This review has been a long time coming. It’s tough to be inspired to write about average experiences, and even after being somewhat let down, I thought that maybe time would improve my thoughts on this resort. Unfortunately, it hasn’t, and it’s time to finally put my thoughts out into the world about the Banyan Tree Mayakoba resort. We stayed here for our 10th Anniversary trip in February of 2026.

The Location

Banyan Tree Mayakoba is located about 50 minutes drive south of the Cancun Airport in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Mayakoba is an area right on the ocean that is gated, exclusive, and home to four resorts. Banyan Tree is a mid-sized resort as far as number of rooms, and it stretches from the beach and throughout the Mayakoba lagoon, which is home to all sorts of cool birds and animals you can spot from the resort, or if you take a little boat tour at any point throughout your stay. All four resorts are connected by the lagoon, and you can check out each one for dinners, drinks, etc. The resort area is a little over an hour from Tulum as well, and ideally situated for a lot of sightseeing around that area of Mexico.

The Amenities

Banyan Tree Mayakoba is a full amenity resort, and offers pretty much everything you could possibly need without having to leave the resort. There is a large pool area which is usually quite empty since most villas have their own pool, and the beautiful beach is on property.

The beach is very nice, with white sand and lots of lounge chairs and umbrellas available, although it’s subject to the saragassum seaweed issues that plague the entire area. There are constantly people out on the beach raking up the seaweed, and it’s just a never ending process.

The spa is a real highlight at this resort. They offer a “rainforest” experience which is a guided journey through various showers, saunas, jet pools, and steam rooms that you can do all on its own, or in conjunction with another service. My husband and I enjoyed the rainforest experience, and it was a relaxing way to start our treatments. Note, however, that it is not a private experience as there were others in the space with us. Our treatments were excellent, and our therapists were well trained. I actually returned to the spa for a second treatment, I enjoyed the first one so much. The treatment rooms are large, private, and really well appointed, especially for a couples experience.

The resort and Mayakoba area offer a golf course, complimentary bikes and bike paths, walking trails, as well as a large fitness center and a kids club.

Banyan Tree Mayakoba offers a “personal concierge” who is there allegedly to assist you with bookings and other questions, however the service (via What’sApp) was very spotty, and we had different people assisting us each day, detracting from the personal feel, since no one really learned our preferences nor were able to anticipate any needs. About every other day we were brought some kind of cute little resort amenity – typically something in food form, as a treat during our stay. That said, these amenities didn’t seem very personal, and the cards were all pre-printed – definitely not personalized in any way. They seem to be reused from guest to guest.

The Room

Our room at Banyan Tree Mayakoba was a real highlight of our stay as well, and the primary reason why I booked this resort over Rosewood, although there were a few issues. The rooms here were all recently renovated, and we booked a Serenity Pool Villa with Living Room, which is an absolutely massive room, has a huge pool with a hot tub, as well as a detached living room that had a large dining table and television.

The room felt very private, and we spent the vast majority of our time here lounging by our very large, private pool. The pool did seem to lose water very quickly, though, and we asked them to fill it once, although the water level was severely depleted after about three days. This led to the pool getting full of leaves and other dirt since the water level fell below the filters. The pool was definitely not cleaned daily, and so by the end, it was a bit of a disappointment and a reminder of the inconsistent service here.

The bed was extremely comfortable and the air conditioning and fans worked very well. The rooms were recently refurbished and refreshed, and while everything felt mostly clean and new, there was no personality to the space at all. Does anything about this bedroom below tell you where in the world we are?

The bathroom is huge with two sinks and a ton of counter space, although for some reason, only one of the sinks had soap. There is a large outdoor space to the bathroom as well, with a deep soaking tub that we never used. There was also an outdoor shower that I would’ve liked to use, but there wasn’t any shelf or any space at all for shampoo, towels or anything out there which was a big miss. Why have an outdoor shower without any soap, nor a place to put your towel?

I was very pleased with the speed of room service, and other requests (like for towels) at our room. While service was lacking at most of the rest of the resort, housekeeping and room service were really quite excellent. The only note I would give is that there is no doorbell or anything on the outside of the villa, so attendants just kind of knock and announce themselves loudly, which is a bit jarring and strange.

The Restaurants and Bars

Banyan Tree Mayakoba has about five restaurants on property you can choose from, and when you tack on the options at the other Mayakoba resorts, there are plenty of places to choose so you don’t need to repeat a meal at any point during your trip. That said, we did eat at Banyan Tree’s Saffron Restaurant, or some iteration of it, three times, as it was truly excellent, and blew away our experiences at other restaurants at Banyan Tree. The one thing that we really hated at all of the restaurants is the use of QR codes. This is a pandemic leftover that needs to seriously die! I don’t want to be spending MORE time on my phone than necessary on vacation. Ditch the codes for a paper menu, please!

Check out my reviews of Tomahawk and Sands for my honest take on these two restaurants, as well as Rosewood’s Zapote Bar and Restaurant, one that you should definitely go out of your way for, regardless of where in Mayakoba you’re staying.

The Copa Bar at Banyan Tree is a great place to grab a delicious craft cocktail, and I would highly recommend stopping by here for a delicious (though very expensive) Margarita. It’s open air, breezy, and right in the center of the resort, which makes it a great pit stop before or after an excursion or other dinner option. Note, however that all of the alcoholic beverages on property are exorbitantly priced. You’ll be paying about $13 for a can of Modelo, which is absolutely preposterous. Mexican wine, tequila and beers are not really any less expensive than other sprits, wines or beers, which makes absolutely no sense at all. The aforementioned margarita will set you back about $35. We actually found the drink prices borderline offensive. We expect mark ups at fancy resorts, and don’t typically think twice about paying more than usual, but when you’re paying the same price you would for half a case of Modelo for one silly can, it’s really unpardonable. That $35 margarita is not made with some ultra premium tequila either – and even if it was, shouldn’t tequila be a bit more reasonably priced in Mexico than anywhere else in the world?

Breakfast was included in our rate, and we only ate at the Oriente Buffet for breakfast. You can also go to the Sands Beach Club to grab a la carte breakfast there, which we were told by other guests was excellent. The buffet at Oriente is vast, and has pretty much anything you can think of to eat, and if they don’t, you can order it. The food is all fresh and refreshed regularly. You have a giant station of breads and sweet treats, more traditional Mexican breakfast options, American breakfast options, as well as any sort of pancakes or french toast or omelette made to order. Oriente, though, is absolutely frenetic at all times in the morning – it’s not romantic, relaxing, nor a chill way to start the day. There are more people here for breakfast than you will ever see during the rest of your time at the resort including every single very loud child that is staying on property. Unfortunately, the restaurant is definitely not staffed to fit its needs in the morning. Service was extremely slow for even a drip coffee, and if you order a specialty coffee, you probably won’t get it before you are done eating your food.

Banyan Tree Mayakoba also offers some special dining experiences and themed nights, which we wanted to try but were unable to – but not for lack of effort or willingness to pay the sky-high prices. We were very excited to try the Haab dinner, which is a small group dinner focused on Mayan food and traditions, along with Mayan performers. True dinner theater. However, none of the nights it was offered while we were staying here they got enough people to sign up for it, so we weren’t able to see it. They also offered a beach BBQ one night which we were also excited to try, but again, they couldn’t get enough people to sign up for it, so it was canceled. I think that these experiences are very expensive, and when there are a lot of families staying, people aren’t willing to drop that kind of money. It was disappointing, though, that these options are somewhat heavily advertised, but end up getting cancelled regularly.

The Activities

Banyan Tree contracts with the “Mayakoba” activities and adventures company for all of it’s off-property excursions. All of the resorts at Mayakoba do this, so you’ll get the same experience regardless of where you’re staying. I wrote extensively about our experience for an all day tour around the area, including Tulum and snorkeling in lagoons and cenotes. Check it out here.

The resort also offers a complimentary ecotour around the lagoons. The boat ride lasts about 30 minutes, and I was hoping that they would have a knowledgable guide to point out some of the cool animals around the area, or discuss the ecosystem, or describe the mangroves and the wildlife living amongst the vines. Unfortunately, our guide was completely silent the whole time, just driving the group of us around and not saying one single word about the ecosystem. Not much of an ecotour, more of a boat ride.

That said, we did experience a boat ride in the lagoon that was, indeed, spectacular. The romantic Ixchel dinner was absolutely worth the very high price. We had a private lagoon tour that lasted about two hours, with a full, multi-course dinner and drinks included. Our captain and cook/server were amazing, and it was some of the best service we received at the resort. Read all of the details about the private Ixchel dinner here.

The Vibe

The vibe of Banyan Tree Mayakoba is really where this place loses a lot of points. There is a very disjointed vibe to the whole place for varying reasons. This is a resort located in a very heritage-rich area of Mexico, and yet feels totally out of place and not Mexican at all. There is a heavy Asian vibe, since Banyan Tree is an Asian company, and it just doesn’t mesh well with what you expect when you come to Mexico. While there are traditional Mexican hand-painted sinks in the bathrooms, and they do have a Mexican restaurant on the property, that’s where the link to the place that you’ve traveled to ends. The rest of the resort is blandly decorated, and you could be pretty much anywhere in the world based on the decor and design of the resort. There is absolutely no sense of place. Authenticity is really lacking here, and that became extremely apparent when we visited Zapote Restaurant at the Rosewood property, which instantly made us feel like we were transported to a beachy version of a high end bar in Mexico City. (No QR codes there either!) They do, occasionally, try to bring Mexican culture to the daily atmosphere of the resort, including a daily Mayan sunset ritual – although if you don’t happen to be near the main lobby area during this time, you will totally miss it.

The Recommendation

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a stay at Banyan Tree Mayakoba. Even though the villa was huge and private (my main draw for staying here), there were still issues with the pool and its cleanliness, as well as a lack of personality in the refurbished rooms. The rest of our experience at this allegedly luxury resort also left much to be desired. Between the lack of authenticity and the impersonal QR codes and canned What’sApp concierge messages, to the preposterous pricing of alcoholic beverages on the property, we just came away feeling like our money would have been better spent elsewhere. Most of the restaurants were simply average, and we were never made to feel special in any way, except for at the spa and the Ixchel dinner. We felt like the prices for pretty much everything, especially the alcoholic beverages, were simply taking advantage of the higher-end clientele, and shockingly so. Next time we come to this area, I will choose a better luxury brand like Rosewood, Belmond, or St. Regis to spend our money.