VacationStrut

DOR

The gurl & I are tryin' to get away in the next lil bit.Anyone got some good recommendations on any resorts in the Varadero (CUBA) or Mayan Riviera (Mexico) area?Anyone else trying to get away?

sabadabada

Me and my wife stayed in an ecohut in St. John that was really cool. And it was only $95 a night. It was our own little hut with solar panel electricity and a sunshower it fits like 6 if you want to go with friends.

http://www.maho.org/concordia.cfm

Rockadelic

Me and my wife stayed in an ecohut in St. John that was really cool. And it was only $95 a night. It was our own little hut with solar panel electricity and a sunshower it fits like 6 if you want to go with friends.

http://www.maho.org/concordia.cfm

Al Gore would be proud of you dude!!!

sabadabada

its the best place to stay in St. John if you dont mind roughing it a little. basically you wpend all day at the beach anyway. the probe with saint john is that all you have is high-high end and low-low end hotels. Concordia is really nice with the breezes and the seclusion. Its on the far side of the island, which is good and bad, but their other resort, Maho Bay is more for families with kids. But you can go over there to eat for cheap or watch them give glass blowing exibitions and shit like that.

chas

The gurl & I are tryin' to get away in the next lil bit.

Anyone got some good recommendations on any resorts in the Varadero (CUBA) or Mayan Riviera (Mexico) area?


Anyone else trying to get away?

My girl and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in Cozumel. We chose Cozumel because we wanted to avoid the mega-resorts that you find on the mainland (Cancun and Playa del Carmen). Although the small downtown area of San Miguel where all the cruise ships land is pretty touristy, they tend to confine themselves to the same 6 square blocks, so its pretty easy to get away from them and find your own deserted section of beach, especially if you go to the eastern side of the island.

One of the coolest things we did was take a ferry over to the mainland and rent a car to go see the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza. Definitely check out a couple of the cenotes along the way (natural underground pools).

This is one we went to:

(cenote dzitnup)

Chichen Itza:


chas

MikeFreedomRock

I was in Tulum over new years. I stayed at Ana y jose. It's one of the "nicer," bigger (meaning about 30 rooms) hotels around, basically really nice private bungalos with a pool, restaurant, 24-hour electricity (which is rare) and beautifully kept beach. There's another place azulik, which looked stunning and really private, but with no electricity, and a $300+ a night price tag, I wasn't going for it. There's a less expensive place called Zama, but I wouldn't stay there because it's a bit too busy around there, and the beach there isn't as nice as those by the more southern hotels. There are really a lot of options. I think there's a place Amansala "Casa Magna" which is Pablo Escobar's old house, which wasn't quite open as a hotel when I went, but may be now (there are actually 2 houses, one which is rented out by the week, and the other that's run like a hotel). It was incredible, and I'd definitely try to stay there if I went back...plus, you can imagine yourself in some scarface type scenes. I have a lot of restaurant recommendations if you want as well. I didn't venture out much...really stayed close to the hotel, so I don't know Playa or any of the other areas in the MR.

JustAlice

Me and my wife stayed in an ecohut in St. John that was really cool.

Yo, I was just thinking about Rams Head the other day and trying to remember what the cactus fruit tasted like.


Check out my ecotent:



I lived and worked at Maho for about 2 years. This is my tent cabin before and after of Hurricane Lenny.



One morning i woke up for no reason at all and looked out my window and saw the moon, the sun and purple waters. Had to get up to get the photo.



And this is a view of St. John from Joist Van Dyke, a British Island a couple miles from St. John.


Ohhhhh I loved it there, the only time I ever lived a stress free life. Thats cool you stayed at Concordia, it was pretty new when I was there. You can camp out in a tent on the beach at cinnamon bay for even cheaper if you really want to rough it.

Garcia_Vega

And this is a view of St. John from Joist Van Dyke, a British Island a couple miles from St. John.

I have so many great childhood memories of Joist Van Dyke. My uncle had a 50 ft sailboat and we'd go island hopping on the weekends and all summer. Puerto Rican Navy represent!
That said, if you got the loot go to St. Bart's or Anguila, nothing but good food, good looking people and great beaches.

TrueStu

If you're going to that area of Mexico and you're looking to stay off the beaten path, I would HIGHLY recommend Isla Mujeres. A short bus and ferry ride from Cancun, but much less tourists than all the other spots. It's a very small community - the island is less than a mile wide and only a few miles long.

I spent an entire week there with my wife completely relaxing, cruising around on a rented scooter, snorkeling, etc.