All-Inclusive Family Travel to Mexico by Rachel Thexton
You may be planning spring break or winter travel for your family. If Mexico is a destination that you have in mind, I hope that our family’s travel experiences will help guide your planning as you browse the endless number of Mexican all-inclusive resorts.
As a family with three children, aged five, eight, and twelve, we look forward to an annual family holiday as we work long hours while balancing busy little ones.
We have been fortunate to travel to Mexico multiple times in the past three years, staying at two separate resorts on a couple of our 10-day stays.
When we plan a trip to sunny Mexico, whether it be in the Cancun/Mayan Riviera area or Los Cabos, we have a checklist to ensure our trip is as enjoyable as possible.
On our list includes:
Our 8-year-old son is neurodiverse, with moderate ADHD so our standards for kids’ care is quite high!
There are often significant price differences between resorts in the 4–5-star categories. I will provide tips for both families who have saved to splurge, and the family who is travelling on a tighter budget.
This was our most recent Mexican stay, and we loved this property so much, we would stay here regardless of our budget, even though it’s a lower priced 5-star option.
Expedia had led us to believe we would be in a joint 2-room accommodation as we are a family of five. When we arrived, they had us booked in two separate rooms located in separate areas of the resort. After kindly asking for his help, the reception manager quickly and kindly fixed this, even during their busy holiday season.
We were thrilled when we arrived at a beachfront room with joining sleeping and living spaces and a beautiful large balcony overlooking the blue Cancun waters of the Hotel Zone, or as the locals call it, the ”Zona Hotelera.”
The property is beautiful, clean, has delicious food options, including our kids’ favourite- the stone-oven pizzeria by the swimming pool. They also have nightly shows in their onsite auditorium.
The resort has a great kids’ club with a jungle-themed water park that our kids loved. The kids club has both indoor and outdoor space but is located around the water park and is best for kids aged 4-10. Its open from 9am-4:50pm and your children can stay for one hour or all day. They do not have youth programming or lounges but given the fantastic Cancun beach, our 12-year-old was thrilled to spend time in the sand and waves and enjoy the swimming pools. He also loved the consistent access to a variety of food by the pool such as sushi, burgers, and the delicious fresh pizza I mentioned. He also enjoyed the pool table and large screen sports lounge.
Although they allow outside babysitters in, they do not have babysitting onsite. This property is also ideal due to its location; a short 7-10 min drive from shopping, outdoor plazas, and safe off-property fun. Tip for parents- their spa was phenomenal. I enjoyed an amazing deep tissue massage for $120 USD.
Customer service was fantastic. We were impressed.
I return to this brand because it is not as well known, is reasonably priced, and exceeds expectations. This is a beautiful property on the rougher yet beautiful Los Cabos beach.
When we arrived, our kids were welcomed by staff with colouring sheets while we checked in. This is a nice bonus when little ones are tired from travel.
At this resort, the kids club was a fantastic option that all three of our kids loved- even the oldest, who was eleven at the time. They have a slightly larger water park, amazing kids’ club team, and our kids enjoyed a 3-hour evening pirate party and beach BBQ on the last night for a reasonable fee of $35 USD per child. It was a perfect time for my husband, and I enjoy a dinner together.
Like in Cancun, their customer service went above and beyond, the property is clean, beautiful, and has the same pool and food options that our kids loved in Cancun. It is also in a great area where you can easily and safely explore the local area.
Both properties will offer you a free spa treatment and other rewards to do a breakfast with one of their travel club sales reps. Given the limited travel time you often have, I recommend skipping this as it runs longer than expected!
This property is in the growing Talum area, a fun spot for families with its quaint downtown filled with swings, bicycles, and abundant wildlife throughout the area. We saw a variety of unique animals roaming the property while there in December, which thrilled our kids!
This is the best property we have stayed at in terms of the amenities, services, and care of our kids.
I would not call this a luxury property, but it is beautiful, clean, has excellent service, and excels in child, youth, and teen entertainment. Their kid’s club is phenomenal, with a schedule every day that my children looked forward to. The club team is large, and they were genuinely enthusiastic about the children. We notified them about my son’s ADHD and although he usually calls us 1-2 hours after arriving at a kids’ club, he wanted to stay all day for three of the days we were there! From tie-dye t-shirt-making and ‘little chefs’ cooking, to playing in their impressive water park, which sits right outside of the kid’s club, and performing in shows for the resort in the evening, this was the best kids’ club we had experienced.
In addition to the kids’ club, there is a youth/teen club with gaming stations, sports, and other organized and casual drop-in activities that my 12-year-old son loved.
Another huge bonus was onsite babysitters for hire at any time, should adults want to leave the property. The babysitting price was reasonable at $25 USD/hr for three children. The quality of the sitter was high, both in flexibility and personality, taking the kids around the property to enjoy any activity they chose. All sitters are also certified in CPR and have extensive experience caring for children. We used this service one afternoon for four hours while my husband and I explored the local Talum Ruins. The kids loved the experience with the babysitter.
This is a higher price range experience as a 5+ star luxury resort, with excellent offerings for the entire family.
The property’s Kids Zone for ages 5 to 12 is open longer hours, from 9am to 10pm and includes fun activities such as making piñatas, treasure hunts, cooking and baking, and enjoying the impressive water park, (always the favourite for our kids). Our children loved the Kids Zone and although they did not spend the entire day there due to our plans, they would have!
In addition to younger children there is programming for teens/pre-teens such as inflatable water equipment, beach volleyball, snorkelling, and a game room with various video games.
Although we did not op in, there is even the option for booking a family concierge room where you enjoy family-friendly benefits such as swim-up rooms, gaming in the room, and even “Bathtime Fun” whirlpool set-up.
Our kids loved their experience at this resort, and it was a special treat, as the go beyond expectations for families.
The property has 24/7 access to excellent babysitting service, and although we had family with us during our stay and did not use the service, I hear that children love the professional childcare.
We have not yet stayed at this property, but I have heard from close friends that it is a child’s dream, while also being an amazing experience for adults.
With the fun Nikelodeon character decor throughout the rooms and resort, this stay is the ultimate Mexico all-inclusive stay for families. With the expansive Aqua Nick water park for kids of all ages, character meetups, and even the infamous slime sessions for kids, this resort includes all-day family fun.
What impressed me while looking over their website was their consideration for neurodiverse children. As part of the Autism Double-Checked Program, this is the first hotel group to offer an Autism Concierge, accommodating the needs of those with Autism. All staff in contact with guests have been trained in specific situations that guests with autism may face during their vacation.
As beautiful as this property and setting is, we were extremely disappointed with the customer service and care at this resort, especially related to our children.
This is a 5+ star rated resort and we encountered multiple issues. When checking in, the team member provided us with inaccurate information about the kids’ club and details related to bringing in a babysitter, keeping us from one-on one time and from the kids’ club for the first two days of our stay.
When we did visit the kids club to find that we could leave our children there without staying with them, the kids did not enjoy their time there much. They have a nice smaller water park outside of the kids’ club, but the kids were spending more time inside and out of the fun sunny weather. They would call to be picked up after an hour or two.
The larger water park where my 12-year-old could have fun had endless rules and regulations such as my husband having to take off his wedding ring to join our son on the slides. Our then 7-year-old was tall enough to enjoy the park, but the security argued that he was not. By the time he saw that he was indeed tall enough, my son no longer wanted to be there.
On more serious notes, when my son cut his foot on a broken tile in their little pool, no one on the property had a basic first aid kit and they instead sent us to an expensive pharmacy to buy our own Band-Aids and alcohol pads.
We are a bi-racial family and when we were all enjoying the main pool, my oldest son and husband, who both have darker skin, were asked by security to see their bracelets while my two youngest with lighter skin, nor myself were asked for this.
When we brought these concerns calmly to management onsite, they did nothing to address the issues, and we were told that only Riu head office could address them. I contacted Riu head office customer service after our trip, and they responded with a dismissive note that did not address the issues or make any efforts to remedy them. We will not stay at a Riu property again.
You learn when you travel and we are happy to have found fantastic all-inclusive resorts that are both fairly priced but also offer our entire family an amazing vacation in the heat and beauty of Mexico!
 | About Rachel Thexton As Principal of Thexton PR, Rachel Thexton has over two decades of PR experience building effective communications campaigns that help clients to show and tell their stories, while leading dialogues in a cluttered media and digitally focused landscape. Using personalized outreach, and leveraging decades of relationship-building, Rachel helps clients to reach diverse stakeholders and communities with authenticity. Rachel also hosts top BC podcast, Rachel Thexton Connects (RTC). RTC, now in season six, shares the stories of those from all walks of life, with a focus on media, bloggers and digital content creators, Canadian leaders, and guests from all walks of life. The goal of RTC is learning, connecting, and amplifying under-represented voices, while discussing issues affecting Canadians. |
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