Our family vacation at Azul Beach Resort and how it compares to Azul Fives

A few weeks ago we went on a family vacation (along with my best friend and her family) to the all-inclusive resort Azul Beach resort Riviera Maya. We picked this resort because four years ago, we went to Azul Fives in Playa del Carmen, and just loved our experience there. The staff, kids club and the food were top notch, so we knew if we stuck to the same resort ownership, we would enjoy it just as much. I will go into details about some of the main differences between the two resorts further down my post, but for now, I will focus on Azul Beach and why we loved it so much, a few tips, and some of the things that could use improvement.

Accommodations:

We got the Family Suite which is large and spacious enough for a family of five. There’s a king size bed in a room with sliding doors. The living room has a pull-out couch with three sleeping beds. There’s also a dinning room table, a large bathroom with a jacuzzi and a separate shower. There’s also a nice and large balcony, but we mainly used it for hanging out wet clothes. Overall, we loved the room. It was spacious and it provided us with everything we need.

The dining table is perfect because you can order room service 24/7, and we often ordered breakfast to our room.

I do think though that next time, we would pay extra for a swim-up family room. This way, the kids can swim in the pool while we get ready in the morning and before dinner or even after dinner.

Each room comes with a small fridge which is stocked with pop drinks and beer and a few snacks (like granola bars, chips and pretzels). You can always make special requests to have it stocked with milk if you have babies.

Food:

This is actually one of the main reasons why we booked Azul. The food is AAAAA-MAZING! Everything is made a-la-carte (made to order). The only exception is breakfast where you can get food from the buffet (with a chef that will make your eggs to order), but you still have the choice to order from the menu. As I mentioned above, we often just ordered room service for breakfast. The other good thing is that since this is such a small resort, there’s hardly any line up at any of the restaurants or a long waiting time. Which is good because they don’t take reservations. I would say that most of the time, it wasn’t a problem. We showed up at our restaurant of choice for dinner (as a group of 10), and we were seated almost immediately. On the rare occasion that they didn’t have room for us immediately, we found another restaurant that did. The best part is that the restaurants are located right next to each other so you don’t need to go far to find an alternate.

In total, there are 5 main restaurants: 1. Blue, located by the main pool, which serves international cuisine. This is also the breakfast and one of the two lunch restaurants. You can get specialty coffee here all day – like cappuccinos, lattes, and more (FYI – there’s a Starbucks on site located by the lobby, but it’s at an additional charge) 2. CHIL, great for eating lunch, this restaurant is located by the far pool, right on the beach. Great views and serves contemporary cuisine (go here for the burgers). It is typically closed for dinner for private functions.

3. Latino, serves Latin cuisine. This is actually one of our favourites of the six. We ate here the first and last night and had a great experience both times. 4. ROMA, serves Italian dishes. The beef steaks are amazing too! 5. Tainan, offers a sushi bar and Japenese inspired food. We also went here twice and loved it. Each restaurant has their own kids menu as well and they provide kids with a colouring mat and crayons to keep them busy until the food arrives. Also, each menu indicates which items are vegetarian and gluten-free. The server will always begin taking your order with asking you if there are any food allergies. It’s a very nice touch!

While you can order wine from a menu (at extra cost), we personally LOVED their house red wine, and they had at least 3 or 4 different varieties. So save your money and drink the free stuff.

While you can’t eat around the pool, you definitely can enjoy your meal on the beach. You can order lunch from your beach server. Ask for their snack list which includes their oh-so-good guacamole, and fajitas.

Next to Blue, you will find a little ice-cream bar called Scoop! In the early morning, you can get a smoothie or a fruit juice made to order. In the afternoon and onward, you can get soft-serve and regular ice-cream and crepes. There’s lots of toppings available too.

Lastly, once in a while, they serve lunch or dinner on the beach. I would highly recommend both of these options when available as we had the best experience both times.

TIPS: 1. You can order something off the menu that is available in one of the other restaurants – good for picky eaters. 2. Also not on the menu, we always asked for a plate of sliced vegetables (carrots, cucumbers and celery) for the kids. Otherwise, they would go a week without any vegetables! 3. Grab cereal boxes and fruit from the breakfast restaurant to keep with you for snacks throughout the day. 4. There are veggie sticks, pretzels and a bar mix available at the equinox bar by the main pool.

Kids Club:

The kids club at Azul provides free child care service for children ages 4+ but they close for one hour from 1-2 and from 5-7:30. Throughout the day, there are a variety of different organized activities. You will need to drop in during your visit to pick up the schedule of activities. There’s arts and crafts, and daily face painting which Nathan loved.

They also bring the kids out to the beach and pool area twice a day for outdoor activities.

Inside the kids club, there’s a crafting table, two gaming stations, a large gym / play area with mats, a LEGO room and a variety of toys. Overall, the staff was great (with the exception of one, but only the adults noticed, the kids never complained about any of them). While younger kids (under the age of 4) are encouraged to come to the club, parents must stay with them or you can pay $20 USD an hour for babysitting services.

At first my boys didn’t really want to go to the kids club (they just wanted to stay with us), but by the end of our trip, we would literally have to go in there and drag them out! They were just happy to get some screen time  and we didn’t mind because it gave us an hour or two of alone time. Overall, it’s a win-win.

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Nickelodeon characters and staff members are on the resort. The characters are available for pictures and they even play with the kids (hide and seek) in the kids club. You can also play to get slimed (it’s really just green water). The boys and I did this and we got slimmed. It was a lot of fun. You can see the video if you click on my Instagram post below:

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So this happened! We had to compete and the WINNER got slimed. Also, I had to smash pie cream in my face to win. Basically between this & child birth my kids owe me! Swipe left (⬅️) to see the action shots from start to end and the full video 💚 . . . . . . . . . . . . #nickelodeonslime #familytravel #familyvacation #makingmemories #travelwithkids #nickelodeonexperience #allinclusive #azulbeachlife #mexico🇲🇽 #momofboys #momof3boys #parenting #joyfulmama #familyiseverything #familyfun #momlife #momtruth #boymomlife #childhoodunplugged #candidchildhood #letthekids #uniteinmotherhood #our_everyday_moments #simplychildren #kidsforreal #nothingisordinary #thatsdarling #flashesofdelight, #livecolorfully #liveauthentic

A post shared by Maya Fitzpatrick (@mayahoodblog) on Nov 27, 2018 at 12:05pm PST

Entertainment:

This is probably the one area where the resort was lacking. However, it wasn’t a priority for us. Some of the entertainment was geared more to adults or just too late for us to go and see with young kids (started at 9PM). Although, twice a week the entertainment was a kid-friendly movie (like Trolls) and on Saturday night, they said the entertainment was Nickelodeon characters, but it was just a photo opportunity. We did stay up one night for the ‘circus’ act which the kids seem to really like. On our last night, we just dropped the kids off at the kids club and the four of us adults just sat outside talking and drinking our wine – it was perfect.

Beach:

The beach here was amazing, and the grounds staff works very hard to keep it clean. They wake up very early to clear out all of the seaweed that washes up on shore, and they keep working on it all day long. The best part is that it was shallow for a good 10 – 20 feet out, so we felt very safe with our kids being around it.

The resort has several beach cabanas that are available free of charge. However, you need to reserve them the day before. You sign up at the Aquanox bar by the main pool at 3PM. However, on busy days some people start to line up earlier. However, if you don’t get a beach cabana, don’t fret because they have enough beach chairs that they will put out for you. The cabanas are great for little kids because it provides shade all day and it’s fun ordering your food and snacks to the beach cabana.

On the beach, the volleyball court is typically set up, but they also take it down and set up soccer nets, which is fun for the little kids. They also have a bin full of sand-toys that you can borrow for the days, so no need to bring your own from home.

Behind the beach guard tower is a small playground. It includes 2 swings, a climbing structure and a slide. The kids liked playing here at least a few times a day.

Pool:

There is definitely no shortages of pools on this resort. And since it is a boutique resort (aka small), they never feel crowded.

The main one, by Blue, is very close to the beach, which is where we would usually hang out. You can also get some pool toys and floats from the beach concierge. This one also has a swim-up bar, but we found that there really wasn’t anyone serving there. That’s because they have a lot of servers walking around and usually one bartender at the other side of the bar. It wasn’t really a big deal though.

The other pool that we would go visit is the kids pool that is completely shallow. Great for younger kids and for playing water games. Personally, I found the pools to be a little cold (they aren’t heated), which was too chilly for me on ‘cooler’ days, but perfect for those hot days. Kids didn’t seem to care either way. There’s two swing beds located at Aquanox bar and several more throughout the resort (most are by the lobby).

Other:

There is a great, but small, gym facility located in the spa. They provide towels and water and you can find yoga mats, weights, benches, treadmills and other great equipment. While we didn’t use the spa services (they were pricey), the spa looked gorgeous and very clean.

While I did workout a few times during our stay, I personally loved going for runs on the beach. When facing the water, turn left to run (to the right is a private home with no real beach access, followed by a nudist resort). You will run by a few resorts, a marina, some land that is currently being built on, and some private homes. I usually went around 7am and always felt safe. Just grab your water bottle and enjoy! For reference, I ran about 2km out and back to the resort. Running on sand is super hard, so this was the perfect distance for me.

Overall, here’s what we loved the most about Azul beach. We felt that the staff, food and service is top notch. We loved the focus on cleanliness. There’s various entertainment / activities throughout the day but they are not intrusive to your experience. We also loved the smoothie bar and the specialty coffee. Azul Beach offers a very intimate setting which is great for many reasons but also because the kids can run around and feel safe and do so independently.

Here are some of the main difference between Azul Beach & Azul Fives

• Need to make reservations for dinner at Azul Beach but you need to at Azul Fives
• Azul Beach doesn’t have any green space for playing games like baseball or just having your kids run around
• Kids club at Azul Fives has a better ‘gym’ area but a smaller kids pool
• The smoothie bar at Azul Fives is open all day long and offers a variety of amazing juices.
• The beach area at Azul Beach is better

If you’re contemplating between the two, in all honestly, you can’t go wrong with either. You will have an amazing time at either resort. You’re on vacation, on a beach – what’s not to like?!?!

If you have ever been to either Azul Beach or Azul Fives, what else you you add to my list or what was your favourite part about your stay there?