Na Balam Hotel

Hotel

Great location, beautiful cottage rooms. The staff were very friendly and helpful. I'd definitely be back. It's beautiful!

Comfortable beds clean room. Massages around pool. Friendly staff. 5min walk to town.

Long ago I visited this hotel, the beach is beautiful but the staff is despot with people who are not staying at the hotel and who take some time to rest on the "piece of beach" are disrespectful when running to these people. The food is nothing from another world and expensive. The rooms are always clean but nothing from the other world about the price ratio. I don't recommend it because of the way you discriminate against people.

Excellent service, attention and top notch facilities!

Extremely nice front desk staff, Oscar was so helpful. Nice room right on the beach. Great staff at the beach bar Oceans. Walking distance to everything you can possibly need.

Their site is a lie. We thought we would rest in a beautiful hotel on a paradise beach. Our room was full of mold, the pool is abandoned, the beach mattresses are all torn, the beds are paid and remain the least good place as you have the smells of restaurants (graillon, fish. ) but the worst is the atmosphere of the beach. A dozen boats come to dock right in front of the hotel, blocking your view.
They dump their tourists en masse. They eat on floating tables and put the music to the full! Sometimes it's even cacophonous. Sometimes you walk on a can of beer or a packet of crisps. Hell!

Although it is a destination where it is usually hot, we do not all like to get into a pool where the water is very cold, especially when you were already in the sea that is cold. They should envisage a system that is environmentally friendly to be able to temper the water in the pool. Otherwise the very friendly people.

If you sit by the Oceanvs bar, you'll get to see an amazing susnet.

We are currently staying here. The front desk guy when we checked in was an imbecile. We arrived at 1:15, with our tired, fussy toddler. Check in was stated to be 3. Our room was not ready and we were told that it would be ready at 3. At 3 we asked if it was ready and we told it would be ready in 20 minutes. At 3:30 we were told again that it would be ready in another 20 minutes. At 3:45 I saw a maid and asked her if the room was ready, she said it was and had been for a while. I told the front desk guy, Andres, this and he eventually gave us the key. I feel that this guy was either screwing with us or incompetent. The hotel is nice, overall with a great beach. Management could probably improve. Service at the restaurant is also somewhat lacking though the food was decent.

Excellent location in the best beach of Isla mujeres. Good breakfast. Details are missing (phone in the room for example).

We did not stay there. I practice yoga there and eat at the restaurant. We sat outside by the beach and had a wonderful lunch! Service was also fabulous!

This hotel is just privileged by its location and the views. The rooms are spacious but extremely simple, the restaurant is quite regular and the attention to the guest very cold and unsympathetic. Of all the sites I visited in Mexico, this was really the least I liked. Hopefully improve…

I fell in love with the view but I did not like that the tip was obligatory and they told you to eat and you were not having kamastros free, besides that I liked the food.

Great place to rest, beautiful beach, very rich food.
Recommended for families and couples as there are few rooms avoiding the noise.

I'd prefer a 2.5 star option here but 3 will suffice. Overall a mediocre experience with some sharp low spikes along the way. When we arrived at our room we notices it looked quite a bit different than the pictures. The amenities were sparce (no phone, no fridge, small and inadequate led lamps) but whatever. We weren't expecting the Ritz. Then my daughter noticed — a little too late — that there was no toilet paper. I ran down to the front desk to fetch some (no phone) and was told some would be sent up. At some point. She made due with Kleenex. The bathroom was a mess. The shower had no curtain, by design, which is great if the water tends to stay in said shower. It did not and we had to use the bathmat to soak up the flood that resulted after each shower. The tile in the bathroom was literally falling apart with pieces of it laying on the floor when we arrived. A section of the floor near the toilet was cut out, exposing the waste drain from the sink. If you're sitting on the toilet you can watch the water drain as someone else uses the sink outside thre door (neat). The sink itself had a bad leak which required that we sacrifice our one hand towel to keep it from flooding the counter. The double hook for hanging bath towels on was not firmly attached to the wall. If you hung two towels simultaneously and removed them in the same manner it was fine. If you put just one on, or removed just one, your towel ended up on the floor. Generally speaking the service was subpar.

Very cold decor lighting, private beach invaded people q going to spend the day. Very unsafe.

I had made my reservation directly with NaBalam and had to cancel the reservation along with another couple in March 2018 it is now been over a month and have not received my credit I've talked to Braulio several times and keeps informing me that he has cancelled our reservations and now up to the bank to credit our account. So beware if you have to reserve directly with Nabalam it will take over a month plus to get your credit. I'm hoping I'll get this soon.

This is an old hotel, very basic but clean and good amicable service with excellent rates. The bed was very comfortable, the A/C unit in good condition and the room had all the basic necessities covered. The restaurant was good but we only used it for the included breakfast also quite basic selection of eggs, fresh fruits and bread, nothing out of the ordinary but enough for us. BUT they have the perfect location in all Isla Mujeres, in the best area of North Beach and a short walk from the busy restaurant/bar Hidalgo street. The beach club is good but a little pricey and since we live in Cancun and go to Isla Mujeres a lot we tend to keep an eye on expenses, BUT if you are a hotel guest you get the beach bed/umbrella included in your stay AND you can bring your own food and drinks to the beach, pool area and room at no added cost which is a big plus expense wise. We like this area a lot and we always stop there for a day or a long weekend like this time. It's very sad that the Hotel will close this next August/2018 permanently, they have the best location/price in all Isla Mujeres IMHO.

Awesome Beach A little pricey.

Renovation. The sea is great.

Very bad service — very noisy rooms. Breakfast was a nightmare…

Beach Hotel with a human size.

This was a very nice hotel. It is in a spectacular location with the beach right at your door step.

The Beach a paradise and the beach Club a pleasure: Balinese bed, cold beer, octopus tacos and fish, ceviche… I'll be back soon!

The food is great though just visit the Beach club. Don't miss it!

Amazing little spot. Restaurant at their beach bar is amazing and the staff are wonderful. Beds are terrible. Only reason for 4 stars.

The hotel is on the most beautiful beach of the island.

Nice hotel located on Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres. Great bar/ restaurant, excellent location. Definitely some quirks regarding the rooms, but nothing too egregious. Bed was pretty comfy, could’ve used more pillows. Rooms are very simple. This is not a hotel for the “all inclusive” set. This is rustic-chic. Looks nice, not many frills. Staff is very nice. Playa Norte is an amazing beach. Enjoy!

Beautiful Hotel. Located in the best part of the island.

Na Balam is the quiet, serene side of North Beach. It's on the opposite end of Hidalgo (to the right) but worth the extra ten minute walk. The staff is friendly and ensures you're taken care of. The food selection and quality is better than average. You MUST have the shrimp tacos.

Intimate, old world hotel. Great location on the beach. The staff is excellent and really tried to be accommodating. Unfortunally, the kids club, bar, and coconut trees obscure all but a peekaboo view of the ocean. Also, while the water is beautiful and protected by the island, you can still see the hotels and skyline of Cancun in the distance. Tax is 19%, so make sure that it's included in your room price calculation. Three stars because the oceanside rooms don't have an ocean view.

Pleasant atmosphere and great location.

If you love the beach, this is the place to stay. Beautiful soft sand, calm side of island. Large sandbar jutting out from the beach.

Best beach on the island. Best beach we've ever seen. Rooms simple. Service acceptable. We came for the view. Perfect.

I visited this place from the USA. And I can tell you that this place definitely hit all the right spots for me. The reason for 4 stars is for two main things. Lack of water pressure and no Wi-Fi in the rooms. I feel like these two things could be easily remedied. However, don't let that discourage you from booking. The place had two AC units in it and if you crank them both up you will be freezing. Even by American standards, those units kicked butt to the point we could open the window and the room stayed cool, in the middle of the day, in June. Due to the lack of water pressure (electric water pumps) the hot tub took a long time to fill up. No heat on the hottub, but why would you want it? It's uh. Mexico. The location is amazing and the breakfast was really good and the view was outstanding. This would have been 5 stars if I could have taken a good hot shower with adequate water pressure. I can look passed the Wi-Fi not being there since it's available in the lobby if I really needed it. Outstanding place.

An excellent solution for the island, on the most beautiful point of the island and of course arrive boats every day. The restaurant is the best and also the massages.

Super friendly staff. Great views. Grounds kept very nice. All in all very relaxing and looking forward to going back soon.

This is my 5th time here.
Before, I gave it easily 5* but things changed here in the past years.
The good:
1. Cleaning ladies are very accommodating and helpful.
2. Location — North Beach, the best spot of the island.
3. Atmosphere — still more tranquil than other spots.
4. Yoga — with Lal the Indian teacher, the best Yoga I have ever practiced.
5. Continental breakfast — comes with two eggs. Very good.
6. Fish tacos — couldn't find better anywhere Where can they get better:
1. Noise for construction during breakfast. Mmmm.
2. The guacamole is the worst. Feels like they use the Costco industrial one. They charge prime for it. Stay away.
4. The beach is swarmed with small yachts that used to be fairly far in the past. Now allowed dangerously closely to the beach. In some spots 40 feet away and each has its own music and crowed of drunks.
5. Wi-Fi — only at the reception and restaurant, very weak.
6. The room drainage is bad. Both toilette and shower often gets flooded.
7. Old fashioned keys to the room. My friend lost one, was charged $100 US (! )
8. Should have some kind of benefit to the loyal visitors that keeps coming back. Like a free drink at night or a free room upgrade when available. None is offered.
This is anywhere between a luxury to a bungalow. For those who like the simplicity of Mexico.
Could be much better, but who asked me? :-) I'll keep updating…

We did not stay at Na Balam while visiting the Island but had friends that did so we ate breakfast here every morning and laid out on the beach in front. The staff were super hospitable and friendly. If we return, we will definitely stay here for the amenities — — free breakfast and beach beds!

We stayed here for 4 days over New Years. The location is far enough away from the nightlife that it isn't too loud, but close enough that you can walk to several restaurants or the more crowded nightlife. The beach is wonderful and lots of space to play on the beach.

Great place, good prices! Best beach at Isla Mujeres.

Great, low key hotel on the quiet end of playa Norte.

Beautiful Rooms, Great Location. Best friendly staff, Very Clean.

Has now become more overcrowded than European beaches. Ghetto blasters on the beach and small yachts obscuring the view, playing music and bathing swimmers in petrol smells. Public beach visitors take over the hitel beach completely. Restful, no. Buddha cries at the complete loss of inner peace. Food is seriously sub-par and included breakfast is cheapest ingredients cardboard bread and substandard fruit and juice. They are letting themselves down with that kind of needless penny pinching. Also, pre-filling tips on bills? I hate that kind of thing. Clean rooms and friendly staff but slooow service and when the beach is full forget about getting any service whatsoever. Past glory, in short.

Nice people! And very social.

I stay at the hotel and is a great pleasant place.

My wife and I came with her sister and mother to Na Balam and I don't imagine we will return. First, their pictures of Caribbean peace and solitude are misleading as the area is significantly more developed. We had a smaller room one night and a suite three more nights. The first room had a stale smell that never went away because the room was dark and the toilet needed to be flushed 4 times with each use. There was no view of the pool either. Just of our porch. My wife's family had a soaking tub with used Styrofoam containers and onions in the pool. They had significantly worse problems which they will detail in another review. The second night we moved to our Groupon ocean view room. The room was nice but the outdoor jacuzzi had a slow leak, so we let the water run for an hour, went for lunch downtown and came back to a half empty tub. Maintenance acted as if I didn't know how to use a drain plug, and it happened again with the little test water we put in — we didn't feel like dealing with it anymore so we dropped the issue. The room is right by a loud bar blaring Mariachi music all afternoon so forget napping. The music lasted until 11pm one night. The walls were thick enough but the windows were cheap. All said, the room was OK, but compounded with service issues they leave a bad taste. While the staff was all friendly, it seemed as if the owners had some ridiculously strict rules, and some bait and switch-ish sales tactics had me annoyed.

Do not stay at this hotel! We have stay there with my husband for 3 nights. We were poorly treated by the staff which didn't care about anything, not to mention the manager who promised to help us with the incident which was caused by the staff of the hotel and didn't even contact us after all. It's a nice hotel but to have a nice stay you need friendly people around you with positive attitude. You won't find it in this place! What a pity! : (.

This is to describe the set of events which happened 24 June 2014 in Isla Mujeres. My name is Tomasz Smaczny and I and my wife arrived in Na Balam hotel in Isla Mujeres on Saturday, 21 June 2014 with our rental small Chevrolet car. We reported at the reception, and inquired where we should park our car so it is safe and legal. We were told by a receptionist that we can park anywhere in the street in the proximity of the hotel, and our car will be safe, because there is security staff watching the area and the street, 24/7. So we did. Three days later, 24 June in the morning, we saw the police officer and a car carrier taking our white Chevy. What I learnt was that the police got a notification from the hotel security staff that our car was abandoned. I got to the police station and after my clarification I was given a fine of 159.43 MXN with 50% discount and also was asked to pay a full price to the car carrier of 1800 MXN. In the meantime my wife Natalia went a hotel manager and asked her for help me with the translation and to pay all costs. Natalia was speaking to a lady, who refused telling her name, yet she found out her name was Adely Vega. She refused to take any responsibility and also refused to give a helping hand in this difficult situation. Literally she turned around and walked away.

At first glance, Na Balam is nothing special. Hidden behind a wall and hedge, you can't see much of the place. Step into the courtyard, though, and you'll see that the place is a real gem. Two restaurants, the best beach on the island, fantastic service, friendly staff, clean, bright rooms at very good prices, and just the right distance from downtown to get a good night's sleep, a couple of short walks a day, and all the relaxation you want.

We were so sad to leave the resort. Our kids had a wonderful time. We felt safe and well taken care of. The vegetation in and around the hotel is beautiful. Our room was simple, clean and comfortable. The restaurant had great food! Our family wants to travel back to this destination again next year. If you like loud music, drunk youth, Americanized cuisine and accommodations Na Balam is not the place for you. Choose Na Balam if you want to relax in non-glamorous beauty.