Resort Review: Azulik in Tulum, Mexico

During our trip to Tulum, we stayed at Azulik. We were initially drawn to this resort because of the AMAZING imagery we had seen online and on their instagram page. We read a ton of reviews before we booked - it's an eco-friendly hotel, with organic architecture made from it's surroundings. We knew beforehand that there was no television, A/C or showers (only bathtubs) and that wi-fi could only be found in the hotel's lobby. This didn't deter us though, instead we were really looking forward to relaxing and disconnecting from the world. In the end, though, we did not have an overall pleasurable experience at Azulik! My mom both agreed that if we were rating Azulik purely on looks, it would be a 10 out of 10 (I seriously can't stress enough how BEAUTIFUL this place is), however, by the end of the trip we were both so ready to come home and have the luxuries of wi-fi, good food, air conditioning and just the general feeling of cleanliness. You'll see what I mean... I'm going to go through some different categories below. 

Room: After looking at ton of photos online, we booked a Sky Villa, which is one of the rooms located on the upper floor of the resort. You really do feel like you could reach out and touch both the sky and the ocean! The actual room was amazing... it had all glass doors that you can shut and lock, and there were two doors that open up to the ocean so that you could get some wind and hear the ocean waves. The toilet was kept in a little hut inside the room (we used this to change clothes too). There was a small bath tub in the room that we used to bathe, and even a coconut shell so that you could pour water on yourself. One thing I didn't like: there were no drawers and no closet. We had a really hard time organizing our clothes and shoes because there was literally no place to put anything. I don't know how other people do it (maybe they keep stuff in their suitcase the whole time?), my mom and I had to use a couple corners of the room to fold and organize our clothes. There was no A/C in the room, but we didn't mind that (we visited St. Lucia last year and also had a room without A/C so we were used to that). February is a good time to go because it's not too hot! There was a fan located at the top of the bed that we turned on at night, and that really helped. Another thing we did not like about the room: no electric lights, just candlelight! In theory this sounded really cool, your entire room lit with candles at night. In reality, it made nighttime at Azulik really difficult. There were only six candles dispersed around the room and we could barely see ANYTHING at night. If you wanted to put on makeup for dinner, you were out of luck. I could barely get dressed by the candlelight, and washing my face was a nightmare.... I couldn't see well enough to take my makeup off all the way, and in the morning I would wake up with huge black mascara streaks all over my face. Not attractive!! 

The best thing about the room was definitely the balcony: we loved the floating bed, outdoor bath, swing, hammock and lounge chairs. The view from the balcony was truly the most amazing sight I have ever seen.... especially the sunrise above the Caribbean Sea.

Food: I have very mixed reviews on the food at Azulik. The resort is not all-inclusive, so you pay for each meal as you go. I don't know how to put it.... the food here was just kind of weird. Some of it was amazing, and some of it was terrible. There are three restaurants at Azulik: the beach bar, the Cenote Bar, and Kin Toh, a fairly new and very expensive tree house restaurant. The beach bar was great: they made delicious smoothies, alcoholic drinks and at night they served Thai food on the beach, which my mom and I LOVED (the Pad Thai we had was the best I've ever eaten!!). The Cenote Bar was where we ate breakfast and lunch. They had a very limited selection of food for breakfast, only a couple of options to choose from including a smoothie, yogurt bowl or eggs (these were good, and healthy!) but we really wanted more variety. I wanted waffles or pancakes sooo bad one morning, but they don't make them. We did not like the lunch food at ALL there... the menu was full of weird names we couldn't pronounce. We recognized hummus and ordered that one day... they brought out a weird, gritty red substance in a cup with two croutons on top. Definitely not hummus! We did eat at Kin Toh one night for dinner (the tree house restaurant). The atmosphere was simply amazing... you're eating dinner while looking out on the Mexican jungle! We had a 5-course dinner and they "surprised" us for each course. It was also weird, but it tasted good! One dish they brought out had baked fish with a frozen ball of coconut ice cream on top - they brought out a torch and torched the meal so that the ice cream would melt all over the fish. Sounds strange but it was very good! 

To be honest, my mom and I both agreed there wasn't enough variety in the food and not enough "normal" things to eat. Although we enjoyed some meals, there were times when we just wanted french fries and a hamburger. My mom also got really, really sick one day that we were there. We weren't sure if it was from the food or maybe the ice, but it didn't make us feel better!

Beach: Azulik has a beautiful beach located right next to the resort. There are two kayaks that guests are free to use anytime they want, and lots of lounge chairs and small huts that you can lay on. The sand is soft and fine, and the water is crystal clear turquoise. Like I said before, the beach bar is really awesome and they will bring you drinks or whatever you want while you're laying on the beach! Two caveats: 1. The beach is very small, and you can't go on "beach walks" there because there is simply not enough beach, 2. The beach is a nude beach. We didn't participate (lol) but really didn't mind it - just be prepared when you go! 

Activities: There are some fun activities to do at Azulik! Every morning at 8 a.m. they have yoga on the beach, and there is an entire Maya Spa where they offer facials and massages. Also located on the beach there is a small booth where you can sign up for excursions. My mom and I REALLY wanted to go to the cenotes (natural lagoons where you can swim) and we signed up and paid for an excursion on our last day. HOWEVER! My mom ended up getting really sick on that day and we had to cancel - they didn't offer a refund since we had already paid. 

Transportation: We had Azulik arrange our transportation from the airport to the hotel and back. It was easier and less stressful for us this way, and we didn't want to have to find a taxi at the airport.  They used this taxi service (it may be cheaper to contact them directly!). It was a two hour drive from the Cancun airport to Azulik. 

Downsides: Unfortunately, there were quite a few other downsides to Azulik. I'm going to go through them one by one for those of you who are thinking of going or already have a trip booked!

*Mosquitos/bugs: Bring bug spray!! This place is covered in mosquitos and other bugs (we found a couple of spiders in our room). My mom and I both wore bug spray, but we ended up coming home covered in itchy, red bites. We both would go down to the outdoor lobby at night to work on our phones/computers and we think this is where most of the damage was done, lol. 

*Wi-fi: We knew ahead of time that there was no wi-fi in the rooms, and that we would have to go down to the outdoor lobby to get wi-fi. I had anticipated this, but the wi-fi connection was TERRIBLE in the lobby, which made it really hard to get work done on this trip! Keep in mind - I worked the entire time, putting up blog posts and social media posts every day. It would sometimes take up to an hour just to post one picture to instagram (much longer for blog posts). For most of the people that come to this resort, they are truly on vacation and this wouldn't be a problem at all. There was definitely a good enough connection to be able to send a quick text. 

*Cleanliness: Maids did come to clean the room every day, but both my mom and I both felt that we could never get "clean" here. I love to go take a shower right before bed and go to sleep feeling clean, but this was impossible at Azulik. We would put on sunscreen and bug spray throughout the day, then felt like it didn't come off in the bath all the way. The floor of our room also got dirty from sand particles.... they make you leave your shoes outside of your hut, so you are walking around with dirty feet in your room! I HATE going to bed feeling like my feet are dirty, so I would try to wash them off in the bath and then put on socks just to walk over to the bed. 

*Dangerous?: Okay this last point sounds kind of funny because I don't know how to word it! Both my mom and I thought that the walkways were a little precarious. There were a lot of steps and all of the walkways and rooms are stories above the ground. We agreed that it would be incredibly easy to have a misstep or lose your balance for a second, and fall a really long way. I also burned my finger really badly trying to light a candle one night. Of course, it was so dark that I couldn't even see my finger to know if it was okay, I had to wait until the morning. 

As you can see, there a some positives and negatives to Azulik. I am always, always honest with you guys, which is why I'm sharing the negatives and not just how amazing it is. The fact that this was a "work trip" and not just a vacation I think made it particularly hard... we woke up early and took photos nonstop for most of the day, and were exhausted by nighttime, so all of these small inconveniences added up pretty quickly. If you truly want to get away and connect with nature, then this place is for you! It is incredibly romantic, and I think if I had been there with my boyfriend (rather than on a work trip with my momma!) it would have been a completely different experience. 

Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments! Also check out my other hotel review of  Anse Chastanet in St. Lucia - it is BY FAR my favorite trip of all time. You can read the the entire review HERE.

xoxo