Sandos Caracol Nature Resort & Water Park - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

26630 reviews

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  Mixed bag. Tired rooms. Beautiful groundsss

  A family resort set in lush tropical gardens with a beach so stunning it could be on a postcard. Its a real shame the rest of the place didn’t get the memo. There are pools everywhere, restaurants galore in theory, and endless kids entertainment. If you’re an adult seeking calm, romance, or the ability to hear your own thoughts… look elsewhere. This is strictly the “parents’ survival mode” edition of paradise. Food-wise, there are technically enough options to last a week IF you manage to secure one of the elusive evening restaurant bookings. By some miracle we did but most others enjoyed the same buffets on a relentless Groundhog Day loop. And the lack of real Mexican food? Let’s just say I’ve had better tacos in the UK The rooms? Well… “tired” is being polite. Think: maintenance bingo; will it be the broken light, leaking taps, the door that won’t lock, or the shower with a personality disorder? A full refurb is desperately needed. Service was slow, mostly because the place seems to run on a skeleton crew. Lovely staff, just not nearly enough of them to handle full capacity so prepare to queue for… basically everything. We even paid for an upgraded pool-view room and got a view of… absolutely nothing. And the hotel didn’t exactly bend over backwards to fix it. In fact, I’m not sure they even bent slightly. Overall: jaw-dropping location let down by rooms stuck in a time warp, not enough staff, and queues that need their own FastPass system. The kids will love it, though! The water park, pools, entertainment is paradise for small humans. Adults? Bring patience, humour, and possibly binoculars to find your “pool view.”

  Dec 07, 2025
• 

  Amazing Resort

  If you love nature this is the best resort. The lush property feels like the jungle and has many animals to see. We saw tons of coatis, spider monkeys and a few kinkajou’s even. There’s so much shade all around the resort which is lovely because they haven’t removed anymore trees than necessary it seems to build the resort. The resort is kept very clean. There are tons of pathways and trails to hike and explore. We didn’t even feel the need to go on a tour because there were so many things to do and explore onsite. From the multiple cenotes to see and swim in, Mayan ruins, water park, bike trails, flora and fauna a plant and animal lovers paradise. Food: The food was good lots of variety. Loved there were 2 buffets, the big regular one and a smaller quieter one which had a great atmosphere. They had a singer going around serenading tables. He was fantastic! Love the self serve drink stations everywhere. Beach: The beach was great. A nice sandy section with a break wall to keep it calm. Then beyond the break wall everyone was snorkeling or kayaking. Lots of chairs and shade. Not hard to find chairs at anytime of day. Pool: The pool could be bigger it was kinda small. But I liked the shape of the pool, it helped spread people around. Staff: The staff were excellent! Very helpful, kind and nice. The people who complain get what they give. Even the people selling on the beach were nice and not pushy. A simple no thanks and they moved on quickly. Rooms: We had an eco room. It was fantastic to have the monkeys right at our balcony because our room is right in the trees. The beds were so comfortable and big. I loved having a king size bed and my daughter loves being on a top bunk. Check in: We find when you come at ideal prime time there are lines to wait for check in. But we arrived off peak hours and we were checked in quickly. We will be back! We have gone all over the Caribbean to the concrete jungle resorts (as I call many of them) are fine but this is by far our favourite. We don’t typically go back to resorts but this one we will be.

  Dec 07, 2025
• 

  Amazing experience

  Amazing experience. An excellent complex, with many activities to do, with a lot of nature around ,good food, clean rooms, great holiday

  Dec 06, 2025
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  Not worth the wait!

  If you are going to book this place STOP right now! Unless you want to wait in line to check in for 3 hours. Absolutely ridiculous. I have two tired and hungry kids and asked if the kids could get something to eat and they said no not until check-in. Have not even been here a day and already regretting I booked here. I should have took the reviews seriously! Don’t do it! Ridiculous!

  Dec 05, 2025
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  Don’t expose your family to this nightmare

  Avoid Sandos at all costs. The resort is unsanitary, poorly managed, and severely understaffed. Over the course of our 10-day stay, our family experienced two separate bouts of food poisoning—sudden, excessive vomiting within six hours of eating, no diarrhea, and full resolution within 24 hours. We also met numerous other families experiencing identical symptoms, and on nights when we were not ill ourselves, we could hear guests in nearby rooms vomiting through the walls or plumbing. When I reported the incidents to the buffet manager, I was told to speak with concierge. The concierge insisted that “no one else has reported illness” and advised that my daughter must see the on-site doctor—at a cost of $120. This was said while another family was in the lobby with their child actively vomiting into the bushes. Despite all this, staff continued to deny any issues with the resort’s food handling. The resort layout is also problematic: pathways are uneven, poorly lit and insufficiently marked; creating tripping hazards and frequent confusion navigating back to our room in the evenings. Food availability is quite limited. There is no food service at the beach or main pool. Only basic hot dogs and burgers are available in the waterslide area, where alcohol is not permitted. If your ideal vacation includes relaxing by the pool with a drink while your children enjoy snacks in a carefree environment, this is not the place to stay. The wildlife on the property loses its charm quickly when you find yourself stepping over animal droppings or fending off raccoons trying to get into your bags. There is a single main pool with one bar area, regularly staffed by just two bartenders—one poolside and one on the dry side—despite the hotel being at “maximum capacity” throughout our stay. Wait times were consistently long as a result. Restaurant reservations were extremely limited, leaving most guests reliant on the main buffet unless they wanted simple snacks/tacos from El Nidos . Evening lines for the buffet stretched out the door, and the interior layout funneled everyone into one long line rather than allowing guests to move among different stations. Staff were generally unhelpful, almost certainly due to chronic understaffing. A towel attendant demanded money from my husband when he requested a clean towel after a bird defecated on his. At breakfast, a server refused to provide me with coffee because the host had seated my family—along with many others—in an outdoor section with no assigned waiter. I could go on, but the bottom line is this: I would never recommend this resort and will not return. I will also be filing a formal complaint with WestJet, as they sold us this vacation package. Our family travels frequently, and we have never encountered an experience as disappointing as this one.

  Dec 05, 2025