Hotel Bardo Tulum

My husband and I stayed for our small honeymoon getaway. Hotel Bardo is hands down one of the most romantic hotel we have ever visited. The staff is extremely accommodating and is well on top of it. The hotel has a BEAUTIFUL swanky vibe and to top off one of our nights we came home to candlelight’s in our room and champagne with a very kind note. I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a romantic quiet getaway. Last but not least Fernando was always a pleasure to speak with/work with during our time here. Thank you to the Bardo Team!

We stayed for 3 nights at Hotel Bardo in early April. It is one of the best hotels we have stayed in! Every room is a separate casita with a private plunge pool and outdoor shower. You can pay extra for a room with a heated pool but we had a unheated pool and it was refreshing and not cold at all! The concierge is communicated with via WhatsApp. This made putting in requests a breeze! One morning we asked for a floating breakfast (need to make request 24 hrs in advance) which was delicious and includes one savory dish, one sweet dish, coffee and orange juice per person. We also made nightly requests for ice cream which were brought straight to the room. The main pool was beautiful and looked like it was straight out of a jungle. Poolside service was very nice with drinks and food brought out to the lounge chairs. We also ate at the restaurant one night and the tacos were delicious! The margaritas were also the best we've had. We rented a car from Cancun airport for our trip, which I would recommend doing if you want to explore downtown or go to the beach or cenote as the hotel is in downtown Tulum and not in walking distance of a beach. You can walk about 10 minutes to the main road of downtown but it is very hot. The concierge can make arrangements for taxis or beach club reservations for you. The Gran Cenote is with a 10 min drive of the hotel, which is a must see site. We also partook in the ice bath session, which is held off site and the sister site Hotel Milam. Hotel Milam is only a barely 5 min drive away. We almost did the Temazcal experience as well but unfortunately did not realize it was offsite at Hotel Milam until it was too late. The concierge was very gracious and took off the charge for Temazcal when we realized it was too late. But be sure to check with the front desk about location if you are scheduled to do any of the experiences. We would 100% recommend Hotel Bardo to anyone who wants a relaxing stay but that is outside the usual Cancun resort box. It was a beautiful hotel with excellent service and food.

I can’t say enough good things about Hotel Bardo. The staff were phenomenal, especially the reception staff (Fernando, Leo). The main pool area has a perfect vibe with chill lower volume music, amazing cocktails, beautiful bar, excellent service. The villas are beautiful and I loved my private heated plunge pool and private little fenced yard space. I had room service for several meals and it was fantastic. I also ate a couple times in the restaurant area. The food is delicious. Quick service. Martin was a great server! During my visit in the area, I stayed at the beach half the time and this property for the other half. I honestly wish I’d have stayed at Bardo for my entire 8 night trip. I could seriously just hang out there all day. However, it depends on what type of vacation you are on. My purpose was truly to unplug and rest and recharge from my busy stressful job. This is a great place to stay for that purpose. I participated in the Temezcal ceremony on my first night and it was both reflective and challenging. The Shaman, Diego, was outstanding in guiding us through the dark, the heat and our senses and emotions. Highly recommended. Drink lots of water! The yoga was a nice but I wish they would have had flow classes when I was there as I needed a bit more exercise / movement there after all my long beach walks during the previous days. I did walk to town a couple days. And it was a short walk, less than 10 mins. I wasn’t too impressed with the town of Tulum, it needs a lot of work and upgrades. I preferred the shops and restaurants near the beach area. There is a garbage problem in the Tulum area which is really unfortunate. You will see it if you leave the hotel or resort / touristy areas. Garbage dumped randomly everywhere at the side of the road and in the trees and jungle. I have a really hard time seeing that and it just confirms how corrupt and unbalanced things are there. With the amount of tourism dollars coming into that area I would expect better sanitation. Don’t be shocked to see how incredibly poor that entire area is when you leave the glitz and glamour where the money is. However, I didn’t feel unsafe walking around in the daytime. Just a word of caution, many of the hotels, including this one, won’t allow you to flush your toilet paper, but rather expect guests to place it in a basket in the toilet room. This was a bit shocking to me but it is a third world country after all and they don’t have proper plumbing or infrastructure…even if you are paying $700/night. I would stay a this hotel again and I really do not say that easily as I am incredibly selective.

Maybe I’m crazy for believing that a hotel would want to do right by its customers. Maybe it’s too much to ask for a hotel that exclusively markets itself as a quiet, serene retreat to focus on wellness to mention in advance that there is a weeklong Carnaval celebration going on, where open air music and a screaming DJ continue until 5:30 or 6 in the morning, very near the property. The only online mention of a carnival/carnaval celebration in Tulum occurred between February 28-March 2nd this year. We arrived almost two weeks later. These dates were confirmed on the Tulum Government ‘Ayuntamiento De Tulum’ instagram page. Still, Hotel Bardo was aware that this festival was occurring during our stay, as they left a note on our bed at check-in. Understanding that Tulum is a vibrant cultural location, we came in with some expectations of music and vibrant life. We chose Bardo because it was described as somewhat removed from the craziness of the hotel zone and appeared to be geared towards a less party-forward demographic. What we did not sign up for was a literal all-night party in the neighboring streets, stuck in an echo chamber of a room with no sound insulation. Earplugs and even a white noise machine that we brought did nothing. We stayed one night of a four night reservation after finding out from management that this would be going on continuously every night during our stay. To be fully transparent, I spoke with the front desk and with management, informed them that we literally did not sleep our first night and would have to depart, knowing now that this would continue each night. I thought it reasonable to offer to pay for the first night in full, as well as for the dinner that we had at the hotel. I requested that we be refunded the remainder, given the unfortunate circumstances. I would have settled for some sort of compromise from there but I thought I wasn’t asking for anything unreasonable. The hotel management refused to do ANYTHING in the realm of actual compensation. They wouldn’t even go so far as comping the meal we had. Instead, our only option was a credit for a future stay. To offer us a credit, at a place where we had such a terrible experience was nothing short of insulting. Looking on Reddit, there are examples of others who have had this sort of bait and switch pulled, looking to try and resell their resort credit that they couldn’t or wouldn’t use (we refused the credit). I don’t give places a second chance when they make no genuine attempt to right a wrong. Life is too short, and there are plenty of places to visit that actually prioritize something called customer care.

Deceptive Marketing and Zero Accountability—Avoid If You Value Rest and Transparency My husband and I chose Hotel Bardo expecting a tranquil, healing retreat, as advertised on their website: a sanctuary for mindfulness, relaxation, and spiritual connection. Instead, we encountered a relentless, all-night rave that made it impossible to rest, let alone experience the peaceful ambiance they claim to provide. After a long day of travel, we checked in at 7 PM and arranged to have dinner in our villa. Nearly an hour later, we were met with deafening music and an emcee over loudspeakers. Confused, we discovered a note on our bed stating that it was carnival season and to expect loud music until the late hours of the night—with complimentary earplugs as their only “solution.” What the hotel failed to disclose in advance was that this “season” had just started that very night and would continue for six nights, with music blasting from 8 PM to 5:30 AM. It was so intense that our villa physically vibrated—earplugs were useless. We had extensively researched our stay, ensuring no festivals or disruptions would coincide with our visit. Additionally, my husband had been in communication with the hotel leading up to our arrival, yet they never once mentioned this. If they had, we would have booked elsewhere. We left after one night, as staying would have been impossible for our well-being. The fact that they were fully aware of this massive disruption and deliberately chose not to notify incoming guests ahead of time, is deeply deceptive and exploitative. Hotel Bardo refuses to take accountability, offering only a credit for the next year—which we declined due to ongoing/unknown health reasons and the sheer lack of trust in their business ethics. To knowingly withhold this critical information from guests who seek out this hotel for peace and healing is not just misleading, but incredibly irresponsible. If you’re looking for an actual sanctuary of rest and relaxation, this is not the place. Their failure to communicate, take accountability, and respect their guests’ needs speaks volumes. I would strongly advise others to look elsewhere.