Villas Paraiso Del Mar-Holbox Island

I love when an accommodation turns out better than expected, and that was exactly what we thought from the moment we set foot on Villas Paraiso Del Mar, on Holbox Island, Mexico. 

Prior to our trip I liked going online so I could take wistful glances at the pictures of palm trees and the beach, imagining what it would be like to read in one of the lounge chairs. Once there I realized that the pictures, as good as they were, did not do the villas justice.

Our room was located on the third floor of one of the villa buildings. 

We liked climbing up the beautiful wooden spiral staircase to get to our large, immaculately clean room. 

After the first night we learned to leave our sandals by the downstairs front door so that we didn’t drive the cleaning staff bonkers by tracking the entire beach up to our room.    

Our bed was comfortable. The weather was perfect, allowing fresh breezes to blow through the windows that we kept open while we soundly slept. 

The bathroom was equally clean, with a large shower that always had hot water and great water pressure.

I’m not sure why it entertained me so much, but I liked coming back to the room after it had been cleaned to see the little “your bathroom is clean, see we made little fans.”   

 It was the extra touches like that, and the two new complementary bottles of water left in the room daily that made us feel like valued guests.

Just in case you forgot something to read, or maybe you don't want to pack your book for the return trip, there was a book exchange with books in lots of different languages.

The open air lobby was beautiful and one of the two places on property offering WiFi (the restaurant was the other), so people tended to hang out there day and night. It offered some nice people watching. Especially the pond/fountain vs. kids (the fountain usually won or maybe the kids won because I think most of the kids actually wanted to get wet).

There was a bar in the lobby that opened in the evening. It was a popular place.  One night we each got an electric blue Holbox and settled into a little nook right by the bar. 

 I played a little game called, guess where that guest is from. 

Villas Paraiso Del Mar's location was ideal. It was in walking distance to town and other restaurants in the area. If you didn't want to walk, or wanted to explore beyond the walk-able areas, there were golf carts available for rent. You could also arrange a number of different tours with the Villas' friendly, helpful staff. 

There was a very nice pool. 

We probably would have had a pool day if we were there longer, but it was hard to sit by the pool when there was sand and blue gulf (Shannon corrected me every time I called it the ocean) water that begged to be admired.

There was an iguana that enjoyed chilling out by the pool. 

Shannon named him Mortimer. We said hello whenever we passed him. I imagine that being a pool iguana must be pretty sweet.  He had a girlfriend who lived there too, but she was more skittish around people so we saw her less. 

Finally of course, there was the beach area. 

The beach area put us into an instant state of relaxation. 

 There were places to lounge with plenty of shade,

and places to lounge if you don’t become an instant lobster in the sun. 

Every so often a staff person would come around to see if loungers wanted a drink or a snack from the pool bar.

We kept to the shady area.   We read books. 

We took naps. 

   

Did I mention that it was relaxing?

There are many nice places to stay on Holbox Island, but I think the wonderfulness of Villas Paraiso Del Mar greatly contributed to the overall awesomeness of our trip.