Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya- My Honest Review

Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya is an adults-only, all-inclusive resort located directly on Akumal Beach. It is part of the Hyatt All-Inclusive Collection. This means you can book any Secrets resort with World of Hyatt points.

What makes Secrets Akumal stand out is its jungle-like vibe. Instead of towering buildings, the property is surrounded by lush jungle and winding paths that lead to Akumal Beach. It feels tucked away, making it easy to settle in and focus on enjoying your time from the moment you arrive.

If you are looking for a luxury adults-only resort that is all-inclusive, Secrets Akumal is a great choice!

Location of Akumal Beach

Akumal Beach is one of the main reasons this resort is so popular, and it truly is unique. The beach is wide, scenic, and generally calmer than beaches closer to Cancun or Playa del Carmen. It was voted one of the top 10 beaches in Mexico on TripAdvisor this past year!

The water at Akumal Beach is perfect for snorkeling because it is calm and clear. This area is also well known for its sea turtles, which adds to the appeal and natural beauty of this location.

Airport Transfer

There are two close airports to Secrets Akumal, Cancun(CUN) and Tulum(TQO). Tulum is closer to the resort, but it takes approximately the same amount of time to reach the resort from either airport. I would price out your flights and transfer costs to see which one makes more sense for you.

We flew into Cancun International Airport (CUN). There are several options to transfer from Cancun Airport to Akumal resorts. Secrets Akumal partners with Amstar, and you can book with them from Cancun or Tulum on the resort’s webpage or app.

I found Amstar to be more expensive than other private transfers, so we decided to book with Kalido Travel. They are not available from Tulum airport, as they are a locally owned small business. They have great prices and customer service. They offer private transfers directly to Secrets Akumal, which is about a 60-minute drive from CUN airport, depending on traffic. We had a perfect experience with them and would use them again on our next visit.

Kalido Travel will get booked up quickly, so if you find they don’t have any availability, I recommend checking out GetTransfer.com. They offer professional drivers, reliable service, price matching, and free waiting time in case your flight gets delayed.

Preferred Club Experience

We were able to get Preferred Club with our stay because I had a Hyatt Guest of Honor award added to my reservation. One of the biggest perks is access to the Preferred Club lounge. It was air-conditioned and provided a much-needed break from the heat and pool areas during the day.

The grab-and-go food available throughout the day was another highlight. It made it easy to grab something quick without planning an entire meal, especially between lunch and dinner time.

Preferred Club also includes hydrotherapy in the spa, which was an amazing experience! You will schedule this with your concierge, and you can stay at the spa as long as you want. More about this below.

I didn’t feel Preferred Club was needed at this resort. If you can get it included with awards, I think it’s worth adding just for the hydrotherapy benefit daily, but I don’t think it’s worth paying extra for.

Rooms & Suites

Secrets Akumal has 434 guest suites, and each comes with a furnished balcony or terrace. You can even splurge on a swim-out suite to have your own pool to swim in whenever you want.

We stayed in a Preferred Club swim-out suite, and the room itself was spacious and clean. There is a lot of storage for your clothing and a beautiful balcony. The layout worked well, and the bed was really comfortable. I didn’t like my pillow, so I asked the cleaning staff for a new one, and to my surprise, I came back from the pool that day to 6 pillows to choose from!

While the swim-out feature was nice in theory, we only used it once. The water was cold, and the swim-out area stayed fairly shaded throughout the day. Because of that, we found ourselves gravitating toward the main pools instead.

If location matters to you, it is worth noting that lower building numbers are closer to Akumal Beach, the pool, and the preferred club lounge.

The amenities in the room are great! You will have a mini fridge stocked with soft drinks, beers, juices, and plenty of bottled water.  If you have a Preferred room, they gave us two bottles of liquor! There is also a Nespresso machine with coffee, creamer, sweeteners, etc. Some snacks are replenished every day as well. If you like Coke Zero and M&M’s, you can request to restock only those items.

Room service is also available 24 hours, but we never used it because there was food available everywhere else!

Food and Drinks

Food and drinks were consistently solid throughout our stay. Secrets Akumal offers a good balance of variety and quality, which is not always the case with all-inclusive resorts.

The swim-up bar was a favorite spot during the day, especially when we wanted to cool off without leaving the pool. The beach bar was perfect for a relaxed afternoon cocktail with views of Akumal Beach, and service was always friendly.

In the evenings, we loved spending time at the lobby bar before and after dinner. It had a great atmosphere and felt like a natural place to unwind without needing entertainment or a loud scene.

Each evening, there were also some fun dinner events happening outside around the pool areas that you could join! They were buffet style and also included entertainment, shopping, and crafts. You can choose to eat or just enjoy the entertainment.

Restaurants at Secrets Akumal

Secrets Akumal offers a wide range of dining options, and we appreciated having variety without feeling overwhelmed. Each restaurant had its own unique vibe, making it easy to change things up throughout the stay.

Market Café is the buffet and is open for breakfast and lunch. If you are not a Preferred Club member, this is your only breakfast option. We ate at the Preferred breakfast once, and we actually liked the buffet better. The buffet has a lot more options, including a bloody mary and mimosa bar!

Oceana focuses on seafood and is a great choice if you want something lighter or love seafood dishes. They are open for dinner service, but not every night, so you will want to check their hours. Their salmon was my favorite dish!

Seaside Grille was my favorite restaurant overall. The restaurant offers breakfast service exclusively for Preferred Club members, while lunch and dinner service are available to everyone. This is also one of the casual restaurants where men can wear shorts. The picanha steak was excellent, and the salad bar stood out for its freshness and variety. This was the one restaurant we would gladly return to more than once.

Portofino is an Italian restaurant, and they do a great job! They serve all your classics like Lasagna and Fettuccine Carbonara, but they also have specialty dishes like Milanese Ossobuco and Grilled Octopus. Don’t forget dessert, the tiramisu was the best dessert we had! This is a popular restaurant, so I would make a reservation as soon as you arrive with your concierge!

Himitsu/Teppanyaki is their Pan-Asian restaurant that includes a la carte dining, a sushi bar, and teppanyaki tables. This is a very popular restaurant for a good reason! You do need a reservation for the teppanyaki table, but the other side is first come first serve.

Bordeaux is a French restaurant that offers a more upscale dining experience. They offer traditional French dishes like foie gras, French onion soup, and Escargot. This is another popular dinner spot, so be sure to make a reservation here when you arrive.

El Patio serves Mexican cuisine and is a great option if you want local flavors in a relaxed setting. I think this restaurant is often overlooked because it’s Mexican cuisine, but I had some of the best tacos here! Their margaritas were soo good, and if you want to elevate your dinner, they have speciality tequila you can purchase.

Bars and Café

The coffee shop, Coco Café, was one of my favorite spots at the resort, which I visited a few times a day. It was open 24/7 and offered fun specialty drinks, making it perfect for early mornings, mid-day pick-me-ups, or late-night coffee runs. It was an easy stop before heading to the pool or beach.

Half Time Sports bar is conveniently located near the relaxing pool and features pool tables and TVs for watching sports during your stay. They have their own food and drink menu and serve lunch until 4pm.

Rendezvous is located at the bottom of the cascading staircase, where you check in. The lobby is filled with chic furniture for lounging, and they also have live music and entertainment at night! We stopped in here a few times before and after dinner to grab a drink. This is also where the Silent Disco is at, and let me tell you, this is not something to be missed!

Other bars include Barracuda at the beach, Manatees and Sugar Reef at the main pool, Desires Music Lounge, where karaoke is, and Showtime Bar, where you can sip your favorite cocktail at the theater.

Between the bars and café, there was always somewhere to grab a drink without feeling like you had to go out of your way.

Activities and Entertainment

Secrets Akumal offers plenty of activities if you want to stay active during your trip. Activities are listed on your TV in your room and throughout the resort, but I preferred to use the Hyatt All-Inclusive app on my phone. Your concierge can also text you the daily activities! The app has lots of good information, including restaurant menus, resort maps, and reservations. They update the daily activities by the week on here, so you can look ahead at what is going on before you even arrive.

Beach volleyball was my favorite and ended up being something we looked forward to every day. It was social, fun, and easy to join without pressure. Another cool event was the tuna carving at the main pool. Other activities we did were pool volleyball, a bartender contest, Spanish lessons, and water aerobics.

The bike tour is extremely popular and books up quickly. If this is something you want to do, make it one of the first things you sign up for when you arrive.

It is easy to fill your days if you choose to. At the same time, the activities never felt forced or overly scheduled.

Spa Experience

Secrets Akumal spa was excellent and one of the highlights of our stay. It features a relaxation room, an outdoor hydrotherapy circuit, several treatment rooms, a steam room, a Swiss shower, and a relaxation area. This spa is huge and gives off all zen vibes.

Hydrotherapy includes a circuit of a cold pool, sauna, and steam room. You can do all this at your own pace and stay as long as you want. It was a great way to start your day! We also took advantage of a buy one get one free massage special, which made the experience feel like a great value!

The spa itself was calm, clean, and beautifully designed. From the moment we walked in, it felt separate from the rest of the resort in the best way possible. If you enjoy spa time while on vacation, this is one experience worth making time for.

Fitness Center

The fitness center exceeded my expectations for an all-inclusive resort. It was well equipped and had everything needed for a solid workout. They have several treadmills, ellipticals, and a stair-step machine for your cardio needs. A free weights area, which is pretty small, and some cable resistance machines for strength training.

One standout feature was the Peloton bikes, which were a nice surprise. The space was clean, and we never felt overly crowded during our visits.

It is a great option if you like to keep up with your routine, or just want to balance out the all-inclusive drinking and dining.

Pools and Beach Areas

Akumal Pools

Secrets Akumal offers multiple pools, each with a different vibe. This made it easy to choose based on how we were feeling that day.

The infinity pool was our favorite and where we spent most of our time. It had great views and just the right amount of energy. This is also where all the water activities like aerobics and volleyball will be.

The main pool is right next to the infinity pool, but it’s a little quieter. If you’re not interested in participating in any pool activities, this will be the pool you want to be at!

The relaxing pool was perfect on quieter days when we wanted to read or take a nap. Having options made the resort feel more spacious and less crowded, even during peak times.

Akumal Beach

Akumal Beach is one of the highlights of staying at Secrets Akumal, especially if you enjoy calm water and a more natural beach setting. The resort has both a Preferred Club side and a non-Preferred side of the beach, with the Preferred area feeling a bit quieter and more spaced out.

The water here is generally calm, which makes it great for floating and snorkeling. Some areas are rocky, so water shoes are helpful, especially if you plan to get in and out of the water frequently.

The resort offers life jackets you can rent if needed, but they were not open early in the morning. We brought our own snorkel gear, which made it easy to explore the ocean whenever we wanted!

It is also important to know that Akumal Beach is a public beach. You will occasionally see solicitors walking by selling souvenirs or offering excursions.

During our stay, we met Juan Quijada directly on the beach for our turtle snorkeling tour, and it turned out to be a great experience. He is the one in the orange in the photo below!

Service and Staff

Service throughout the resort was excellent! The staff was friendly, attentive, and consistently welcoming.

While tipping is not required, it is definitely appreciated. We found that small tips went a long way and were always met with genuine gratitude. Especially at the pools and beach, you will not be wondering where your next drink is!

The overall level of service enhances the feeling that guests are genuinely cared for, and they want you to feel welcome.

FAQs About Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya

Final Thoughts on Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya

We really loved our stay at Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya. The jungle-inspired setting, combined with its location on Akumal Beach, makes this resort feel unique compared to many other all-inclusive options in Akumal.

If you are drawn to nature, calm surroundings, or interested in swimming with the famous Akumal turtles, Secrets Akumal is an excellent choice!

Ready to book? Check out the best rates to start planning your trip!

Thanks for reading my Secrets Akumal review, and I hope this helps you decide on your next all-inclusive resort vacation!