Hilton Cancun All-inclusive for a Big Splash of a Vacation

For a great Mexico vacation that will start soon after you land, check into the Hilton Cancun All-inclusive just south of the main hotel zone. It is set up well for families, couples, or groups that are ready to party and is a well-run option from Hilton. 

Less than a half-hour from the exit doors of the Cancun Airport, Hilton Cancun All-inclusive resort is convenient to get to and return from, then they make it really easy for you to have a good time after arrival. The place has a wide range of different restaurants, bars all around, and loads of activities for all ages. 

You also get an excellent gym on site if you want to work off the calories and the rooms are nice enough to make you feel pampered if you feel like just hanging out and ordering room service. 

This all-inclusive resort is also more eco-friendly and sustainable than the usual hotels on this coast. All drinks are served in reusable cups/glasses, and there’s not a throwaway single-use water bottle in sight. Each floor has water filling machines like you see in an airport, as does the gym, and the pools all have hydration stations with purified water.

Why Kids Love the Hilton Cancun

We didn’t include this Hilton resort in our rundown of resorts with a waterpark in Mexico, but if your kids are little, they’ll be thrilled with the water fun options here. There are no big slides or wave pool for the older ones, but there are plenty of places for younger children to splash around, get wet, and squeal away. 

This water playground pool is below one wing of the rooms or right outside of the ground-level ones, so it seems that most families get placed in this wing and more adults are in the other wing. There is another pool below this one that’s a standard pool, so parents can enjoy that one if they don’t need to keep a constant eye on their children. 

Then there’s a kids’ club at the end of the pool, where there are plenty of scheduled activities inside and out. I was impressed that some of the activities included a little culture, like the pre-Hispanic music workshop. There’s a big jungle gym playground outside, plus a teen club with games and activities more suited to that age group. 

There’s a big outdoor theater here, like you find in many of these big all-inclusive resorts. During our two-night stay, there was also a folkloric show and a Cuban salsa band. Both were early enough in the evening for families to attend. 

The menus at the various restaurants at this Cancun Hilton do a good job of pleasing everyone of all ages. The buffets manage to span the gamut from kid-friendly finger food to an array of healthy options for adults trying not to overindulge. The self-serve coffee and tea station by the cafe has doughnuts and pastries laid out in the mornings and cookies and cakes in the afternoon. 

Hilton Cancun for Adult Fun

When I stayed two nights at this all-inclusive Hilton just south of Cancun, there was a pretty even split between families and adults with no children along. There was a very different vibe between the side with the children’s splash pool and the side where the adults were congregating. 

This is especially true on weekends, when the main pool on the adult side turns into a serious party zone. On the Saturday we were there a whole menagerie of costumed performers in peak physical form showed up to dance around and do acrobatics while a DJ spun loud party music, a drummer an saxophone player accompanied, and a machine was blowing bubbles into the pool in copious quantities. Did I mention that there were floating casino tables manned by dealers as this was all going on?

This does not happen every day, and the more normal schedule includes an activity here and there, music you can still talk over, and wait staffers constantly circling to see who needs a drink. There are a lot of lounge chairs and umbrellas, so it’s not necessary to do any morning claim staking, but just be advised that the cabanas and daybeds require an extra fee for not many extra services, since this is already an all-inclusive resort.

The main downside of this resort south of the Cancun Hotel Zone is the underwhelming beach. As with a lot of big resorts on this Riviera Maya coast, the developer built way too close to the water. Thanks to tropical storms and rising sea levels from global warming, the beach disappears at high tide in some spots, and the waves are eating away at the ground right under the pool decks. Add the annual deluge of sargassum seaweed washing ashore and big blue floating barriers that are meant to prevent it (but don’t), and most guests never make it past the pools. 

You can stroll on the beach for a ways down past the sister Waldorf-Astoria Cancun property and beyond, but it’s better to figure out when low tide is and go then to be sure you’ve got ample beach to walk on. 

All-inclusive Dining and Drinking

As with most all-inclusive resorts, you won’t be left wanting in the “quantity” department, and the Hilton Cancun succeeds more often than not in the “quality” department as well. This is especially true at the main buffet restaurant, which goes well beyond the minimum expectations and really tries to cater to individual tastes. 

At breakfast, an impressive array of hot and cold dishes is available, but there are also dedicated staffed stations for smoothies/juices, omelets, tortillas/quesadillas, chilaquiles, and vegan food. Waiters move through pouring coffee and fetching other drinks. Lunch and dinner are equally well-rounded and suitable for all ages. 

During the day, stations by the pools serve everything from burgers to tacos to sandwiches, and several sit-down restaurants are open for lunch. The coffee shop is open all day and has snacks as well. 

The choices really expand at night with several nice restaurants, so many that we couldn’t try them all. We did dine at the Asian one, the upscale Mexican one, and the steakhouse grill, with more hits than misses along the way (and no regrets since there’s no bill to sign!) 

The liquor, beer, and wine options won’t blow you away, but at the reasonable rates this resort charges, the spirits selection especially is more than adequate. If your favorite brand is a well-known one, like Jack Daniels, Johnny Walker, Hornitos, or Absolut, you’ll probably find it here in free-flowing quantities. Poolside service is running all day and there’s a nice bar in the lobby.

Rooms at the Seaside Resort

Rooms at this Hilton by the Caribbean Sea in Mexico are spacious and comfortable, chilled to refrigerator level if you want. They all have a cushioned headboard, good reading lights, dual outlets by the bed, and comfy bedding. All rooms have a furnished balcony facing inland (“Sunset” class) or the water. 

Gray and white faux-wood tile floors are topped by area rugs, and the white walls are accented by one colorful painting with a Mexican motif and a more abstract design on the smoked glass bathroom enclosure. That enclosure helps the room feel a bit bigger since it provides some separation but still lets some light through. There is a lot of shelf space and clothing storage space. 

Our king room had a loveseat for lounging, an ottoman, a cushioned bench at the foot of the bed, and a marble-topped table with two chairs. The table was large enough for dining or two people with laptops working and had an outlet next to it. Amenities include a mini fridge stocked with beer and soda, a Nespresso capsule coffee maker, robes & slippers, a Bluetooth music player alarm clock, an electronic safe, and ample toiletries in the bathroom. 

There are 15 room classes here, so spend some time looking at the options to decide which is the best match for your budget. Rates at the Hilton Cancun All-inclusive start at $400 for the very lowest category with advance purchase, $500 refundable, but that’s double all-inclusive, so a great value. Add around $75 for the Caribbean view side. Naturally, prices go up in the high season, and if you upgrade to a suite, including family suites that sleep 4, expect to pay about 50% more. 

Hilton Honors members get an automatic discount for booking directly here.

Check rates online at Expedia, Booking.com, or Hotels.com.

Review and photos by Tim Leffel. He was hosted at the property for purposes of review. As always, all opinions are his own.