We just got back from a week at Intima Resort in Tulum, Mexico and had promised a full review on our return. We have been to Hedo the last six years in a row and were concerned we would find Intima too quiet but we had a fantastic trip and would definitely return. Intima is a very small resort (36 rooms) located in the town of Tulum, it is not on the beach which we thought was a major disadvantage but it ended up not being a big deal at all. The resort is clothing optional anywhere on the property and most people were fully nude except when eating in the restaurant. It is not a lifestyle resort and doesn't tolerate any PDA however there are a couple of lifestyle takeover weeks each year.
The resort is a condominium concept and we met many of the owners, all of them fantastic people. Some come for a couple of weeks at a time and some spend the entire winter there. When they're not using their suites they are placed in the rental pool.
Getting there - we had a direct flight to Cancun and due to strong tail winds landed almost 45 mins early. Tulum is 118km south of Cancun airport and there are several options to get there including public bus, shared transfer, private taxi, or renting a car. After comparing prices we ended up renting a car, and we were glad we did. Car rental costs just a little more than a shared transfer and was cheaper than a private taxi. If you're going to do this, check the insurance offered through your credit card very carefully, there is mandatory third party insurance required in Mexico that isn't covered by credit cards but even after paying for this it ended up being only US$216 for the week. The drive down is very easy, four lanes all the way and took us about and hour and 20 minutes, just be careful of the random topes (speed bumps) along the way. We stopped in Playa del Carmen for lunch on the way down and it ended up being our most expensive meal of the week.
The resort - it's located in the south end of Tulum just a couple of blocks from the Main Street. It is made up of four buildings placed in a square with the large pool in the middle. The first building has the check in desk and restaurant with the bar located right in front of that. The other three buildings contain the guest rooms and are three stories. The grounds are very beautiful, the landscaping is lush and tropical and very well done. The pool is stunning and has loungers all around it. There is a hot tub right beside the bar which would fit about ten people, they don't turn it on until 4pm unless you ask them to and it never really gets very hot. The pool is not heated and we found it quite cool at first but it warmed up noticeably by the end of our week. There are plunge pools on the roof of each building but they were very cold and we never saw them being used.
Rooms - there's a couple of different room options at Intima. We booked a one bedroom swim up studio suite on the ground level. The room was large and had a small kitchenette with a mini fridge, microwave, toaster, plates, cups, and utensils. The bathroom is open to the rest of the room except for the toilet which is in a frosted glass enclosure. The shower is huge and done in marble. The other room choices are one and two bedroom suites, both of which have a full kitchen including a gas stove and full size fridge, dining room, and large couch area. We had the opportunity to see several of these and they are absolutely beautiful, very modern and very nicely furnished. If you were going with another couple the two bedroom suite would be a very economical way to do it. On our next trip we would probably book a room on the second or third floor as they get way more sun and you have a private hot tub on the balcony, the main floor rooms don't have a hot tub but have swim up access to the pool. The only complaint we had about our room was the bed was extremely uncomfortable, it's too bad they went with a very cheap mattress in an otherwise high end resort.
Food - there's a small onsite restaurant called Passions and its managed separately from the rest of the resort. You can choose to go all-inclusive for US$100 per day per person or buy meals individually. Most dinners are US$25 pp but they did have some specials at $12.99 during the week and also had two-for-one drinks one day while we were there. You don't have to do the AI for your full visit, you can choose specific days to do it if you wish. We didn't do it at all and were glad we didn't. Although the food and service is fantastic I just don't see how it's worth $100 pp. You can eat in town very inexpensively and buy your own beer and liquor at the grocery store to bring back to your room. Our daily routine was to have breakfast at our patio table (cereal, toast, yogurt, fruit, etc.), snack lightly during the day and then go to town for dinner. There's lots of options, we loved the taco shops and full Mexican meals that we had. There's a gourmet pizza restaurant just a couple of blocks away which was 100 pesos (US$5.50) for a full size pizza for two with all the toppings you want. We had great meals and spent significantly less than what the AI would have cost. There's a couple of full size grocery stores in the north end of town (not walking distance) that have everything you need if you want to cook in your room.
Beach -it's about 5kms from the resort to the beach road. If you want a nude beach you have to go about another 8km south on that road to a beach in the biosphere called Playa Akun. It's 30 pesos pp to get into the biosphere and 30 pesos pp for access to the beach. When we went just about everyone was clothed so we walked a few hundred metres down the beach and got naked. If you take a taxi make sure you arrange a pick up time as this beach is a little remote and I don't think too many taxis would go that far down the road, it would be hard to find one to take you back. The public beach is much closer and is very beautiful and it's no problem for ladies to be topless on the public beach.
What we liked:
-the small size of the resort. By the second day we knew almost everyone by name and everyone was super friendly
-the rooms, very modern and beautiful. Very well laid out with lots of space
-the town of Tulum. It's a funky upbeat place, lots of great places to eat and much cheaper than Cancun or Playa del Carmen
-having a car. I would highly recommend renting a car when visiting this resort. It gives you way more freedom to get around and doesn't cost much more than the cost of transfers from the airport and back. If you don't it's about a 10 minute walk to the main road but it can be a much further walk depending on where you want to go in town.
-the people. The staff at the resort are all very customer service oriented. Andy and Nestor at the bar are fantastic and very eager to please. The condo owners that we met were great people and very welcoming to guests.
What we didn't like:
-the bed. Like I already said it was very uncomfortable and we didn't sleep well. I don't know if all the rooms are like this but a high end resort like this shouldn't cheap out on bad beds.
-hot water. (Not just Hedo has water temperature problems
) Intima has an on demand water system that is very hard to figure out. The shower would go from freezing cold to scalding hot and back again in seconds. By the end of the week we figured out the best thing was to run the cold tap at the sink beside the shower and it balanced out the pressure and resulted in less fluctuations in temperature.
-lack of sunlight on main level. The landscaping is beautiful but really cuts down on the amount of sun you get on the main floor. We would definitely choose a second or third floor room the next time.
We would definitely go back but it depends on the kind of vacation we were looking for. Intima is very quiet and relaxing and if that's what you're looking for it's fantastic. Sometimes we feel like partying hard and we'll keep going back to Hedo for that. If anyone has any questions feel free to PM us or ask below.
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