Bahia Principe Explore Coba

By far the worst all inc we,ve ever been to , and been to over 20 ! no food , what there was cold !! ,locals in at weekends but didnt increase food so nothing and big ques into main resturaunt with half of it closed off ,, pool area just falling to piece,s tiles missing , bear congrete and re bar showing , no A/C in sports bar ( broken apparently , was told broken for at least last 6 weeks ! ) so was to hot so they closed it as no one in there,, theatre was used twice in 2 weeks , and bar in there closed every day and night , amazingly ran out of spirits, only beer, and lobby bar closed at 10,30 ,then outside bar closed at 11pm .. karaoke 3 time a week complained offered upgrade at a cost which we declined ! then got a call saying 30% of again said no , sat on sunbed and thatched sun canopy / palapa made a loud crack and collapsed on my wife !!! amazingly got a free upgrade to use all hotels which were no better ,, Akumal was falling to bits ,holes in roof, so rain poored in !! buckets every where ,, ran out of drinks every day , theatre at the Akumal couldnt be used as became a pool when rained .. electrics hanging of the walls ,, loads more but i think thats enough dont waste you,re money go somewhere else ,,

Stayed in July/August 2025 Three weeks in Mexico — almost paradise! I booked Bahia Principe Coba because spending three weeks at Akumal as a solo traveller would have cost me an absolute fortune. And let’s be honest, Coba wasn’t exactly cheap either! The resort has definitely seen better days. I arrived after the fire at reception, so the lobby had been renovated and looked lovely. Unfortunately, the rest of the resort seems to have missed the memo. Much of it looks tired, rundown and desperately in need of refurbishment. A beautiful new lobby can only distract you for so long! I purchased access to all the resort areas, so I spent most of my time eating with my family at Akumal. As a result, I can’t really give a fair review of Coba’s food overall. However, I did visit the Kukulkan buffet once, and let’s just say it was an experience. I actually ended up having a disagreement with a fellow tourist over the last slice of bread. Yes, bread. At an all-inclusive resort. Apparently, when the buffet is overcrowded and the food variety is underwhelming, even a humble slice of bread becomes a matter of international diplomacy. 😂 Needless to say, I didn’t feel particularly inspired to return for round two. The staff were nice, and my room was decent and clean, so no complaints there. However, I did have to relocate to another building because my air conditioning wasn’t working. In Mexico, working air conditioning isn’t a luxury — it’s a basic survival requirement! Coba was seriously overcrowded, so I spent most of my time at Akumal and Tulum instead. Thankfully, having access to the other resort areas made a huge difference to my holiday. Overall, I enjoyed my three weeks in Mexico, but Coba wouldn’t be my first choice for a return visit. The resort has potential, but it needs some serious investment and refurbishment to bring it back to the standard you’d expect for the price. Next time, I’ll skip the compromise and book Akumal from the start. Yes, it costs more, but sometimes paradise is worth paying for — especially when you don’t have to fight strangers for the last slice of bread! 😂🌴 My verdict: Mexico was wonderful, Coba was okay, Akumal stole the show, and the bread incident will live rent-free in my memory forever.

We are returning guests at Bahia Principe Explore Coba, which is precisely why this holiday was so disappointing. Coba was once considered one of the best resorts in the complex, but after our latest two-week stay, I honestly feel it has fallen behind Tulum and Akumal and is now the weakest of the three. I want to be fair: we enjoyed parts of our holiday, met some wonderful people and still think the resort grounds are beautiful. The Brazilian restaurant and Mikado fire show were highlights. However, the negatives far outweighed the positives, and the number of changes compared with our previous visits was hard to ignore. The beach The Tulum beach used to be our favourite, with a long stretch extending towards the large white private villas on the corner. Now, much of that stretch was covered in seaweed, leaving a much smaller usable area. Ironically, the beach we always considered the worst because of the rocks in the water appeared to have the least seaweed, possibly because of the sea defences there. During our two-week stay, I never personally saw a tractor clearing the beach. Earlier in the year, we stayed at a RIU resort where tractors cleared seaweed throughout the day, every day. I appreciate that sargassum is seasonal and cannot be prevented entirely, but the difference in beach maintenance was disappointing. Rooms and pools need investment The rooms desperately need attention. Compared with the modernisation at Tulum and Akumal, Coba looks very dated. However, I would personally rather have a large, older room than a smaller, modernised one. The real problem is maintenance: we experienced a toilet handle falling off, air conditioning cutting out and mould on the ceilings. The pools also need attention. There is now essentially one large main pool, divided by a bridge that can make it look like two separate areas. The former quiet, shaded pool is no longer available to Coba guests because that area has become Bahía Tequila. The food truck there, which was fantastic for families, is also no longer accessible to Coba guests. These were facilities we genuinely enjoyed, and their loss has made Coba a less attractive place to stay. Bahía Tequila – a frustrating contrast One of the most frustrating things is being able to hear and see the entertainment at Tequila from near the Coba lobby. It often sounds lively, with great music and a booming atmosphere. Walking past, you can see and hear the activity, but as Coba guests we cannot simply enter and enjoy it. Tequila is the newer, much smaller resort, yet it appears to have a lively entertainment offering while Coba’s own evening entertainment feels reduced. I cannot know whether budgets or staff have been moved between the resorts, but it does make you question the priorities. Why develop another resort while allowing Coba’s rooms, pools and entertainment to fall behind? From a returning guest’s perspective, it feels as though facilities that made Coba special have been taken away while investment and attention are directed elsewhere. Food and restaurants The buffet was one of our biggest disappointments. Previously, it felt enormous, with Chinese, Indian, Italian and themed food stations offering plenty of variety. Now, there seem to be far fewer options, with much of the same food appearing day after day. In places, pots, pans and decorations appear to have replaced former food stations. I’m not a fussy eater, but I ended up relying heavily on pizza and pasta because there was so little variety. The children’s food options were particularly poor for a resort marketed towards families with free child places. There weren’t even consistently any chips or fries in the main buffet, and our two-year-old basically lived on sausages and fruit for two weeks. Our experience at Portofino Italian was also frustrating. We waited over half an hour for beers and received only one drink in approximately an hour, despite repeatedly asking staff. I cannot say why this happened, but it was extremely poor service for an all-inclusive restaurant. The à la carte booking system also needs improvement. We were told restaurants had to be booked 10 days before arrival. We met guests who either didn’t know about this or hadn’t been properly advised and consequently managed only one booking during their entire stay. Guests shouldn’t have to know about a complicated system before arrival to have a fair chance of enjoying the restaurants. The Brazilian restaurant, by contrast, was excellent on both visits. The food was lovely and well cooked, although our starters were forgotten on the second visit and the meat arrived first. Pool bar and transport Staffing at the main pool bar appeared significantly reduced. Previously, there were two staff members at the main bar and at least one serving from the standing side. During our stay, there was just one waiter running up and down the stairs between both sides. When the Mexican guests arrived at weekends, queues became particularly long. We experienced waits of around 10 minutes just to get served, and on one occasion I walked to the lobby for a drink because it was quicker. Transport has also deteriorated. Carts previously seemed to arrive every few minutes, but we waited between 30 minutes and an hour for a cart back to Coba from Hacienda. This is particularly inconvenient for families with young children and makes travelling across the complex for entertainment much less appealing. Evening entertainment On most nights, the entertainment seemed to consist of karaoke outside or live singers. There is nothing wrong with either, but the variety and atmosphere are not what we remember. The indoor main stage is far too hot to sit in comfortably for an hour or longer. This needs addressing, as I suspect the heat is one reason the outdoor entertainment was always busier. The outdoor social atmosphere used to be one of Coba’s greatest strengths. We met wonderful people, and guests naturally socialised and made their own fun. However, the loss of silent discos, fire shows and other interesting events has made evenings feel less lively. We particularly enjoyed the fire shows and entertainment directly outside the Coba lobby. Now, some events take place at Hacienda Market. This is less convenient for families with young children who may not want to travel across the resort on carts late at night. It would be easy to bring some entertainment back to individual resorts on different nights—for example, a silent disco at Coba on Monday, Tulum on Tuesday and Akumal on Wednesday. Coba needs its own atmosphere again, rather than guests having to travel elsewhere for the entertainment they used to enjoy. Weekend crowds and staff concerns From Thursday through Sunday, the resort became noticeably busier with larger groups of Mexican guests. Most people we met were friendly, and this is not about where guests come from. However, some groups played music loudly around the pool, sometimes using their own speakers, which changed the atmosphere for those staying for longer holidays. We were told that local guests could receive significantly cheaper weekend stays, although I cannot independently verify the prices or room-allocation arrangements. I do wonder whether the current approach to filling rooms in quieter periods is working in the resort’s long-term interests, especially when the increased occupancy puts pressure on already reduced staffing. We also spoke to more than ten members of staff during our stay. Several told us they felt undervalued and that promises had not been kept. We were told that significant numbers of staff had been let go and that some long-serving employees had been affected. One account we heard was that employees with 15–20 years of service had been dismissed, with days off among the factors considered. I cannot independently verify these claims, so I can only report what staff told us. Nevertheless, reduced staffing was noticeable to us in the bars and service we experienced. The hardworking staff who remain deserve better support, because the pressure on them inevitably affects guests too. The bigger picture – why are returning guests not coming back? I have visited in September before, including when Hyatt wasn’t involved, and remember Coba being far busier than it was during our latest stay. I therefore don’t believe the quiet atmosphere can simply be explained by September being low season. I have noticed free-child-place offers being used to attract families to Coba. I cannot know the commercial reasoning behind these promotions, but I wonder whether they are intended to encourage bookings when demand is weaker. Incentives alone, however, will not solve problems with food, facilities, maintenance and service. What concerns me most is the number of negative comments from returning guests who say they have visited for 10, 15 or even 20 years and no longer intend to return. Those are the guests who know what Coba used to offer. Their concerns should be taken seriously. Coba was once one of the best resorts in the complex. Rather than focusing on developing Tequila while Coba falls behind, I believe investment should have gone into modernising and maintaining the existing resort first. The loss of the quiet pool, food truck and some of Coba’s entertainment, combined with restrictions on using facilities elsewhere, has made the experience less appealing. If the resort is already struggling with queues, slow service and reduced staffing during busy weekends, I would be concerned about how it will cope during genuinely high-occupancy periods. The positives and final verdict There are still positives. The resort grounds are beautiful, the social atmosphere can be brilliant, the Brazilian restaurant was excellent and the Mikado fire show was a highlight for our children. We met wonderful people, and those experiences are a big part of why we still enjoyed aspects of our holiday. But the negatives far outweighed the positives for us. If you are visiting for the first time, you may enjoy Coba and not notice these issues because you have nothing to compare it with. We met people who loved their stay. Returning guests, however, know what has been lost. Coba doesn’t need to become a completely different resort. It needs properly maintained rooms, improved pools, more food variety, better children’s options, sufficient bar staffing, reliable transport, a fairer restaurant booking system, better beach maintenance and more varied entertainment at the resort itself. Most importantly, management needs to listen to its guests and staff. Coba still has the potential to be one of the best resorts in the complex again, but it is becoming a shadow of what it used to be. I genuinely hope Hyatt recognises this before more loyal guests decide not to return. Once those guests are gone, winning them back may be very difficult.

I have just returned from a 2 week stay in coba, I will admit I was nervous about coming to coba due to the negative reviews. But I decided to try it with a clear mind. I am glad i decided to go. Yes the rooms could do with a bit of an upgrade & they could concentrate on cleaning around the hotel a bit better. The buffet is rotated with some of the the same foods, but I did manage to eat something each day. I could not fault the staff as they were very helpful & welcoming. We did manage to book 3 à la carte meals each week. My favourite was Japanese.This was an extra à la carte from TUI. My least was the Mexican food. We also upgraded our bands for the last 2 days. The food in Tulum and Akumal was amazing , but the hotels were really quiet. Overall I had an amazing time in coba apart from the mosquito bites (make sure you are fully equipped for them) I also made some wonderful friends. My advice to anyone traveling to coba. Ignore the negatives and judge for yourself,.

Been here three times before in the past 10 years and this is the worst stay of them all. Food in the buffet very repeatative, boring, replenished slowly. Same grilled fish, calamari and pork every day. Running out of avocado in Mexico! Very small selection of fruits. The worst of all us the snack bar by the pool. No chips, barel any pizza, lots of awful pasta and salads that kids won't eat! No fruit! And the bar is super small! Seriously I had nothing to feed the kid with in that bar! Overall I feel the place is going down in quality and service. Entertainment is very boring, nothing for kids in the evening. Nothing happening in hacienda. Rooms look same as they did 10 years ago. I should have gone to Egipt.