Iberostar Grand Paraiso Playa Del Carmen Review

Hi friends! Today I wanted to give you a detailed review of our recent trip to Mexico! We stayed at the Iberostar Grand Paraiso in Playa Del Carmen and we could not have been happier with this resort! The entire resort is so beautiful and well, GRAND! The staff at Iberostar could not have been more friendly and helpful. They are all truly such hard workers. It is adults only which is nice. Something else I loved about this resort is that it was not crowded at all! It is very spread out and we never had a hard time finding a chair at the pool which is great. We have stayed at the Iberostar Grand Bavaro in Punta Cana, Fiesta Americana Condesa in Cancun, and The Royal Playa Del Carmen and this resort is by far our favorite! We also felt VERY safe here which is important to me. This time we didn’t go on any excursions like we usually do because we pretty much just wanted to RELAX. Below You can see pictures of the resort / more information on the room, restaurants, beach etc.

Rooms

The rooms at this resort were so nice! Nice big bathrooms, a little sitting area, and a patio with a hanging chair! Everyday the housekeeping cleaned so well, and even folded Allen’s t-shirts that he left out HA! On the last night, the butler decorated our room with rose petals and even arranged for the table at our restaurant to be decorated which was so special! They truly go above and beyond to make sure everything is perfect for you.

Pool & Resort Grounds

Like I said earlier everything about this resort is so GRAND! Whoever designed it paid so much attention to detail. The architecture was simply beautiful. The landscaping and resort grounds are impeccable. Every restaurant, hallway, and bathroom had you in awe. There are 3 pools at this resort. The main pool that looks out to the ocean is very big and has a pool bar. This is where we spent most of our time. It was very relaxing and the STAR team did a great job at providing fun activities each day in the pool. Every morning there was yoga in the pool (I never tried it because who wants to exercise on vacation right). They also had water aerobics, and fun challenges each day. The second pool is the “quiet pool”. It was still a good size, and exactly what is sounds like, a more quiet and calm place if you want to relax and be away from the activities and the pool bar. The third pool was indoors at the spa! Something I loved about this resort is that it is not crowded at all. Thankfully we didn’t have to get up early to reserve pool chairs or cabanas like you have to at other resorts. Nothing is worse than setting an alarm on vacation so you can go throw some towels on a chair just to have a good spot!

Restaurants & Entertainment  

Iberostar Grand Paraiso has 5 specialty restaurants and 2 buffets. The food at each restaurant was honestly amazing! We never had a bad meal! Each night we tried a different specialty restaurant and had the buffet 1 night. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch each day, and there were always new things to try. SO GOOD! Although we loved every restaurant, if I had to choose a favorite I think it would be Toni’s. My steak there was amazing and the views from the restaurant were perfect. I also loved the food at the Italian restaurant.

List of Restaurants:

• Toni’s- Surf & Turf
• Venezia- Italian
• Latelier Gourmet- French
• Carribean Restaurant
• Haiku – Japanese/Hibachi
• Bella Vista- Breakfast & Dinner Buffet
• Lobby Bar
• Rhapsody Bar

Every night at 9:30pm, the resort has a different show in a dedicated theater. This theater is the best I’ve seen at a resort so far, and I was honestly so impressed with the shows they put on. I feel like most of the time, the shows at resorts are a bit cheesy but these were wonderful and we looked forward to them each night. On Wednesday they had a fire show outside by the pool instead of in the theater and it was AWESOME! The other shows we saw included a magic show, Mexican folklore, a circus show, and a rock show.

The Beach

Ahhh the beach, the whole reason everyone comes right? The beach did not disappoint, the water was SO turquoise and beautiful. There was quite of bit of seaweed on the beach when we arrived and again when we left. I think it was the time of year or due to a storm. It’s something that is out of their control but they did have people trying to rake up the seaweed on the beach everyday. There are tons of cabanas on the beach too and again there was never a problem trying to find an open one. There are free kayaks and catamarans you can rent at the resort and take out to the ocean too which is awesome. We brought our own pool floaties and swam in the ocean quite a bit!

Tips:

• Bring plenty of sunscreen because it is $29 a bottle in the gift shop!
• Pack your own pool floaties (the resort will blow them up for you). We had this kind and it was nice because they are really light to pack in your suitcase and don’t take up much space! Everyone kept asking where we got them and you’ll be sad if you don’t have a floatie in the pool haha.
• Bring a hat, the sun is STRONG!
• Pack Yeti cups and use those at the pool that way your drinks don’t melt! The waiters will fill them up for you!

I hope this review was helpful for you! We would highly recommend this resort to anyone, it is our favorite that we’ve been to so far. If you have any questions about it that I didn’t cover please feel free to ask me! Such a perfect place if you are planning a honeymoon!