Hotel Laguna Bacalar

The lagoon is what keeps bringing us back to Hotel Laguna Bacalar. We’re elderly birdwatchers and swimmers, and have visited many times over the past 20 years. The views from every room are breathtaking, the lake water feels silky and is always just the right temperature, and we usually swim early in the morning to greet the sunrise, sometimes skinny-dipping. There are lots of active birds along the street in front, too. The cleaning lady has been there for 20 years and does a great job, and the rest of the staff are friendly and helpful. It’s an old, rough place, though, and it has stayed run down. The bathrooms need attention, the floors can be slippery, and the basics have barely been upgraded. The bar and restaurant are so thinly staffed they barely count, and the office area hasn’t changed, even though they stopped selling ice cream bars long ago. At the water’s edge, the pier is decaying, and getting in and out for a swim is difficult, whether you use the slippery steps or the uncomfortable pipe ladders, which are surrounded by overgrown aquatic plants. Even with all that, I think of it as the grand dame of Bacalar lodging, still showing its regal splendor. Those drawbacks are minor to us. What more could you want?

We left frustrated and disappointed. The beds were so uncomfortable that it was hard to rest, and the pool area was chaotic, with unsupervised children yelling and running around past 8 p.m. and into the evening. It made relaxing impossible, and the stay wasn’t worth what we paid. We won’t return and can’t recommend this hotel.

The view is nice, and maybe back in ’72 this place felt new, but there’s nothing new about it now. The beds were awful, and the room was a joke, with no outlets at all. We bought an extension cord, and honestly Súper Aki would have been a nicer stay. Four families arrived, and their kids screamed in the pool until 2 a.m. I hated the experience. One more thing, there was a five-foot crocodile in the lagoon this morning, and this species grows to ten feet. This is a strong do-not-stay recommendation.

The view and the food were good, and the staff were good too. But the hotel badly needs updating: door jambs don’t secure, tiles are broken, and the stairs are broken and very dangerous. The pool tiles are broken as well, and everything feels very outdated. We couldn’t swim or kayak from the shore.