit of a free flowing come and go as you like energy there that we found real comfortable for our come and go roaming that we like to do. There is no spa like indicated on the trip advisor name (hadn’t seen it discussed in the web site though), but they have a massage palapa near the pool if you want to call a masseuse. There is a palapa bar in the beach area of the hotel but it was not able to be functioning at that time. The owner indicated that permitting for such operations are very difficult and they’d had some authorities make them close the “Bar” portion of their operation until further notice or more bribes. Having been extorted by the police for “speeding” almost every time I drive down there and the attempted rip-off scams at EVERY Pemex station when you fill up, I am probably more aware and compassionate to the type of issues like this change the way an operator runs his/her business from week to week. In the Hotel zone it’s like this always… generator on the fritz, potable water delivery delayed for a day, propane delivery guy didn’t make it, maids not showing up…

We paid the high rate of $285 a night as we were there for the holiday timing. We thought it was a little high for the place, but we looked at all the other spots as well and they were equal to or much higher and sold out for this very busy time of year. You wouldn’t know there was a worldwide economic slowdown from the activity at Tulum. Overall good experience at Parayso Hotel, particularly good if you are the independent type looking for peace and quiet, not needing to have a restaurant/bar on site or drinks delivered to your lounge chair.