My husband and I stayed for 1 week at the Villa Vera Puerto Isla Mujeres. We had a wonderful, quiet and relaxing time there. We did a RCI timeshare exchange and even though we knew that we would only have a "basic" room beforehand, I would not do a RCI timeshare exchange again. The reason is, is we own a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom unit and feel that we should be able to get a 2 BR, 2BR unit in exchange. Our "basic" room though was very nice and large. It had a huge king sized bed, a (I think pull out) couch, a table, 2 chairs, a small counter area with another chair and coffee maker (bring your own coffee and flat coffee filters- napkins work too), a separate toilet and small sink, shower with jacuzzi tub (that didn't work), closet with small safe (but big enough for our camera, money, cell phones, ipods) and another sink area and large counter space, and a smaller 4 drawer chest. It also had a (locked up) fridge area that I never had opened, but you could take everything out and use it as your mini fridge for the time being. As mentioned before, all the rooms face the pool. There is great landscaping and the pool is nice. It has a fountain with an area of about 6 inches of water where you can sit or partially lay down and an area to sit in the water. There is also a separatie "kiddie" pool next to the main pool. There is a swim up bar that no one really used. Happy hour is from 5:30pm-6:30 pm. It would be nice if this was during the day when the pool is getting used more. I think they would get more business that way. IMO, drinks are way overpriced. $7.00 for a pina colada (it was good though, but expensive). The pancakes and fruit plates were good for 35 and 40 pesos each. The club sandwich wasn't bad and of course, the chips 'n salsa and guacamole were very good. The harbor is nice and the boats are amazing! The free internet access in the lobby is nice and it was pretty quick. You had to pay $20.00 extra for the week to have your room cleaned daily, otherwise it gets cleaned on Tuesday and Thursday. The room was always cleaned well. We tipped and got great folded towel "art" animals (a snail and an elephant) left on our bed. I did check out another larger room while the maid was cleaning. It had a mini kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a separate room upstairs with the jacuzzi tub on the balcony (like you see in the pictures), but only a couple/few rooms have this. We were on the lower floor and that was nice. We loved the covered patio with 2 chairs and a table, ceiling fan and cozy hammock! The AC worked very well in the room. There are also 2 ceiling fans in the room too. I agree with the other post in regard to very dim lighting. There are 2 nice lights that you can swing over the bed. One of each side. They are small, but pretty bright. I did not hear at all any loud music at the pool, unless they turned it way down. In fact, it would have been nice to have it a little louder, but we enjoyed the various music at the pool and it was very quiet. It would have been nice to be closer to town (which we knew once again beforehand that weren't). It was quick $3.00 taxi ride to town or a 25-30 minute walk (with sidewalks all the way to town). (I mention this because there aren't sidewalks everywhere). We decided to walk to Garrafon and that took 45 minutes (with no sidewalks). We had a wonderful time on the island. Playa Norte is nice. Great reastaurants everywhere! Would I stay at the Villa Vera again? Yes, but like I mentioned, I would use an extra vacation or pay a good nightly rate instead of a RCI timeshare exchange again. I would stay at the Villa Vera again for a good deal, but I would look at other locations downtown too. Check in and out went well. The workers are friendly. Knowing some Spannish would help, but you can get by without it too. There was a mixture of aged people ranging from some families with kids to middle aged and older. The average aged people were probably in their 50's. It was a great time and I can't wait to go back!

My wife and I travel often and usually write hotel reviews for TripAdvisor when we return from a trip. We have discussed what to say about our recent stay at the Villa Vera (coincidentally in the exact same room as the previous reviewers, 1411). Of course, we consulted TripAdvisor before booking this property.

What you read in most of the postings about the Villa Vera is on-target. The rooms are big and comfortable, if not luxurious. The property is very well taken care of - nice landscaping and good building maintenance. Due to the design of the buildings and the lagoon/yacht marina on one side, the feeling is of a private retreat. The pool area is great and always uncrowded. The food is of good quality and the drinks from the pool bar are, if a little more expensive than other places on Isla Mujeres, certainly good and fairly priced.

As others have said, this is not the place to go if you are looking for a raucous party atmosphere. We were looking for some peace and quiet, and we got it -- but only after we vigorously protested the loud music being piped into the pool area. This is the one BIG problem we encountered at Villa Vera.

On the first sunny day of our visit (it rained the first day we were there), we went out to sit in lounges by the pool. My wife and I are in our 40s and are not what one would call "stodgy." I might add that of those around the pool that morning, we were pretty clearly the youngest. For some inexplicable reason, the Villa Vera management recently decided (it had to be recently, or someone else would have complained about this, I'm sure) that it would be a good idea to surround the pool with those Bose speakers hidden in rock-looking containers and blast loud, top-40 pop music from the United States -- Britney Spears, etc.

Again, this is not a party hotel. Most of the other guests were at the pool trying to relax in the sun and many were reading books. The average age would be in the 60s, I would say.

We were wanting to relax, and there literally was not a place at the pool which was not within 10 feet or so of one of these speakers blaring pop music that, I can safely say, was not the taste of anyone at the pool.

Not wanting to be presumptuous, I walked around and asked every person at the pool if they would mind if I asked the management to have the music turned off. Everyone wanted to have it turned off, and some said that they had asked for this previously, to no avail.

While the staff at the hotel generally speak English fairly well, I speak Spanish passably and try to do so when in a Spanish-speaking county. I asked the staff at the pool if they would please turn off the music or at least turn it down. They did turn the volume down a little, but not much, so I went to the hotel office and asked them if they would please get the music turned off, as no one at the pool wanted to hear it. While the staff acknowledged my request and said they'd work on it, nothing happened in the next 15 minutes.

My wife, who is a native speaker of Spanish, then went to the office to make a more eloquent request than I could make with my limited vocabulary in Spanish. She pointed out that if people wanted to hear loud music, they would go to Cancun instead of Isla Mujeres and certainly would not go to Villa Vera, which has the reputation as a nice, quite place to relax. She also said that she was going to stay in the office until they fixed the problem. The staff told her that having music at the pool was "hotel policy" and that they were not at liberty to turn it off. My wife volunteered to speak with someone higher up, if needed. Eventually, they turned the music off.

We spent a glorious, music-free time at Villa Vera after that. My wife and I were even treated as heroes by many of the other guests who had tried in vain to get them to turn off the music or had been suffering in silence.

I cannot say how much we enjoyed our experience at Villa Vera once that music was off. Again, the location, facilities, staff, grounds, and everything else were great. I would recommend this hotel to anyone looking for relaxation and great service.

HOWEVER, when were were leaving our room to check out at around 10 on Saturday, guess what was back at the pool - the music! Maybe the hotel staff were just waiting for us to leave, or maybe they just decided to play the loud music on the weekends.

All I can say is that if you are thinking of booking Villa Vera to get some peace and quiet and relaxation, you should call or email the property to make sure that the music will not be playing at the pool when you are there.

We are giving Villa Vera five stars because we loved our stay there, but we will not be back unless we get assurances from the property that the obnoxious music at the pool is a thing of the past.

We spent three nights at the Villa Vera in mid-January 2008, and were very pleased with the experience. We had found a deal on Travelocity for about $115/night (about half the standard rate), so felt we got a great value for the money. The property is a time-share that serves also as a hotel, and even though it was fully booked, we saw very few guests. This is a place to go for quiet relaxation; if you are looking for fun, action, noise, or excitement, you will not be happy here. The town center is 1.5 miles--about a 30-minute walk--from the hotel, and the north beach is beyond that. The rooms are large, clean and airy--all set up as junior suites, with refrigerator, table and chairs and sofa on the bottom level, and the bedroom area elevated by a couple of steps. The bathroom was huge, with a whirlpool tub (that didn't work), dressing area, and lots of marble vanity. All the rooms on the first floor have patios, and some on the second floor have balconies. We were in 1411, which did not have a private balcony, but just opening the doors almost gave us the sense of one. We had dinner there one night and breakfast each day, and found the food to be fresh and well-prepared and reasonably priced. The outdoor restaurant by the pool was pleasant, and the staff were all friendly and helpful. The pool is very large for a hotel, clean and enjoyable. The hotel does nickel-and-dime you; when I asked for coffee to use in the pot they provide, they brought it up right away--along with a charge of $4.95 US for one packet. The other objection I had is that the lighting in the room was exceptionally dim, even by hotel standards. If you are reader, I suggest you bring a reading light with you. Overall, we had a very good experience here, with an exceptionally nice room and great value. But the island is small, the hotel is very quiet, and after three days we were ready to leave.

My boyfriend and I stayed at this hotel and resort for a week over christmas this year (2007). The location is beautiful (beside a Lagoon), the pool is amazing and in general the place is very clean and well looked after. As stated in prior reviews this place is not for those looking to party - it's about a five minute taxi ride from the town itself which is quite convienient and quiet if you want to relax. There is a small bar (nudey bar...at least when we were there)! and food hut on the main road just outside that you can take away or eat in as we arrived after 10pm when room service had finished for the day.

The "But".....listed above in the heading is relating to the general service and "TOO" relaxed attitude that I found. We had an upstairs room that came with Jacuzzi and outdoor tub. However, both were not working when we arrived as we were advised there was a problem with the pumps regarding the outdoor tube but the Jacuzzi would be fixed. This never happened - it was taken note of but never fixed for a whole week after requesting this daily. We enquired about fishing trips and golf carts to book through the hotel - again this was being looked into too, so we decided after waiting two days on a cart being delivered and told it would arrive to do things ourselves. We were also advised it would take 45 minutes to travel to Tulum - however it took nearly three hours! The service was dreadful from this perspective and I'm sure to this day the staff are totally oblivious to this.

If I went back to Isla Mujeres I wouldn't stay here.