Sandos Caracol Eco Resort – All Inclusive

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

26483 reviews

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  Hair and makeup

  I really enjoyed my time and the experience was amazing! The makeup and hair turned out great and I’m excited to show others!

  Aug 01, 2025
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  Family vacation

  We are back at Sandos Caracol for the 4th time — after 6 years. We’ve always loved this resort because of: 1. The variety of activities We participated in a sensory experience and center tour with Ruben, which was both wonderful and educational." 2. The shows 3 The entertainment team was great and very engaging. 4 The friendly staff, always doing their best to make your stay special for you and your family We also enjoy the beautiful jungle surroundings, filled with plants, animals, and nature all around. However, this time we were disappointed by several changes: 1. Our room was not clean when we arrived — the floor was dirty, and we had to ask housekeeping to clean it. 2. Some of our favorite activities were canceled. We really missed them. 3. No one informed us that we now need to use the app to request things like towels or room cleaning. This should be explained clearly at check-in. 4. Booking restaurants has become very difficult — you have to wake up early in the morning just to get a reservation. 5. Only two buffet restaurants were open for breakfast, which caused long lines every morning. The third buffet was closed, even though the resort was quite busy. The most disappointing experience was the Saturday fire show, which used to be one of our highlights. We arrived an hour early to get seats in the front row. But there were dining tables placed in front of us for guests who paid for dinner during the show, blocking our view. Waiters were walking in front of us constantly, serving food, making it hard to enjoy the performance. There were large rocks in front of the seats that looked like part of the audience area, and about 15 minutes before the show, people sat on them and blocked our view. We addressed the issue with staff, but nothing was done. Even worse, a woman dressed in costume — who appeared to be part of the resort staff — brought more guests and seated them directly in front of us, changing what looked like assigned seating. We were in our proper seats and waited patiently, but the entire experience was disappointing. It felt unfair to regular guests who arrived early and followed the rules. We still love Sandos Caracol and hope to return in the future — but we truly hope these issues are taken seriously and improved. The resort still has great potential and charm — it just needs better organization and communication.

  Jul 29, 2025
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  Don’t believe everything you read and give this place a chance

  Super fun family resort Shu and Marlon are the best there is always full of energy and fun and include everyone!! Bar staff are great and night entertainment is great too. Food as you’d expect in an all inclusive resort. Rooms big bright modern and clean. Aqua park fun. Jungle life amazing

  Jul 26, 2025
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  Magical experience 🖤

  I was sceptical about my trip to Sandos Caracol having read very mixed reviews on here before going, but I have to say I feel like I had a completely different holiday from those who’ve been very negative as I had the most wonderful time at this resort! I could barely fault anything I experienced here & was very sad to leave, a few thoughts on the different elements below: Room - I was in the adults only Select club area (I travelled with friends who were in the family area but I’d booked this as it was the only room available when I chose) and yes there were little things that weren’t perfect like some small rusty bits on the bottom on the mirror, but all in all the room was big, airy with both a/c and a ceiling fan, had lovely jungle views from the balcony which meant I had frequent visitors, such as the cheeky coati who tried to break in. The bed was large & comfy (I had 2 to choose from) & it was kept immaculately clean the entire stay! Activities & Entertainment - There was so much to do and enjoy even without the organised activities as I just loved walking around and seeing all the trees and animals etc, but the entertainment and activities we experienced were brilliant. The kids went and fed the animals at the farm on an almost daily basis, we attended the eco tour which took you round the Mayan ruins and gave you interesting facts about the history and their beliefs and we went on the kayak tour, which for me, as someone who’d never done this before was perfect! I’ll admit we didn’t enjoy the noisy activities at the main pool and avoided being there for these happening, but those who did take part seemed to enjoy them, just not our cup of tea. I just made sure I was at the adult pool or beach when they started! The evening entertainment was wonderful, my favourite was the Sacred Fire Ceremony which we also paid extra to have dinner at, the food was delicious and gave us front row seats and I found the show mesmerising! The other Mayan inspired shows were wonderful too and the kids really loved the Pirate Circus (although so did I), the only show we didn’t attend was the Michael Jackson tribute. Food - This seemed to be the area most people writing reviews complained about, but again, like everything else, I couldn’t fault it. We ate in the buffet a couple of times and on the Mexican themed night and everything I had was delicious, there was so much choice and something for everyone, even boring beige food for those who like to have it! I also like the mini desserts so you could try out a couple at a time! We went to all the a la carte restaurants and they were all great too, my favourite location was La Riviera as it really felt like holiday being sat right down on the beach and was nice having the sea breeze, we also got the best service of the holiday here! Food wise though my favourite had to be the Brazilian Grill, I had a bit of everything they brought round and it was all moist, tender and delicious!! I know a couple of restaurants and 1 bar were closed during our stay, but I understand when we went out of the main season and they made this clear on their website & both were buffets so we didn’t feel like we missed out at all! Pool & Beach - The main pool was a bit busy and loud so, as I had the option of the adult only I only went here once, what was a shame was that we discovered Tortuga pool which was perfect for me and the family I was there with as it was open to everyone, but nice and quiet, however it closed a few days in for maintenance which was a shame. The adults only pool, was beautiful, it was really big and had plenty of sunbeds to choose from, some people seem to complain about the leaves etc floating in the pool, but I witnessed the cleaning of it most days and the cleaning of all the sunbeds and surrounding area, but as an eco resort with the pool being surrounded by trees and vegetation of course as the day went on bits dropped into the pool, but that never bothered me. The beach is not the turquoise blue clear water you get elsewhere due to the amount of seaweed which sweeps in, but you could still go into the water, they worked really hard to clear the seaweed every morning! The sand was white, clean and soft and I absolutely loved that you could sit on a sunbed under palm trees rather than an umbrella. The adults only beach bar was lovely & had snacks, drinks and coffee you could help yourself to, as well as a full bar if you wanted something different! All in all, I found my days lazing wherever I chose to be really relaxing! Animals - My absolute favourite thing about this holiday was being surrounded by wildlife, if animals aren’t your thing, definitely don’t choose this resort! I started my holiday watching a Coati try to break into my room from the balcony and when he was unsuccessful just have a nap. I then got to experience the wildlife at every turn through the resort, seeing Coatis and their tiny babies, monkeys on our balconies and running/swinging around the resort, raccoons, turtles, agoutis, peacocks, birds, cats and iguanas, as well as the farm animals…..it made me so happy I can’t even describe it! So unique to have this and so magical! The only 2 areas I think they could improve upon are the main reception check in & out. Check in took an extremely long time & no one pointed out to me I could have gone to the dedicated Select reception, I did check out there and it was fast & faultless, but my friends had to queue for a long time again! Second would be to have just 1 bar which was available to all guests which had air conditioning as this would have been a relief occasionally to be able to escape the heat before or after dinner. All in all, I absolutely loved this resort and would recommend to anyone and definitely go back again at some point!! 🖤

  Jul 26, 2025
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  Good. Not great. Would test something different next time.

  The rooms and the grounds were the stars of the show. Extremely clean rooms with cleaning and restocking every day. Beds were comfortable. We stayed in a family eco suite with 4 people and have plenty of room. The ground were beautiful and full of animals for our kids to see. The staff was very friendly and helpful. I recommend the riviera and temple restaurants for dinner. Both were quite good. Overall the resort felt understaffed and things were closed often. The check in process took nearly an hour and we had to return to the desk for a welcome pamphlet and another time for our towel cards. I also felt that it wasn’t easy to get food for the kids especially in the room or near the pool areas. They had hamburgers and hotdogs but no sides, chips or fries and did not offer any other grab and go items. There was also no room service option available and the one restaurant other than the buffet that did not require reservations was extremely slow. Finally, the pool was quite dirty. The walls, especially on the side with the bar were covered in a dark, slick, mold like substance. Once I noticed it (and accidentally touched it) it was hard to not think about it every time we were in the pool.

  Jul 22, 2025