We decided to stay at La Palapa hotel (on July 2009)for four big reasons: they had availability, they accepted two adults and two children in a double room (two double beds), regardless of what they said online, it was at the beach and it got great reviews at tripadvisor.com. It was a great decision. The hotel is beautiful, family-friendly and utterly relaxing, close to town and with a friendly and accommodating staff. Definitely a place you should consider for your Isla Holbox stay.

When the kids saw our room – quite simple, with two double beds (rather hard, but so are often the beds in Mexico) and a couple of shelves, no phone, no TV, no mini-refrigerator, but cool with its two ceiling fans and a gorgeous veranda with a couple of chairs and a hammock – they begged to stay more than one night. It's US$90 a night (the rate we agreed on, though I've seen rooms offered for significantly less online), more than I want to pay for multiple nights. But hotels are quite expensive in Isla Holbox, and this one is truly enchanting. In any case, they don't have availability, so we are out of luck.

The room is not without problems, however. As beautiful as the veranda is, it's full of mosquitoes, even after they've sprayed insecticide, We found no way to turn on the A/C, though I imagine there must be one. Fortunately the two fans work very well, and there was quite a pleasant breeze blowing during out stay.

The hotel is located in a beautiful, white-sand beach, cleaned and combed daily. It has multiple lounge chairs on the beach, including a few that recline fully and have foam tops. Some are shaded, many are not. There are a few hammocks and lots of palms. There are several boats docked at the beach, but they still leave a large enough shore area in which to swim. A little palapa encases five tables and chairs and includes a bar/restaurant. You can have mixed drinks (MN$50-60) or one of a few dishes, from pizza (MN$40) to lobster (MN$150); the exchange, as I write, is about MN$13 to US$1, so neither very cheap nor ridiculously expensive (the spaghetti, for some reason, is MN$120 – 160, which seems absurd to me).

The sea is also beautiful. This being the Gulf of Mexico, the waters are not blue but aquamarine. The shore is full of small shells, but free of seaweed and you don't really need water shoes. It was very hot the first day we stayed at the beach (but the hotter it is, the fewer the mosquitoes), but very pleasant, and somewhat cloudy, the next day. The kids loved to play in the sand, specially at the end of the day, but beware that there are “tabanos”, a type of sand fly (horsefly according to a dictionary online) with a nasty bite. If you come here, you should really get some mosquito repellent with DDT, “OFF” doesn't cut it.

The hotel is very well located, one street down from the main street, and only a few blocks from the zocalo. There are plenty of restaurants nearby, from cheap traditional eateries (though most not serving Yucatecan food) to nice beach restaurants. Prices are pretty steep however, even at the more modest eateries.

The golf-cart taxi from the dock to the hotel was MN$30 – it should have been MN$20 for anywhere in the island, but we are ignorant tourists, what can I say? Tours to swim with the whale sharks booked through the hotel are MN$800, I'm not sure if they are cheaper elsewhere.

Finally, for those who read reviews that mentioned construction going on on the roof, the construction is all over, so you don't have to fear such noise. However, this is a very family friendly hotel, so it's not a place to get away from all noise.

La Palapa
Av.Morelos, 231 - 77310
Q.Roo
Mexico
52-984-87-52121
http://www.hotellapalapa.com/