Jen and I decided to head down to Mexico and find out what it’s all about.  So we set our sights for Tulum on the Mexican Riviera.  After hours of online research we decided on Mezzanine Hotel Tulum, a nine room boutique hotel with a highly recommended restaurant and bar, located on a white sand beach just a few feet from the turquoise water.  Our choice was excellent!

We flew United Airlines into Cancun International Airport.  We arranged for private transport to and from the airport through Mezzanine Hotel. The trip was an hour and a half to two hours depending on traffic.  The driver was a nice guy and good conversation made the trip go by quickly.  Mezzanine Tulum is literally one right turn and two lefts from the airport in Cancun.  It’s very easy to get there.

We arrived at Mezzanine Hotel around 3:30pm.  The skies were clear with a nice breeze.  To enter the hotel and get to the reception desk one must walk thru an entryway and over the pool. The shades of blue and torquiose of the ocean can be seen through the bright green trees while crossing the stepping stone bridge in the pool.  Spectacular.  Wendy greeted us at the reception desk and Gil handed us the most welcoming margaritas.  We were situated in room 2 within minutes.  We unpacked and hit the bar.  Tequila, fruity margaritas and cerveza were the agenda.

Mezzanine is built on a bit of a cliff.  The beach is accessible by a stone staircase that descends about thirty feet from the bar.  The bar seats about six people and overlooks the beach.  Off of the bar is a deck that has plenty of seating and views of the beach north and south and the ocean directly east.  On another level overlooking the bar and deck is the Thai restaurant.

The restaurant is wonderful.  There is seating available both indoors and out.  The decor is a modest South Asian buddha vibe.  The food is created by Thai chef consultant Dim Geefay, a well known teacher and television cooking personality, out of San Francisco.  Dim has created an authentic Thai menu from recipies and techniques she learned from her mother as a young girl growing up in Thailand and has passed those on to the kitchen staff at Mezzanine.  She returns every several months out of year to update and retrain the staff.  http://www.thaifoodtonight.com.

The rooms are also located on different levels.  Rooms 1-4 the Sea View rooms are located above the pool and have a nice view of the ocean.  The Buddha Dens are located under the Sea Views but with entrances off of the entryway on the street or jungle side of the building and have no views.  If you are on a budget these are a good choice.  By far the best rooms and well worth the money are rooms 9 and 10 the Master Suites.  These rooms are located above the restaurant and have large balconies with amazing views of the beach.

Jen and I started out in room 2, a Sea View room.  The Sea Views have a main room, bathroom and a loft.  They are well decorated and have plenty of shelves and storage for your belongings.  The rooms have many windows for cross breezes and a remote controlled cieling fan.  The loft has an extra bed that someone could sleep in, but not a child.  This is an adult only hotel, no children.  A safe is located in the wardrobe.  Two chairs are provided just outside of the door to relax and enjoy the view.  Every morning a thermos filled with coffee, enough for two cups, is delivered to your door in a basket.  This is some of the best coffee I have ever had.

We spent two peaceful  nights in room 2.  On the morning of day three I decided to inquire about the Master Suites.  It turns out the best room in the house, room 10, was available for three nights.  So for a small amount of money more we were upgraded to room 10.  What a treat.  If you can do it, room 10 is the way to go.  It is a large room.  It has a very large wardrobe, plenty of storage, a refrigerator with snacks and drinks, a very large round tub for two, great size bed on a platform and the best balcony and view.  The worst part of room 10 was having to leave it to spend our last night back in room 2.

Fresh beach towels are left in the room daily with bottles of water in a nice Frida beach bag.  Tulum’s water is not drinkable, but bottled water is available and the ice and drinks are made from bottled water as well.  Beach chairs and umbrellas are available and set up upon request.  Another thing that should be noted is the power.  Tulum is off the grid.  Mezzanine runs on solar, wind, and generator power.  There is power to charge your phones, iPads and cameras, but not for a hairdryer.  Jen bought a rechargable hair dryer to take along and it worked great.

Getting around Tulum was quite easy.  We did not rent a car so we took a taxi everywhere.  It was very easy to flag a taxi down anywhere along the beach road.  Bikes can been rented by hour, day or week.  A bike rental is located about a mile south on beach road or in town.

Mezzanine’s location was perfect for us.  The beach south of Mezzanine was non existent for at least a mile or so.  It is all rocks and not easy to traverse.  The beach north of Mezzanine was amazing and the Tulum Ruins were a 20 minute walk on the beach and along the road.  VERY easy to get to.  Snorkeling and fishing charter boats were available right along the beach.  A reef is located about a quarter mile out from the beach.  Eric, one of the staff at Mezzanine, set us up with Angel and his brother Daniel, who took us out on their boat Chac-Chi, which is moored right off the beach.

The staff at Mezzanine were terrific.  We were lucky enough to meet one of the owners Brendon Leach.  Brendon is a laid back New Zealander, easy going and easy to talk to.  Mezzanine is part of three boutique hotels on the beach in Tulum.  Mezzanine, El Pez and La Zebra make up the three.  Mezzanine is the northern most, La Zebra the southern most and El Pez in the middle.  We would stay in any of these hotels.  While in Tulum we visited El Pez and La Zebra and had a great time at each.  While at La Zebra we were lucky enough to see a Mariachi band (provided by Brendon) play for a honeymoon couple that he knew.  Good timing.

I’d like to end this review by thanking Brendon, Wendy, Gil, Erick, Sergio, Francisco, Wilber, Papatzul, Hargarita and the rest of the staff at Mezzanine for seven great days and six wonderful nights.  We highly recommend Mezzanine and Tulum as a vacation destination.  The only bad thing is we booked our last two nights in Cancun before we left for NYC instead of enjoying the piece and quiet of Mezzanine.  We will be back one day.

http://www.mezzaninetulum.com/
Carretara Tulum a Boca Paila KM 1.5 Tulum,
77780 Quintana Roo, Mexico
+52-1-984-1311-596