We stayed at Zamas for 5 nights and got exactly what we were looking for, an escape from the plugged-in world. The Tulum hotel zone is completely separate and opposite of Cancun-life. If you have no interest in the busy, bright, loud club scene but want to see the beauty of the Gulf and the Yucatan - Tulum is the place for you!

I first want to mention the taxis - they are horribly expensive. It cost us almost $150 to get to Tulum from the Cancun airport. Take the bus!!!! We wish we had just slowed down and figured this out. You can take the bus for under $10 to the center of town in Tulum and then you can take a cab for $3 to Zamas or whatever hotel you choose to stay at. We took the bus back to the airport - we learned our lesson! The buses are clean and safe - they are charter buses. The cabs are a rip off whether you book it inside or just grab one outside. Grabbing one outside is a better bet because you can wheel and deal them. Inside the price is set. Just be confident and push your way past all the hagglers to get to the outside. It's not easy but don't slow down because everyone is trying to sell you a ride from the moment you get off the plane.

At Zamas, we booked an ocean view bungalow, totally worth the extra cost as the view was amazing and there was so much more space than the beach front bungalows. We had two queen beds hanging from the ceiling and a gorgeous wrap around deck with hammocks. The bathroom was fairly large as well. The room was filled with windows and had this cathedral like thatched roof. It was awesome. I highly recommend the ocean view. Que Fresco, the hotel's restaurant, was probably our favorite part of the stay. They served excellently prepared, fresh food. We particularly loved the fresh fish offered each evening in whatever style you'd like it. Just keep in mind "propina" means tip. They add the tip on to everything and we did not realize this until 3 days into it. And they did not feel called to let us know either as we tipped on top of the tip each day. That was our ignorance - we should have looked it up the first day and we didn't.

The rooms are rustic just as the site says but it wasn't nearly as "rough" as we thought it was going to be. The toilets do flush - you just can't put toilet paper in them. There is running water in the rooms, it's just salt water and the pressure of the hot water shower is terrible, but we weren't expecting the Ritz. And honestly we were just thrilled to have hot water. The salt water is very subtle, it's definitely filtered slightly. We were expecting an eco-friendly resort and that's what we got. There is light in the rooms - it would have been nice to know that so we didn't lug our lanterns to Mexico (not fun getting them through security). The resort itself goes pretty dark at night and you do need a flashlight, but there is light in the rooms. There is a mosquito net that surrounds your bed at night and you definitely should use it. We saw a critter here and there, mostly things just falling off our awesome thatched roof - but no big deal at all. The place was charming rustic - if you can't handle a little rustic this place is not for you. Our room was thoroughly cleaned each day as well which was wonderful. Each room has a very large jug of fresh spring water in it and it is refilled whenever you need it. It's for drinking and brushing your teeth. We dumped some on our heads as well every now and then to rinse the salt out.

We did not rent a car - if we were to do it again we definitely would rent one. Mostly everyone at the resort had rented car. It was fine not having one because it was our first visit to Tulum and we spent our 6 days exploring the immediate area on foot and on bike. But if we return I know we'll rent a car and explore outside Tulum. We also agreed that a couple nights in a place like this and a couple nights in a more upscale hotel is probably more our style. We were ready for a fresh water shower by the time we left! We went the week before Thanksgiving and the place was fairly empty. The weather was beautiful - not too hot, but enough to enjoy laying on the beach and taking a little dip here and there.

Renting bikes was perfect as you can just bike straight down the road and be at the ruins in about 20 minutes. Plus you can stop at any of the other resorts along the way for lunch or a dip in the beautiful beach. The ruins were gorgeous and really neat to experience. Plus, there is a stunning beach right inside them that we took advantage of after our sweaty fun bike ride. The next day we biked down the road the other way (there's only one road in the Hotel Zone:) and that took us into the biosphere. There is a cenotes there which is kind of cool to look at but was too creepy for us to jump into. We tried some kayaking on the endless lagoon in the biosphere- but found the mangroves to be rather boring as the lagoon is just so enormous that by the time you get across it you just don't feel like kayaking anymore. We wouldn't recommend the kayaking - do the boat tour - we heard it was better. Also - once you hit the biosphere it's dirt roads so be prepared for your butt to take a licking if you bike there!

Another day we decided to go on a rather long walk to town. It was great exercise and a pretty cool place to shop if you are into that. What we enjoyed though was just stopping a local bar where we actually saw some of our Zamas waiters! That's how we knew it was the place to be, good enough for the locals. We don't remember the name of it but there are a handful of little local bars - you can't miss them. And you also can't beat having a little lunch and 5 beers for a total of $10!

My boyfriend went on a daytrip to the cenotes, Dos Ojos. He thought it was great cenotes for beginners. Good length of time to be in the water. Beautiful scenery - but if you are looking for fun, reef fish the cenotes are not the place to see them. We booked the trip with Mexi Divers - their stand is located at Zamas. They also do half day snorkeling trips out to the reef, right off of Zamas' beach, which people really bragged about. That's where you can see the fun colorful fish!

We had an awesome Italian meal at this hotel down the street called Posado Margerhita. Italian, with a luscious Mexican flare. Extremely popular and yummy - make a reservation as soon you get to Tulum! It's a nice walk from Zamas - but you need good flashlights because the roads are black at night! Que Fresco, at Zamas though, was hands-down the best food in the area.

We stopped at the "Zebra" resort one day to take advantage of their white beach and drink or two. The beach was great but the drinks were ridiculous. They charged Manhattan prices which is such a turn-off in a place like that. We do not recommend this place. It's pretentiously and a rip off.

Speaking of beaches, Zamas has a small one but it's not the large, endless white sand that you can find at some of the resorts on both the north and south end. But we didn't have a problem with it because the beaches are public and you can go sit on whatever beach you want! The bigger resorts will charge you for use of their chairs which they try to push on you.

We hope our review was helpful. We had a great time with one another - again, no phone, no computer, no plugs! If you need to escape the world, this is place to do so for a little bit. If you absolutely need phone or email you can find it within minutes - but it's nice to not have it at the resort.

Feel free to ask us any questions!

I changed my reservation in Tulum last minute so I could stay with friends at Zamas. They didn't have beach front bungalows available so I took one of the rooms across the street. The room was big and had nice shutters and a safe and water and all, but it was next to some area where the employees hung out and parked their motorcycles at night. The bathrooms were shared and not terrible. However, there was apparently a koi pond that got destroyed during a hurricane MONTHS prior and had become a mosquito nursery. I would wake up in the morning with more mosquitoes INSIDE my mosquito netting than in the room. I got chewed on mercilessly. The room was only eighty dollars so I can't complain about the price, but it's almost a month after and my bites are still healing... they were that bad. The employees were nice and concealed their resentment for tourists better than most. The gift shop was crazy overpriced. The ocean is a bit rocky and the food in the restaurant was mediocre at best. There is a little causeway right next to the hotel which was visually unappealing. You can definitely do better for beachfront. We had a meal at Zebra and it was scrumptious. It was one of the few places in Tulum where the people that worked there were genuinely caring and nice. The Thai restaraunt at Mezzanine was pretty good too.

I'd been to Tulum before, 12 years ago in 1995, when there were only two or three cabanas along the whole beach (Ana y Jose and the nearby Cabanas Tulum, where we had stayed as cash-strapped backpacking students). But nonetheless, the place was beautiful: calm, crystalline waters; large, beautiful white beaches, and most of all, silence.
I went back this year with my husband and I couldn't be more disappointed by Tulum in general (the cabanas and hotels have multiplied like mushrooms) and by Zamas in particular. Zamas was nothing like its website flaunts. No one mentioned that our beachfront cabana was also road front! It was literally on a very busy road, full of cars and construction and "agua purificada" trucks going back and forth until well past midnight and then back again at 6am! I don't get that kind of traffic noise in my apartment in Brooklyn, and I'm supposed to put up with it when I should be relaxing on vacation?
The beach must be one of the most horrible beaches in Tulum. It's rocky and separated from the long stretch of beautiful white beach to the south by—you guessed it—the road. So you can't even take a nice stroll on the beach with your bare feet; you actually have to wear shoes and walk on the same busy road for longer than I care to, before you actually get to the long stretch of beautiful white beach. The restaurant, which has glowing reviews on the Zamas website, is all right. It's not bad, but it's definitely not the best place to eat in Tulum by any stretch of the imagination. And what's worse, when we decided to leave after our first horrendous night, one of the owners from her comfortable home in San Francisco, CA (yes, you can't actually speak with someone who makes decisions; the staff there are only angels for a mysterious Charlie no one can see) refused to give us back the money we had put down for 4 nights, despite the fact that we were vacating the room. But no matter, we were determined not to stay there a day longer. We walked on the beach and found a much better place at a lower price. In the end, we were happy to have swallowed the extra money: the new place was quiet and in front of a long stretch of beautiful white beach.
DON'T GO TO ZAMAS. There are dozen other cabanas that are way better and offer better value.

We stayed in bungalow 8 at Zamas last year and had an amazing time! The room was spotless and huge!! It was a rock's throw from the water and saw the most beautiful sunrise every morning. The food was great and we loved the live music/entertainment each evening. The staff was very helpful. They helped us book a car and several outings for the days. The whole Tulum experience was amazing due to Zamas. We love it so much that we are going back this spring and are staying in the same room. Truly paradise!