When our family was looking into summer 2024 travel plans in late 2023, we looked at various options like cruising, and even priced out a couple week trip through Germany to visit amusement parks.

While cruising is sort of our fallback plans, the prices have been skyrocketing lately as the boats fill up. Then the problem with any type of overseas trip is our family of five typically can not fit into one hotel room. With having to change locations every night or so, the economics quickly fall apart when we would need multiple rooms and often times we can not find hotels to use our reward points.

So a request of the Mrs. for several years is to do an all-inclusive resort.

Let me preface by saying it is not something at the forefront of my preferred itinerary. If I pay to go somewhere, I prefer to not sit in a chair all day and really want to get out and see the world.

However, one day in late 2023, I received an email from IHG that they had partnered with Iberostar all-inclusive resorts located all around the world. The email was also attractive as it showed a resort in Mexico with a water park, which of course it right up the lane of our thrill seeking sons.

That being said, the price for the five of us also came back as very attractive.

After some discussion, we were booked for Mexico in June 2024. We reserved two connecting rooms in the Lindo resort, which is their mid-tier resort. We were also able to use our pool of Delta Skymiles to secure five free seats from Cleveland to Cancun, making the trip very economical.

The Iberostar Selection Paraíso complex is made up of five resorts, in order of low to high:

– Delmar
– Beach
– Lindo
– Maya
– Grand

Based on the resort you book, guests get access to all the amenities of their level and lower. So we knew going in that the Lindo got us access to some premium dining options, the water park, and all the pools and restaurants at the Beach and Delmar.

Quick side note, we had booked a refundable/cancellable rate; however, the Black Friday sale offered a fantastic discount if we booked a non-refundable rate.

For reference, booking 7-nights, our rate went from $4,874 (with all taxes and fees) down to $4,106 for 5 guests. That equates to only $117 US per person per day, which when you consider that includes all the food and beverage, we thought it was a steal.

Lindo Rooms

Upon check-in, we were offered an option to upgrade our wristbands, not the rooms, for only $40 per day for all of us to get access to the Maya amenities. We gladly accepted.

We were given connecting rooms in building 54, which is right in the middle of the resort adjacent the pools and was recently upgraded.

One room had a king bed and the other two double beds. Both rooms had their own restrooms and balconies.

Overall it was wonderful having two rooms with ample space for us all the spread out.

Prior to traveling, we had joined several Iberostar Selection Paraíso Facebook groups to get familiar with the resort. One common complaint seemed to be that due to the environmental nature of the resort, the rooms were restricted on how cold the air conditioning could go and guests had to request for it to be lowered.

However, we had no issues with our rooms, as the air was pumping and the rooms were the perfect temperature after stepping in from the surface of the sun outside. Yes, Mexico is hot in June. Paired with 100% humidity, it was rough and took getting adjusted to.

The rooms are also outfitted with fridges stocked with beer and soda that is replenished daily. Note: be sure to tell your housekeeper that no cerveza (beer) is to be put into the fridge if you do not want your kids getting into it.

Dining Reservations

After checking into the resort, we immediately went and met with the concierge desk to try and reserve specialty dining reservations throughout our stay.

The good news is a couple weeks prior, the majority of the restaurants dropped the requirement for reservations and guests could simply walk up for a reservation. However, select locations like the Japanese Hibachi (Hashiru), Maya steakhouse (El Rancho), and Brazilian steakhouse (El Rodizio) did require a reservation due to their popularity.

Availability even for the entire week was very limited, and we were only able to secure reservations for Hashiru and El Rancho.

The biggest issue we saw with dining was because staffing was relatively low. Some servers were excellent, and others desperately needed some assistance. Some of the best service for dining we experienced was at El Museo and El Rancho. The service worked so well at El Museo because they had enough staffing for someone to handle drinks while the other took orders, etc.

Staff worked really hard at other dining locations too; they just clearly had too many tables, etc.

We will get more into the dining in a separate post.

One note about the concierge. While they are there to try and help you, their goal is to try and talk you into a timeshare presentation. You can just be assertive with what you are trying to accomplish and realize that is their end goal.

Iberostar Selection Paraíso and Amenities

When everyone tells you how beautiful the resorts are, words can not even describe how meticulous everything is. The place is stunning. So much so that we felt at times we were at Walt Disney Worlds resorts.

After the drive from the airport to the resort, you quickly begin to appreciate the tropical environment and how beautiful the resorts have been constructed.

Workers are constantly cleaning and maintaining landscaping. Everyday we saw workers in the water adjacent to the covered walkways cleaning out leaves, etc. The jungle atmosphere surrounding the resorts is all encompassing and really creates an oasis from the outside world.

The wild animals also love the Iberostar Selection Paraíso resorts, as were able to see coati everywhere and the occasional peacock strutting around the resort. It is said there are also monkeys and flamingos, but we were not lucky enough to see them.

The resorts shared pools all over the property and it was so great to be able to go from one to another. Again absolutely beautiful. We brought our own pool floats from home, which they blew up for you at the towel huts.

We were also nervous approaching our trip because they closed down the lazy river the month before our arrival for maintenance. Luckily a couple days after our arrival it was back open again.

Circling back to how hot it is in Mexico, do know that at least in June, the pools are bathwater warm. There was no cool refreshing feeling from jumping in any of the pools. Actually the one guests most looked forward to was the lazy river because it was freshly refilled and had not had time yet to start boiling.

Also in regards to complaints about the speed of the lazy river. It is slow. Right after entering is a section that almost does not move. However we still found it enjoyable.

One last note. About the beach. We made our way out to the beach at the Iberostar one day. Again the beauty continues out to the ocean with gorgeous white sand beaches with chairs and umbrellas for guests to use. However, the sargassum is pretty bad. As much as the resorts may try and comb the beaches to remove the washed up macroalgae, the ocean is still filled with it and we were not able to get into the water without wading through it. For various reasons including potential for rashes and harboring sea creatures, we stayed out of the water.

Nothing really the resort can do about mother nature. Just a little sad we were not able to really enjoy the ocean as we had hoped.

Iberostar Selection Paraíso Activities and Shows

One thing we were surprised about staying at the Iberostar Selection Paraíso was how many daily activities and night shows they had planned. Again, one of the doom and gloom thing about the Facebook groups is how limiting night activities were.

Now granted, coming from a cruising background where the events are non-stop, we could possibly see the potential for complaints. However, we were never not entertained.

The day staff constantly had events everywhere. We spent a good deal of time around the Lindo pools and they were constantly offering things like water aerobics, volleyball, kids activities, blow-up climbing structures, foam parties, etc. There was zero chance of being bored.

We also took the opportunity to see most of the nightly entertainment. Everything from the fire show to the Mexican heritage show, which was probably our favorite. The show we liked the least was the circus show. Total missed opportunities all over, and was more of a song and dance show.

Conclusion

We will have some more posts about dining at the Iberostar and some of the day trips we did.

Overall, as someone who was not the most excited about doing an all-inclusive, it was wonderful. There was no chance of getting bored. The property is simply beautiful. There were so many options for food and beverages.

The people were also fantastic! Everyone we met both inside the resort and out were so hospital and friendly.

Do note we spent a good amount on tipping throughout Mexico in general. I felt like we were flowing through cash constantly.

While tipping is certainly not required, it was most appreciated, as everyone there is working really hard to make your stay great. We tipped with every drink at the bars, our housekeeper, and daily dining wait staff. Plus everyone who transported us throughout Mexico. Bring plenty of cash based on the length of your stay.

We tipped in US dollars, which were gladly accepted. At your lobby they can break larger bills.

Overall, while we felt we got a great feel for the region, and we loved our stay, we do not feel the need to return. We always see this as a good thing, opening up our opportunities to visit other parts of the world.

What this trip did do is open our horizons to staying at other Iberostar properties around the world. The trip met our budget and exceeded expectations, which one can not ask for much more.

Continue reading about the Iberostar below:
Review: Iberostar Selection Paraíso Lindo Dining (Mexico)

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