Casa Mexicana, Cozumel

Advantages: A unique and quaint hotel...
Disadvantages: Lacking a few mod-cons...

...We stayed in this hotel for a few days while on a little tour of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, including visits to Cancun (don't bother), Playa del Carmen & Cozumel (much better) and the amazing ancient Mayan ruins at Uxmal, Chitzen Itza and Tulum. (I'll try and get round to reviewing all these later...) We arrived by taxi from Merida airport (a short journey), having flown in from Cancun, where we had arrived in Mexico the day before, and were delighed with what we found, a massive improvement of the brash touristy-ness of Cancun ! The Casa del Balam Hotel was formerly the family home of Fernando Barbachano Peon, pioneer of Mexican tourism. A blend of Mexican tiles, terracotta and wrought iron, it has a small pool in a walled courtyand, complete with a stone carved fountain and tropical plants, a restaurant and bar, along... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: cheap flights, good service, open bar
Disadvantages: no entertainment console

...I hadn't really heard of this airline and was a little hesitant on using them. But for 450US dollars for a one way to Buenos Aires, well- I thought it was worth a shot. Our trip from Atlanta to Buenos Aires took 2 days. We had originally flown into the states with roundtrip tickets back to London. We used one of the transfer flights to New York from Atlanta and skipped out on the rest. From New York, we flew to Mexico city- using Mexicana. This was a short flight with a small plane but we were amazed at how roomy the seats were. Usually my knees hit the seat before me and here I had 3 or 4 inches. The flight attendants were really laid back, whistling and having a good time. From Mexico city we then transferred to Buenos Aires, again using Mexicana. This would be our 12 hour trip. Since we were flying on New Years day, the plane... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: This hotel offers a very good diving school.
Disadvantages: The food in this hotel was good, but they had a problem keeping the food warm.

...to Hurricane Katrina. The second day of being there I noticed that they where offering free scuba lessions in the swimming pool and I thought I would give it a go. I found it that good and decided to sign up for a discover scuba course. The instructors on this course where very friendly and helpful. There was one point that I never nearly went on the dive due to nerves, but the instructor reasured me. I'm glad he did because the dive was probably one of the best experiences of my life. They even filmed it on DVD. Also to mention that the island of Cozumel is close to the second largest barrier reef in the world and was very easy to reach by boat. The only downside to the hotel was, that they had a problem keeping the food warm and the eating areas are open. Which caused a problem with the flies. I think they where trying to close the eating... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful