Work and Play in Riviera Maya

My El Dorado Resorts Review and Recommendations:

Even though I lived in southern California for half a decade, my first time visiting Mexico was in 2023 with my college friend, Jill. 

While Jill and I both went to UC Irvine, we met during our study abroad program in Cambridge, England. After graduating in 2008, Jill moved to Arizona where she met her now-husband who happens to be from the same town where I now live in Virginia- small world, right?! 

I was lucky enough to see Jill once a year, when she and her husband would visit his family for Thanksgiving. Then Covid ruined everything, Jill and her family moved to Washington state, and a couple years went by without a Jill fix.

So, winter 2022, I texted Jill, asking if she wanted to meet up in England and she said “No”. 

“But I’ll meet you somewhere warm.”

Whew, ok, I can work with that.

I had been following El Dorado Resorts on Instagram and saw that Sarah Hyland, from Modern Family, follows as well. After a bit of light stalking, I realized that Sarah stayed at El Dorado Maroma with husband, Wells Adams, and friends.

While we are very close, Jill and I are not a couple, so we didn’t need the honeymoon feel that Maroma provides. We also wanted a more affordable experience and, after some research, I found that El Dorado Seaside is El Dorado's most affordable resort. 

We coordinated our flights into Cancun then took the resort’s transportation to El Dorado Seaside. We spent the week of January 17-24, 2023 at the resort and booked two excursions that took us off-site. 

Fast forward one year and my boyfriend and I wanted to take our first trip together and get away from the east coast cold. He had been to several places in the Caribbean and gave me free rein to research options.

I love traveling by myself and, when I do, typically have a list of things I want to do and see but am pretty laid back with my plans. When traveling with others, I stress, thinking if they don’t have a good time, it’s my fault.

So, knowing I had a great experience at El Dorado Seaside, it eventually came down to- do we go to El Dorado Seaside, where I had been and he had not but I knew what to expect and was confident we’d have a great time or did we go to El Dorado Royale, confident in the El Dorado name but a slightly different location, resort, and experience.

We ended up staying at El Dorado Royale from January 16-23, 2024 and booked three excursions that took us off-site. 

While the timing wasn’t intentional, the fact that it was the exact same time of year allows me to give a super accurate comparison. 

So, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…. Which resort would I recommend between El Dorado Seaside and El Dorado Royale? 

Drum roll, please…

El Dorado Seaside.

Here’s why 👇🏻

Check in Experience:

The check-in experience felt more personalized at El Dorado Seaside. We were invited to sit in cozy chairs at a desk, opposite the staff member who checked us in and handed us welcome cocktails. We were instructed how to book our dining reservations, how to schedule services at the spa, and how to check out the following week.

At Royale, the staff were friendly but we were checked in at a counter. It was like any other hotel I’d been to and, had we not had the experience that we did at Seaside, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it. 

But because I had had the more comfortable, personalized check-in process, that’s what I now prefer.

Food and Beverage:

The El Dorado Royale resort is bigger, as it’s also made up of Casitas (more expensive, free standing villas). Because of this, I would think that they’d have more restaurants but there were more restaurants with more diverse options at Seaside. 

When Jill and I stayed at Seaside, we had dinner at a different restaurant that featured different cuisine every night. At Royale, there weren’t as many options and we had to eat at the same Italian restaurant for two nights. Not only that, there are two Italian restaurants so we had Italian three out of seven nights of our trip. Now, I love pasta so I’m not complaining. However, it would have been nice to have the option to try out different cuisines throughout our trip. 

When booking our dinner reservations it sounded like there were additional restaurants but not all of them are open at the same time 🤷🏼‍♀️.

One thing that I did love about Royale that we didn’t experience at Seaside (though I’m not 100% certain they don’t have one), was their martini bar. Jonathan and I enjoyed espresso martinis one night before dinner and I appreciated the break from loud patrons and plastic cups.

Experiences:

Because the resorts are so close, it looks like you could book the same excursions through each resort’s travel concierge. That said, our experiences aren’t really reflective of the resorts but could still help you plan your outings!

Jill and I booked a catamaran tour that included snorkeling at the second largest barrier reef in the world. Mesoamerican Reef System is a Coral reef that stretches almost 1000 kilometers, through the Caribbean coasts of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize.

We were told there would be up to 20 other people on our boat but when we arrived, it was just to two of us and three staff members 😂. We were so lucky to have a private snorkel guide/ photographer/bartender, who served us beer and sugar rimmed tequila shots.

Jonathan and I had to book the same excursion, knowing we wouldn’t get as lucky but wanting to snorkel the reef.

There were about ten other people on our excursion so we didn’t get the 1:1 attention that Jill and I received. But we did have the SAME snorkel guide that Jill and I had the previous year and enjoyed drinks and meeting new people.

I even had better luck snorkeling this time around when a turtle swam directly under me! Jonathan and I decided to stay at Maroma beach (where the catamaran leaves from) and lay in the sun for a couple hours (highly recommend).

Jill and I also booked a half day trip that took us to ruins, shops, and a cenote in Tulum. We enjoyed the history, swimming, and opportunity to buy a Lucha Libre mask for Jill’s son.

Jonathan and I booked a full day excursion to Xel-Ha, a natural water park with snorkeling, zip lines, water slide, and natural lazy river. We paid about 100 USD per person for transportation and admission, which included all you can eat and drink.

We went down the water slide as soon as it opened to avoid the longer lines that would form throughout the day. We were glad to get the slide out of the way because it was fun but not as fast and steep as we’d hoped. We then ate buffet style breakfast (I had french toast, eggs, fruit, and coffee) before hitting the zip line and lazy river. After lunch, we did some cliff jumping, grabbed a drink, and did more walking, totaling more than 5 miles. 

There were two downsides to the day trip to Xel-Ha: When we booked the excursion, we were told that our tickets included everything in the park. However, it was an additional cost to swim with dolphins, sting rays, or manatees, dive with Sea Trek masks, ride a speedboat, snorkel with motorjets, or ride the zip-line bikes. We were at the park for 10 hours and were occupied the entire time, but it’s still frustrating to be told your ticket includes EVERYTHING and that not be the case.

Additionally, the drive back to the resort took over two hours with traffic. 

Would I still recommend a trip to Xel-Ha? While I don’t feel the need to visit again, it was worth the one-time experience!


Lastly, Jonathan and I signed up for a free ride to Playa del Carmen, with the catch that you first have to stop at Matises & Co., a jewelry and tequila outlet. Do. Not. Do. This.

It was not worth it to have half of our day taken up at a jewelry outlet that we did not care to shop at. There’s nothing else there so it’s not like you can walk to other shops and we waited an hour longer than we were told for our van to pick us back up to take us to Playa Del Carmen. 

Once we arrived at the beach, we had a delicious lunch and walked around, buying some souvenirs but again, the sponsored ride was not worth it. 

Working from the Resort:

Unlike my six weeks in Bali, where I brought my routine with me, both trips to Riviera Maya were quick, week-long vacations with a travel buddy. Therefore, I didn’t pick the resorts based on their remote work merits, beyond knowing I’d have access to wifi.

I planned as much of my client content as I could ahead of time, worked minimal hours throughout the week, and updated my weekly Google Meet meetings to emails.

Our room at both resorts had a table that was fine for working from, as well as a balcony. The rooms and resources were great for the minimal work I was doing.

Pools:

El Dorado Seaside has what I call the party pool, a large, rectangular pool with a swim up bar where they have music and foam parties.

In addition to the room front pools, there are several additional pools with swim-up bars and, every time Jill and I went for a walk, we seemed to discover another pool. 

We also enjoyed the hot tubs once or twice which weren’t as plentiful but were never crowded.

There is also a main “party pool” at El Dorado Royale as well as the room front pools for the patrons of those rooms. 

There are several additional pools that are exactly like each other, in size, shape, and with a swim-up bar. These pools are nice but they’re all in a row and again, exactly the same. It was more fun at El Dorado Seaside to walk around and discover new and different pools. 

There are also a handful of hot tubs but only one was actually hot and it was always over crowded. We did hang out in a warm-tub one day, where we had drinks with three other couples.

One of the unique things about El Dorado Royale is their natural salt water pool. We didn’t spend too much time in it because most of our full days at the resort were chilly but we did check it out and thought it was a cool feature.

Cost:

There are so many booking sites online so keep in mind that I’m sharing what I paid and my recommendations for receiving the best rates.

When Jill and I stayed at El Dorado Seaside January of 2023, I booked directly through the Lomas Hospitality resort site. We paid $3,008 total (so $1,504 per person) for our Tuesday to Tuesday stay. We also received free airport transportation when booking with a Black Friday deal.


When Jonathan and I stayed at El Dorado Royale January 2024, I booked through Expedia where, after applying a promo code for an additional 10% off, we paid $2,537.64 (so $1,268.82 per person) for our Tuesday to Tuesday trip. We then booked airport transport directly through the resort and paid $86 for both of us, roundtrip. 

The only other things we spent money on in both cases included tips, our excursions, and souvenirs.

When booking both trips, El Dorado Royale was more expensive than El Dorado Seaside on the Lomas website so Seaside could have very well been even more affordable if booked through Expedia but we wanted to check out what was advertised as a “nicer” resort.

My opinion?

Both experiences were adults only, all inclusive, and affordable so you can’t go wrong by staying at El Dorado Seaside or Royale.

But, because El Dorado Seaside had a better check-in experience, more and a wider variety of restaurants, and (in my opinion) better pools, if I’m going to recommend one over the other, it’s Seaside. 👏🏻🌴🙌🏻🥥

Did this post help you make your travel decisions? Still have questions about either of the resorts? Let me know by reaching out on Facebook or Instagram!