Hotel / Diving Recommendations - Family of 4 - New to diving

[GoldieVT]

Looking for some advice- we're a family of 4 (kids are 18 and 20) and looking to do a vacation in the first 2 weeks of 2026. My wife and I can't just sit on a beach so we thought doing a diving vacation would be fun. I have my PADI cert, others don't so we'd be using part of our vacation for their shore and open water dives. I'd likely do a refresher and maybe snorkel while they do the course. I think they'd likely do the online eLearning prior to the trip.

Looking for hotel and dive shop recommendations. It would be nice if the hotel had rooms with 2 bedrooms but we could also do 2 separate rooms (kids and parents). It doesn't need to be low budget but also not looking for top of the line hotel either. We'll want some downtime from diving and my daughter would enjoy a hotel with a pool/beach. We also like to get out of a hotel restaurant and get some local food so proximity to other dining would be nice.

While it will be exciting to do some great diving, the goal is to get certified, get comfortable with diving, see some cool stuff and have fun.

I welcome any suggestions and thank you!!

 

[Shawn C]

Do you have access to a local dive shop? Since you've got so much time before your trip, why not do all the classroom/online learning as well as all their pool work before your trip? You can get a referral from the local shop so that way they can do their four OW dives in Cozumel (which you could tag along for) and everyone is ready to dive by day three.

Are you looking for all inclusive resorts or more traditional hotels? Most of the AIs are south of town, particularly ones that have beaches. My family have stayed at 7 of the AIs and our top choices are Cozumel Palace (in town), Fiesta Americana, Explorean and the Iberostar (furthest resort from town but closest resort to the reefs). One of the great things about staying at the Explorean is that it includes a daily excursion - jeep tour, Punta Sur, tequila tasting, Catamaran sail, etc. It doesn't have room service, however.

There's a new (ish) Westin on the north end of the island where you can do AI or just the European plan. Playa Azul also gets a lot of repeat visitors, though we've not stayed there.

There's a good thread on the AIs here: Recommended AI for February 2025

If you are looking for more options, others will chime in I'm sure.

 

[GoldieVT]

Yes, we do have a local dive shop and have considered doing the class and pool work in advance however the pools they use are ~ 1 hour drive and it felt like it might be easier to do that when we're on vacation.

I was thinking traditional vs AI but open to options and appreciate you providing the ones you've liked. Have you used the dive shops at the hotels for your dives or had a 3rd party pick you up?

Thanks for the info!

 

[Shawn C]

Whenever we've used the onsite hotel dive ops, we've been disappointed. We use Sharky's now (Walter taught my 12 year old daughter to dive and was amazing). Everyone has their favorite dive op but, for us, we want 6 pack boats that are fast, great DMs, good surface intervals with a lite lunch, and to be grouped with other divers with similar experience. Sharky's ticks all the right boxes for us. There's a thread on this forum with a spreadsheet of many of the dive ops with information on each of them. It's the pinned post but here's the link: Finding a (Best) Dive Op in Cozumel

Most hotels & resorts allow 3rd party pickups. Some will charge you a fee per diver, per day, while others won't.

 

[cicopo]

I recommend reading my post from a few weeks ago here about Hotel Cozumel which meets most of your wants and has the option of adjoining rooms or there are two 2 bedroom suites. The in house op Dive Paradise would work well too however just about any op can pick up & drop off at their pier. My preferred op however has been Tres Pelicanos who can also meet your needs on the diving side of the trip. Be warned Jan can have weather problems which close the port for a day or 2 and sometimes even 3 days limiting getting out to dive / train etc. The downtown core is about a 15 to 20 minute walk which allows shopping or dozens of great restaurant choices. There are also 2 major stores for those things you may have forget to bring about 10 minutes into the walk downtown. Here's my earlier post.

Some updates to things related to Hotel Cozumel.

 

[ggunn]

I have been staying at and diving with Blue Angel for many years. Both the hotel and the dive op work very well for me.

 

[GoldieVT]

I have been staying at and diving with Blue Angel for many years. Both the hotel and the dive op work very well for me.

Thanks to those that have replied. I've got some homework to do!!

 

[Bookworm11]

The Intercontinental Presidente is the best hotel on the island and has a dive shop (Scuba DU), but I don't like it at all. It is not near town at all though. A number of dive shops can pick you up there. Your problem is the hotels with beaches are either on the outskirts of town, or on the opposite side of the island. So you need a car if you go for the opposite side of twon, or need taxis if you stay on the outskirts. If you want an AI, I've always been happy at the Occidental, which has a small beach, and two pools, and a dive shop, but I've never used it. The Westin is lovely, but not near anything, and very few dive shops will go there. Suites Turquesa is on the outskirts of town, and there is a small pool and snorkeling, but you need a car. If you book with Aldora Diving, you can dive with them and stay at their villas, which have a pool and can snorkel. Their diving is great-I can't speak about the villas asI stay in town at the Casa Mexicana.

 

[ggunn]

Your problem is the hotels with beaches are either on the outskirts of town, or on the opposite side of the island.

The only hotel on the east side of the island is (or was) the Lantana(?) next to Coconuts, but I don't know if it is still a thing. There is no grid power on the east side.

 

[nodakdive]

I have been staying at and diving with Blue Angel for many years. Both the hotel and the dive op work very well for me.

I've never stayed at Blue Angel, but would second this suggestion and also suggest Casa Del Mar for some of the same reasons. Also, personally, I wouldn't dive with Blue Angel. It's not because they aren't a good dive op, I'm certain that they are. I wouldn't dive with Casa Del Mar's dive shop for the same reasons I wouldn't dive with Blue Angel's. They aren't bad options, they're just not what I'm looking for.

I'm not sure about Blue Angel's "beach" situation, but what I like about these places is that they both have shore diving and snorkeling, they both have dining options outside of the hotel's restaruant within very easy walking distance and they're both a relatively inexpensive taxi fare to town. I know that Casa Del Mar has an AI option if you want it and suspect the same is true of Blue Angel. Both are probably close to the same price and neither is a "dump".
Casa Del Mar has a "beach" area behind a seawall and I suspect the same is true of Blue Angel. Casa Del Mar has a convenience store about a block away and I wouldn't be surprised if Blue Angel has the same.

I've never stayed at Hotel Cozumel and don't have any idea of the cost, but I would also second Hotel Cozumel for the same reasons as above. Of these three options, Hotel Cozumel is the largest, with Casa Del Mar being considerably smaller and Blue Angel being quite a bit smaller than that.

I'm a fan of staying non-AI, south of "town" and north of the southern cruise ship pier and diving with an outside, small boat dive op. I want to stay at a small, clean, comfortable enough, relatively inexpensive hotel that has access to the ocean with support for diving/snorkeling and some kind of beach area/amenity and a pool area. I also like having an on-site restaurant and a tv in my room. Very close other dining options is very desirable but most evenings I go to "town" for supper. For my taste, Hotel Cozumel is a little too large, I think they have the largest hotel swimming pool on the island, but that may be more your style.

There are lots of other options in that stretch from "town" to the southern cruise ship pier that don't quite fit for me, like condos or larger facilities, or more expensive choices, but they might work for you. For instance, I'm a big fan of Village Tan Kah. I've never stayed there, but I did a week of diving with their "house" dive op, Scuba Shack, while staying at Casa Del Mar. The "house" dive op was well run but I wouldn't consider it to be like a "house" dive op. Roberta and her staff were great. Village Tan Kah, which is directly across the street from Scuba Shack and owned by Roberta, is tiny, which I love, but they don't really have a beach area and there aren't tvs in the rooms. I think there are only 12 or 13 rooms? The diving there, including shore diving, is extremely convenient. That would be another relatively inexpensive option.

Any of these places, if you choose to use the house dive op, will be able to complete the training dives right there at your hotel and you'll be able to leave on your boat dive trips, and be delivered back after your trip, from their docks. There are many other outside dive ops that can do the same, though the training dives may need to be done elsewhere. It will depend on the hotel and dive op as to where you have to go, if anywhere.

To my mind, this is one of the broad ways to do it. There's also staying in town, north of town, south of the south cruise ship piers and far south of the piers at an AI. And of course, there are air B & Bs, etc.