First of all, I must say that I've been travelling to Cancun for many years. If you want activities, noise, stores, traffic, restaurants & discos, hotel right on the beach and be where the tourists are, Coral Mar is not the place.

Coral Mar is situated on the Lagoon side, away from the main strip, away from all the noice and it's the place we end up staying at every time we go to Cancun. It's a cozy little place which I love for its tranquility. All we want is to relax, tan, cool off in the pool and enjoy the good food & drinks (love their natural lemonade) at the restaurant/bar which has a very nice staff (must admit the breakfast is not great) but since the rooms have kitchen, we made our own breakfast & we found their prices to be reasonable compared to the restaurants in town that we tried.

The Lagoon side has a beautiful view of the hotels on the other side at night. Sitting by the pool at night, feeling the breeze & having some wine felt wonderful & peaceful

Cabs are right outside (any time of the day) if you want to go into town which is probably 7 minutes away but we have even walked into town as our exercise. It's safe but it does get very hot, so dress comfortable.

Other than that if not too many people know of Coral Mar better for us, less people. It's well kept, clean and we have never had a problem. And we enjoy it b/c it's not a big place, it's just perfect!

Anyone who goes to Cancun must do some of the tours, specially X-Caret and Xel-Ha and if you go to Tulum (renting a car is better) than doing the tour. Tulum has a beautiful beach which is a must once you're there and it gets soooo hot after seeing the ruins that you would want to go in & enjoy it. I don't think you can do that w/the tour, so you're better off on your own and it's not difficult or dangerous to get there...

On other occasions, we have stayed at hotels on the main strip but they are just too crowded and too much traffic, that we end up back at Coral Mar!

Previous reviews of Coral Mar (which we read carefully) are pretty much on target. Yes, the staff is super friendly and helpful. Yes, the units are clean, spacious and comfortable. Yes the food in the restaurant is good and reasonably priced. Butit is a bit remote and hard to enjoy without a car if you want to travel into town or out onto the ocean side restaurants and beaches.

The cooking facilities in our unit were fine and there were plenty of dishes, pots, pans, etc. The daily maid service was quite extraordinary.

The pool is lovely and the view across the lagoon is quite pleasant. We were there on a very windy, overcast week so we were delighted to be off the ocean and the general Cancun hubbub. Do not go there for the party scene. There are plenty of places on the beach to enjoy the discos, beach games and pub crawls. Not our cup of tea, frankly. Renting a car for several days allows you to make side trips to Chichen Itza, get groceries at Mega in town (the best food shopping), and hit the 28th street market.

Laundry service down the street across from the Holiday Inn was great. About 65 pesos a kilogram for laundry which we picked up the next day nicely folded, fresh and clean. You can't go wrong here if your expectations are for a quiet scene, a good bar and restaurant, and sunning on their little sandy area. No swimming in the lagoon, however.

To start off... I'm generally a friendly easy going guy.... but the receptionist women were TERRIBLE !!!!!!! One of them being a woman Veronica and the other just followed her drum.... I exchanged my timeshare for this suite at the coral mar. Never again... The check in process was terrible, the location was decent if you want to be in the middle of no where and rack up a taxi bill of 20 -30 dollars round trip each time you travel to the Hotel Zone... (where all the fun is)... They have no beach so you have to travel to at least the main road to get to a beach ... (about a mile away...) The pool is tiny and there are no flat screen tv's in the room (like some of there photos lead you to believe..) The site is really tiny and there is only one restaurant on site.. if you like to go to others you need to go to the hotel zone... Long story short.. if you want to go somewhere that is quite and you'll be left alone with no beach in Cancun.. go there.. and you will be happy... If you want to have any sort of fun go to the hotel zone.. and you will be much happier....

We spent three weeks at the Coral Mar in Nov. 2010. Our timeshare company could not book us into our first choice, but I cannot say this was a disappointment given our experience here. Not being the wild nightlife type of folks, this was ideal for us.
Although swimming in the lagoon was discouraged ( crocodiles), the beach area was very comfy - lots of sand, beach chairs. palapas, etc. - the swimming pool more than made up for it. The on site restaurant was delightful, the menu sufficient, the prices reasonable, and the staff were excellent. Likewise, the front desk staff were great - Barb and Oceal went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable, and for that they get a special vote of thanks.
The rooms were clean and comfortable, the maid service was excellent, and while we didn't rent a car, transportation was not a problem as there are usually taxis parked on the road outside the office. If one was feeling exceptionally frugal, a 15 minute walk would take one to the main road where buses were always available. (A great way to get exercise and meet local people).
All in all, we really enjoyed our stay, and hopefully we will be able to make a return visit soon.