My wife and I spent the week of June 29th to July 6th at the Coba. This was our 1st time to the Mayan Riviera. Having been to Puerto Vallarta a few times we thought we would try something different and landed at the Coba. While we had a great vacation at the Coba we do prefer Puerto Vallarta, however that's not to say we won't be back.

Our preference to Puerto Vallarta lies in the ease of access to the town (city) itself. Each visit we have picked a location closer to the heart of the city and have decided that the next time we visit Puerto Vallarta we will be staying in romantic zone. Enough about Puerto Vallarta...

The PPB Coba provided us a different vacation. It forced us to stay put a bit more and enjoy the amenities located there. However we did take the tour to Chichen Itza. That was an amazing day. You see pictures and shows but you can't really fathom how impressive these sites are until you are actually there. It would have been nice to have a bit more time to explore however. We also took a cab into Playa del Carmen and it again it would have been nice to spend more time there.

So lets get to talking about the Coba. It was a long bus ride from the Cancun airport but were quite impressed when we pulled up to the lobby. Checking in was quick and easy. I've heard a lot of people complaining about having to pay to use the safe but really the amount is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

We ended up in Villa 1a which gave us great access to the pool, beach, Daiquiri bar and snack bar. It was a much quicker to walk to the beach then it was to wait for the shuttle. The room was clean and well equipped, however I was surprised to find only a shower where a jacuzzi should have been. There were some small ants on the floor but they didn't seem to cause much of an issue.

The grounds were immaculate as was the pool area. We spent most of our time at the quiet pool and found it very relaxing. We brought a couple of floating loungers we had bought from Costco and they were ideal in the afternoon as the pool water warmed up.

We ate at the main buffet regularly and to be honest we were surprised with the varied selection and quality of the food there. We thought it on par with some of the better Vegas buffets we've experienced.

For the al a cartes we did the Japanese, Mediterranean and Gourmet. Our favorite was the gourmet. I've read a lot of very strong reviews on the Japanese and from our perspective it was just okay. We have done a lot of Japanese restaurants and we have found that the best is in our own home town which we frequent regularly, so the standard for comparison was quite high.

What I really enjoyed was the drinks. I don't drink so it was nice to see a good selection of non-alcoholic beverages, my favorite being the Coco Banana. My wife was at first disappointed with the lack of Caesars but found and adequate replacement with the Bloody Mary.

We spent one afternoon at the beach and I have to be quite honest that the Coba beach is less than impressive. It's okay until you get to the water and then it gets quite rocky (corally) so we spent most of the time by the pool.

Overall we quite liked the GBP Coba and would recomment it to others heading to the area. However our next visit to Mexico will be to the romantic zone in Puerto Vallarta.

Just returned from the GBP Coba 23 June - 7th July 2008.
We flew in from Glasgow & everyone from our flight was put into the Coba, talking to other people in the resort it seems like the Newcastle & Manchester flight gets put in the Tulum area.

Our flight was around 40 mins late and the due to cabin crew only giving us one of the two immigration forms we were held on the plane. When we eventually did get out three other flights had arrived and we joined a que for two hours to get through immigration.
Once threw the transfer took around 1 hour 30 mins.

Upon arrival the tiredness from the day of travel was forgotten as the hotel is amazing and its sheer size can not be appreciated by reading the reviews.

Check in was quick and easy and aided by a welcome drink. After completing the check in procedure we were put on a golf cart and taken to our room where our bags arrived 10 mins later.

Rooms: The room we stayed in (31208) was very spacious & less than a minute walk from the main Coba pool.
The room was spotless had great air con & was very comfortable with a mini bar which was restocked everyday with beer, coke, diet coke, sprite, water, orange juice, crisps and chocolate.
One day we left a note asking for more chocolate and received six bars.
There is also a safe in the room which costs $5us per day.

Pool: We always used the main Coba pool which had a swim up bar. The pool was spotless & cleaned everyday. The poolbar was excellent and served some brilliant cocktails, my favourite being a miami vice which was a pina colada mixed with a strawberry daquiri.

Beach: We never used the hotel beach apart from an occasional walk but they were very easy to get to either by the beach bus or less than a 10 min walk.

Food: The food at the buffetts was of a very good standard eith a massive choice covering most types of foods. The a la cartes we tried on our stay were:

Mikado (Japenese) We tried here twice. Easily the best meal we had at the hotel, chef was brilliant and it was good to talk to other guests. Cant recomend this one enough.

Gran Tortuga (Grill) This was also a very good restaurant and does a very nice fillet mignon.

Tequila (Mexican) Again very nice and was especially nice as the buffett doesnt have a large selection of mexican food.

Portofino & Dolce Vita (Italians) Not much to say apart from i wouldnt try them again.
I tried the tomatoe soup which turned out to be the pasta sauce from the buffett and lasagne which was the same one served in the snack bar. Portofino was equally bad.

Trips: We went on the a few trips while at the resort.
Dolphin Discovery @ Puerto Aventuras - This cost $100us per person but was well worth the money. We got to swim with dolphins, manatees and sea lions which was amazing. We got around two hours in the water and i would deffinately recomend it.

Tulum Ruins - We took the collectivo to Tulum which cost $2us per person each way and then it was around $4us to get in to the ruins. The ruins were interesting however the beach is just amazing, much better than the one at the hotel and worth paying the admission just to go to.

Akumal Beach - This is another amazing beach with plenty of fish in the crystal clear water. Also an amazing snack bar called lol ha which was very reasonable.

Puerto del Carmen - We again took the collectivo here to spend a morning shopping. There are some great bargains here, we each got designer sunglasses for near half the uk price and the supermarkets sell corona for the equivalent of 60p a bottle.
The only downside is the persistant hassle to look in shops from the owners however as its gets busier its easier to walk around.

All in all we had an amazing time and will deffinately be returning in the near future and will deffinately be staying at the Coba.

My husband our little girl and I stayed at the Coba from the 26th June to 10th July 2008.
Our room was a good size and the bed was huge, big enough for me hubby and babe and all the bed bugs that buffeted on us! Our toilet had a few visiting cockroaches, and the shower curtain was mouldy and very dirty which was never changed.
The hotel is very big, probably too big. We went to the buffet for the first few days then booked (because you have too) the a la carte, we booked 4, Japanese was the first and we only managed one more as my husband was ill from the Japanese meal for the rest of the trip, so we stayed with the buffet which made the rest of us ill and not eating much after that, at the buffets the waiters would not leave my little girl alone and we couldn’t eat in peace EVER!!!
In the lobby bars we were eaten alive by mosquitoes and there is a tea and coffee table which is crawling with ants. The bar staff don’t put enough alcohol in the drinks and the waitresses are not the happiest bunch until they get a tip. Tipping goes a long way at the Coba; it’s what you spend your money on because there are only three shops a jeweller, tequila and a lobby shop that sells diapers and diarrhoea medicine and rubbish souvenirs.
Our rep told us to go to Playa Del Carmine for shopping; we went in a taxi which cost $60 return which would have been fine if the shops were worth going to, just rows of souvenir tat shops! We went on a trip to swim with the dolphins which we enjoyed that was $69 each and baby was free and it was a day out.
At the Bahia principal you are miles away from everything if you are happy staying in the same place day after day and just sitting at the pool then fine, if you are British, save yourself a fortune and a big plane journey go to Spain.

I have just returned from a two week stay at the GBP in the Coba Premium section, what can I say, we had a fantastic time, We were a party of six ages ranging from 31-52.

I thought It was a good value for money holiday as the hotel was loverly and plenty of it, The food and drinks were really good. As you had lots of places to choose from all Buffets in each section of the hotel which I thought Coba was the best and also all of the Al carte resturants.

The worst thing of the holiday was the mozzy bites, make sure you take lots of repellant. I covered myself on a night but still managed to get some bites.

We also done the trip to Xcaret for the full day - How fantastic I would of payed the money just for the show that they do on the night. I would really recommend it.