Affordable hotel with decent beach and convenient for scuba?

[pclark2]

I'm looking at a possible trip to Cozumel later this year, and am trying to figure out hotel options. Both times I was in Cozumel were over 15 years ago, so my memory is a little limited. I stayed at Hotel Cozumel both times, and while very convenient for diving it didn't have a nice beach. Personally I don't care about the beach, but my wife doesn't dive and will be spending most of her time relaxing on the beach, so it does matter for her. Anyone have any recommendations that balance the two well?

Thank you!

 

[Grateful head]

I'm looking at a possible trip to Cozumel later this year, and am trying to figure out hotel options. Both times I was in Cozumel were over 15 years ago, so my memory is a little limited. I stayed at Hotel Cozumel both times, and while very convenient for diving it didn't have a nice beach. Personally I don't care about the beach, but my wife doesn't dive and will be spending most of her time relaxing on the beach, so it does matter for her. Anyone have any recommendations that balance the two well?

Thank you!

On our first trip to Cozumel in 2012, we stayed down south at Iberostar. It has a nice sand beach and most dive shops will pick you up there or at similar resorts in the same area. I believe Dressel divers may still be operating out of the resort?
So if a natural sand beach is a priority, you will have to stay on the southern side of the island. You will be a decent way away from town and all the restaurants, just so you know.

 

[diversmith]

We just stayed 18 nights at Occidental and depending on how long you are staying, I would only recommend it for shorter stays due to the AI buffet food definitely NOT being what it was when we stayed there almost 14 years ago (the usual answer now is to blame Covid, right?? lol). Breakfast was decent. We usually did made-to-order omelets and fruit. Lunches were very repetitive and the dinner main courses were really poor quality and we were really getting burnt out. Desserts were a joke...like so bad our boys didn't even want to try them after the first few days. It was the same desserts over and over and nothing was very tasty. And we are all very easy to please food-wise. We ended up making as many reservations as they allowed at the different restaurants because those ended up being much better dinner fare. The beach is also not what it used to be...so much sand has been eroded and many of the palm trees are gone. In fact, two more fell into the water while we were there and were removed. By night 18, we were kinda over the Occidental...not bad but not great and sort of a let-down feeling as it definitely wasn't the same as our past trip there. Seems like they are really catering to the cruisers now too. Lots of people there on "day passes" taking up space.

I would have to say to check out the Iberostar. We walked down the beach to go check it out one day just to investigate for a possible future trip and we really liked the property/beach and we had a chance to walk through the buffets and looked inside one of the rooms. The rooms are nice but on the small side, so much so they said they only allow a max of 2 adults and one child or vice versa per room. If it's just you and the wife it will be perfect. The food quality and selection looked much, much better as well. I wouldn't recommend on-site Dressel Divers as they appeared to be a cattleboat op with stricter dive profile rules and site selections (unless you like that sort of thing ). I used Aldora and would absolutely recommend going with them...just get down to the dock by 0800 and jump on. As you might remember, all the best diving is down in that area so you'll have really short boat rides.

Hope this helps

 

[DeltaWardog]

Affordable means different things to different people, so if you could give us the price range you're looking at you might get better suggestions.

If you're interested in renting a condo, I recommend checking out VRBO listings at Residencias Reef. It's down south so most dive ops will pick you up nearby (either Secrets pier if you wanna pay their extortion, or a very short walk south to the nearby beach club if you don't). And the beach there is fantastic for the west side. The grounds are also very nice, and there are a couple of pools right by the beach and at least one hot tub as well.

The big upside for me is, it's far from town so it's quiet, unless Secrets is doing a beach party but those don't last long.

The only downside is it's a bit far from town. So if you like to go to town a lot it may not be a good option unless you're renting a car. I only go to town once a day tops when I'm there and I just use a taxi, so not a big deal for me.

 

[Dan G]

Not to beat a dead horse, but you will need to stay at a southern AI or house rental to get a good beach. I stayed at Sunscape Sabor a couple of times which was great for traveling with kids. This is my only first hand experience with a full AI in Cozumel other than Hotel Cozumel which is now a Wyndham property. (Also good for kids). A couple of friends stayed at Fiesta Americana back in March and said it was good. Last time I did any research on Cozumel AIs, these were the two least expensive places with a beach. If your wife would prefer a resort that does not have children around while she relaxes on the beach, then I'd avoid the least expensive options and look into Secrects.

Regardless of where you stay, just double check with your preferred dive op if there are issues with pick up at the resort. No too many years back there was a whole thing (read $$) with pick up at the pier for Sabor/Residencias/Secrets.

 

[jonhall]

Anyone have any recommendations that balance the two well?

Generally speaking.......

If beach is the first consideration, resorts in the south have the nice walk in the water, pretty blue water beaches. The dive ops that are onsite at Occidental/Allegro and Iberostar (2 of the resorts in the south) are similar in their routine - both have larger boats (described as cattle boats earlier) which some make to sound like a bad thing - not everyone feels the same. Divers are broken into smaller groups. Both usually do surface interval back at their dock, although I did a day with Dressel and we stayed out in the water. Usually MY only issue with these ops is that they stay on a schedule, which may limit dive length. Dove with both in the past - got 45-50 min. dives with Dressel at Iberostar and 50-60 minute dives with Pro Dive at Occidental/Allegro. Some people like the schedule and the length of dives. **I dove with 3 different ops the last time I was in Coz (winter 2021) and all 3 let divers dive their air. It's not a contest - people like different things. Dressel may require some extra work on ones part as initial dives may have to be booked online. Convenience is the plus to the resort dive ops as well as being 5-10 minutes from the dive sites. Aside from the resort ops, most other dive ops will pick you up at the southern area resorts and there is no shortage of great dive ops - so it's easy to balance nice beach and great diving.

More central are resorts/hotels that are beachfront with iron shore, but still a beach area with either a walk-in entry to the water or a dock with a ladder. Again most dive ops will pick up or you could be within walking distance to the op.

The resorts on the northernmost part of the island have walk-in beaches, but the water isn't the pretty blue water. In my one experience up that way, the water was actually dirty looking with very low visibility. It is generally up to you to get transportation to a dive op or marina where the dive boat leaves from. The Coral Princess (not as far north) has Pepe Scuba onsite and they have fast boats that get you to dive sites faster than some ops that are closer. Another option is to get to Puerto Abrigo for any op that leaves from there.

Attached is a link to a spreadsheet I put together awhile back. Needs a little more updating, but will give you an idea of dive ops and location. Dive ops by jonhall

 

[Kimela]

FYI, if some of these recommendations make you curious do a search on the name of the property within this forum (Cozumel) and you may find trip reports for those specific properties. Some will even have pictures. Good luck!