The beach is improving with more sand and fewer rocks than last year. A new sidewalk on the jungle side of the beach road from the south end of Azulik to the old Boca Paila to 307 road makes walking and bicycling safer. The public showers had hot water for the first time in many years.

I don't think the is another place in the world with the combination of amenities and reasonable price of Cabanas Copal. My blood pressure dropped such that I would get dizzy if I rose too quickly from the beach lounge. It's not for everyone as "close to nature" also means nature is close to you. If you can rough it a bit then Copal is perfection.

My boyfriend and I stayed here for 4 nights during the 2nd weekend of September. We stayed in the cheapest beach cabana available, $30 usd a night. The cabana had a sand floor, a comfy bed with mosquito netting that we didn't need (didn't see a single mosquito), and was about 3 seconds from the beach. The beach is clothing optional and it was very comfortable, some folks chose to be all nude, a lot of women just went topless and many others stayed in their suits. The hotel provided clean towels each day and purified water in our room. There is no electricity in the room and ours was one of only two without its own bathroom, the bathrooms were a very short walk and were clean and stocked with toilet paper and the showers were totally adequate and very cooling in the humidity.

We were visited nightly by iguanas and other creatures who wandered about but did not disturb (except to eat jelly beans found in my boyfriend's bag-they really mean it when they say don't bring food in). We paid for the "honeymoon package" and had lovely flowers and a bottle of wine and glasses waiting for us when we arrived (although we had to go to the restaurant to have them open the wine). The package also included two one-hour massages and participation in the Mayan Sweat Ceremony. The massages were incredible, I had a lymphatic massage and my bf had a hot stone and they were done in an open air (but closed with curtains for privacy) room above the beach so we heard the waves crashing as the the very talented masseuses did their work. The sweat ceremony was an incredible experience, it felt very serious and spiritual and was very cleansing and just generally amazing.

I would recommend bringing extra candles (a few are provided in your room) and a headlamp and/or flashlight. We brought our own coffee and made it in our room (just using hot water and a pour-through) because we had been warned that the coffee served throughout Tulum was pretty bad, we discovered this to be true and were very grateful to have our own. We rented a car in Cancun although we hadn't orginially intented too but it ended up being a great decision, it only cost us $140 total in the end and we had a lot of freedom and it cost us less than the shuttles would have.

We also were offered a Timeshare visit in at the Hertz place in exchange for free tickets to any of the parks we wanted. We took them up on this and attended a 90 minute presentation (with free breakfast) at a beautiful property in Playa del Carmen and then we took the two free tickets and went to Xel-ha which was an incredible time. It is a great park where we swam in a lovely river, snorkeled, and all the food and drinks (even booze) were included in the entry. The timeshare visit was well worth the benefits and we certainly didn't buy into the timeshares but they weren't too pushy about it so that was all good.

We stayed for 3 nights@ beginning of september. The staff is friendly, the place is very beautiful, and the beach is ok - in my opinion the best parts of tulum beach are around ohm,zebra, ocho tuum, or way down close by the ruins. We would pretty much just stay here for the night and go spend or days on the beach other places, or exploring cenotes ect. We stayed in aocean front palapa and it was beutiful overlooking the ocean, but only recommend if you like very rustic settings. The only down side was that we go bit big time, despite the mosquitero (drapping net around bed that blocks out insects), i got bitten by something that left little red dots all over my arms and a leg.....so besides that it was a god option for our purpose - which was just to spend the nights and have a nice place to shower ect. I probably would not stay here paying the normal rate, but for about 35$ a night it was good.

We stay at Cabanas Copal late August 2009. While charming and beautiful, by the end of the 4 days, we were ready for fresh water and A/C. Beautiful location, very nice people, and a great beach. Showers were salt water, but they had a 5gal jug of water in the room for drinking. The view from our porch was amazing, and it was relaxing sitting in our chairs watching the ocean. The restaurant was okay, not great, but fine for a meal or two. We walked down the road to find other places to eat and we had very good food at the several other locations we tried. We would head back to the beach area of Tulum, but would opt for A/C next time, as it was very uncomfortable by the end of our stay.