Secrets Resort in Huatulco Mexico in January 2012
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We recently visited a great resort in the little-known town of
Huatulco Mexico. We had been there before, at the “Dreams” and found the town to be safe, very friendly and super affordable. This time around, we decided to stay at the brand new (opened in Dec. 2011) resort of “Secrets”, which is operated by the same folks who run Dreams. Here is a review:
Huatulco Mexico
Pronounced ‘wah-tool-ko’, this is the name of the resort area according to Wikipedia. An easy, $ 6 cab-ride takes you to the town of Le Crucecita which offers a few shops and restaurants. If you’re looking for a lot of nightlife, this might NOT be the place. Another popular destination is the harbour town of Santa Cruz, where cruise ships now dock. Here you will find a few more jewelry shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. Also a $ 6 cab-ride from the resort.
The Resort
This brand new resort features approximately 400 rooms, all with ocean view. Be aware, however, that if you end up in a main-floor suite of one of the upper buildings, your view will be somewhat restricted by the roof of the building in front of you. Super clean, all-marble resort. Rooms are spacious (ours was a junior-suite with a king sized bed) and ultra modern bathrooms. Showers were a very pleasant surprise, with excellent water pressure and no shortage of hot water. This resort is an Adults-Only, all-inclusive resort
Restaurants
Secrets Resort in Huatulco Mexico includes 8 restaurants. The casual “Market Cafe” is usually open for breakfast and most lunches, and offers buffet style eating. Evening dining can be enjoyed at the Tamarindo (Mexican fare), “Cin-Cin” (Italian), “Bordeaux” (French) and“Spice” (Pan-Asian food). All of these 5 restaurants are located near the front of the building, just beyond the lobby. Another two restaurants, “Castaway” (Steakhouse) and “Oceana”(Seafood) are found near the beach, and the last one is the “Barefoot” restaurant, located between the pools and open for lunches every day. As the name suggests, this is the most casual of all, serving excellent burgers (around 8 or 10 oz each) and hot dogs, ribs, chicken and a great assortment of other items.
Bonus: NONE of the restaurants require reservation….just walk up and enjoy. The only one exception being the chef-side seating in Spice, which is similar to Ichiban or Benihana style restaurant. If you want to sit at the table and see the chef throw the knife around, you will need to book a seat. Note: almost all restaurants require men to wear long pants in the evening….which can be quite warm. Make sure to pack very light pants.
Bars
There is the “SKY bar at the top of the building, the pool swim-up bar, and just about every restaurant has one as well. NEVER a shortage of beer (they serve Modelo Especial (light) or Negro (dark). Most liquors are available, and with Preferred Club you can get just about anything you can think of, including Grey Goose Vodka, Frangelico liquors, Crown Royal and Contreau, just to name a few.
Pools
Three pools, two of which are absolutely massive. They are ‘infinity’ pools, meaning that the water flows gently over the edge of the pool wall, giving it an illusion of endless water when you’re inside the pool. No shortage of lounge chairs at this time, although when the resort is full, there WILL be a shortage of umbrellas, unless the resort orders more. Another item in hot demand are the blue “floaties’, foam floating mattresses to be shared around the pool, and only 10 are available at this time.
The Weather
Huatulco Mexico is HOT….and dry. You can never be ‘guaranteed’ anything, but for 13 days we did not even see a cloud in the sky at ANY time. On one day, some clouds moved in a 3 pm and cleared out by 6. No rain, just dry heat.
Overall Impression
We had to keep in mind that this is a brand-new resort, and some things were not yet up-to-par. Free Wi-Fi in each room, which was a perk offered in the Preferred Club level, was not operational in all buildings, or at all times. The sports-bar had 4 small TV’s, mostly set to the same game, and staff did not know how to change the channel. But staff are super friendly, and continue to tell us that this is OUR (Canadian) resort… they truly love Canadians down there. Once they get the bugs ironed out, this will be a super resort, and we WILL be back to Huatulco Mexico. Thanks to Sheyla in the Market Cafe, Juan Talavera in Cin-Cin, Julio and Ernesto at pool-side and countless others for making our vacation super-enjoyable.
