The Lodge at Uxmal

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at The Lodge at Uxmal! The rooms are very spacious, equipped with a large bathroom, TV, and refrigerator, making them perfect for a short stay of 1-2 nights to explore Uxmal and its surroundings. The cleanliness was decent, though could have been better. The staff were friendly and helpful, which enhanced our experience greatly. Breakfast was good and provided a solid start to our day of exploration. One of the highlights was the convenient walking distance to the Uxmal archaeological site, which was a significant plus. The property features two large pools, which were nearly empty during our visit, creating a relaxed atmosphere. However, for longer stays or to explore beyond Uxmal, having a car is advisable as transportation options are limited. Overall, our stay at The Lodge at Uxmal was pleasant and recommended for travelers looking to experience the beauty of Uxmal at a leisurely pace.

Excellent! Highly recommend the Lodge at Uxmal. Relaxing atmosphere. Nice staff. Professional. Wonderful architecture! We stayed in an end unit. 2E. Quiet, peaceful, good airflow and facing the rear swimming pool. Wonderful swimming pools. Great restaurant on site under a gorgeous open air palapa. Ate all our meals there. My husband didn’t like the enormous spa tub because it was a struggle to clamber in for showers. I don’t know if they have any rooms with showers only. He finally got the hang of it but if you have mobility issues it could be a problem. The Lodge at Uxmal is located in the National Park and the entrance to the ruins is just steps away. Sidewalks are safe and you can walk to the ruins and the Chocolate Museum on them without worrying about cars. However the ruins and lodge are at the end of a dead end street so no fast traffic to worry about. We didn’t go to the Planetarium located near the Chocolate Museum or to the restaurant at the nearby Hacienda but those are also within safe walking distance. We actually didn’t have a car because friends who live in Merida brought us and came back a couple of days later to fetch us. Ask for Rex at the Lodge reception located in the palapa restaurant. He’s the concierge for the facility. We arranged a guided tour of the Uxmal Mayan ruins through Rex. And we loved the Hacienda tour in a vintage Land Rover with Rex as our guide. He was phenomenal! Rex also encouraged us to visit the Chocolate Museum which was fantastic! Rex speaks excellent English and he is a kind, considerate host, and obviously has a lot of experience working with visitors. For some weird reason I couldn’t book online because of a glitch in the country code. So we just took our chances and showed up, asking if they had any rooms for a 2 night stay. Luckily they had plenty of room. Actually the first night we were there, a Wednesday, it was strangely quiet. We felt like we were the only ones there. The next night, there were a few more guests. Uxmal is lovely. If you exit the ruins, you have to pay again to enter the grounds. We went 3 times! Day we arrived, next morning with a guide, and on the final day we were there. I didn’t mind paying each time though I would have preferred to pay for a week long pass like they do in many parks in the USA. On our last morning I was at the entrance at 8am to walk through the grounds one more time on my own and gaze at the beautiful structures again. Only 2 other couples were strolling through at that hour. It was fantastic to stand in front of the structures once more.

The location is excellent. Staff at reception was very friendly and helpful. It was no problem to get a late checkout which was specially nice because it gave us the chance to shower after a very hot visit of the Uxmal ruins! Our room was clean and spacious.

We booked the “Royal Mayan Bungalow” at $260 per night. This turned out to be a small motel-like room. The picture on the hotel website shows a large room with thatched roof, confirming the impression that the word “bungalow” means a separate building. Beware! The Lodge is basically a glorified motel. Moreover, despite price differences suggesting a hierarchy of room types, all the rooms are the same except for the view – e.g., the so called “pyramid” view means you can just make out the top of the Uxmal pyramid quite far in the distance and in no way is this a special view. When we pointed all this out as deceptive advertising, we were offered a “honeymoon suite” which turned out to be an even bigger joke. There was a dead frog on the floor, no safe, no drinking cups (only 2 coffee cups) terrible lighting, uncomfortable seating, two large stains on the carpet, a toilet that didn’t flush properly, spotty hot water, a poorly functioning TV and a cheap hair dryer that could not be switched to the “high” setting. Finally, the restaurant serves at best average food, but at close to double the price of what is available 13 km down the road in Santa Elena.

Location can’t be beat considering the ruins are directly across the street. That alone is a big win and good for a one night stay. But the property unfortunately just looks tired and in desperate need of upgrades. The pools were both clean and the restaurant was totally fine.

Hotel itself is not bad just full of bugs. Yet, they employ illiterate people or they’re told by managers to rip off guests. We have left spotless room and charged double for our stay. No one to complain to. Would not recommend that kind of “vacation “ to anyone. Both pools were disgustingly filthy. They told us it will be cleaned eventually - after we are gone.