Still en route back home from a great experience at Al Cielo and missing it already. My husband and I took a much needed week of r and r to Riviera Maya. Split our time between El Taj Oceanfront in Playa del Carmen and Al Cielo. Very understated luxury. Dark woods used throughout the rooms with white linens on the comfy beds. Primitive but tasteful dining room with white linens on each table. Seaside dining at its best. Fresh, interesting dishes using local products very well prepared. Breakfast is only served to the hotel guests, making it very intimate since there are only four rooms and a couple of villas. Use of a private thatched palapa on the beach with full service from the staff. Can't wait for my return and I haven't even made it home yet.

We have been to Riviera Maya and Tulum several times and I must say our recent trip to Al Cielo ranks as one of most pleasantly surprising experiences.
Andres and his small team of friendly, attentive staff go out of the way to make you feel welcome. They are so open and friendly that at first you wonder "can it really be this easy?".

To sum it up. They are located in a quiet corner of a beautiful beach. Even though you are only about 500 yards from an all-inclusive you would believe you were the only people in all of Mexico. Rooms-Spectacular and comfortable. Maids are very attentive and all the little touches of beauty throughout a "rustic beachfront palapa" are very noticeable, down to the amazingly comfortable bed. Feel asleep to the waves crashing every night and woke to the same. No stress, no hassles.

Private chairs/cabanas for all, waiter service that you would expect at an ll-inclusive but not at a 4 room resort. Drinks and service amazing.

The local fisherman bring in their catch of fresh fish,lobster and crab daily. You can actually pick your food before it gets cooked in their amazing restaurant. Everything on the menu is beautiful and fresh. Amazing presentations by the chef as well. Local live music on a few nights. If it's not on the menu, let them know and they will make it..and make it special. Chef sends out free rounds of drinks and appetizer specialties randomly to the beach throughout the day. Talk about feeling pampered and spoiled.

My wife brought me to celebrate my birthday. On the morning of the big day I was greeted by Andres with breakfast on our balcony and he actually had a cellist play "happy birthday" to me from the ground below (Andres did this on his own, my wife swears it).

Amazing snorkeling on the reef in front of the resort as well as private moon-lit walks on a secluded/quiet beach at night.

You could go into Playa and get hassled to buy stuff and eat at commercial restaurants....but why? It's not getting better than Al Cielo.

It is private, beautiful and worth the visit. If you like the loud, packed all-inclusive seen filled with obnoxious vacationers then this place is not for you.

If you want to indulge in a relaxing slice of heaven that leaves you wanting for nothing then this is your place.

Andres will see us again.

We just got back from our Yucatecan adventure. Stayed in Valladolid (see review of Casa Hamaca) and here at Al Cielo. Both were awesome in entirely different ways. Al Cielo has 5 rooms. We stayed in the only room that can accommodate families (2 adults, one not so surly teen), Villa Atardecer, which is in the back of the hotel or should I say, at the front of the hotel so it's not right on the water. It was gorgeous. Beautiful white washed walls, two rooms separated by a door, very spacious bathroom, an upstairs seating/patio area with a hammock and "bed" right under a palapa. Very cool view of the ocean. Also, from the main bedroom, you can open the back door and see the wood plank walkway leading to a lily pond. Surprisingly, no mosquitos! That may be due to seasonality. The evening turn down was lovely with rose petals and fresh towels turned into hearts and animals. Cute!

We ate every morning and evening in the restaurant which is essentially a palapa with wood plank floors. Tables are set with fresh white linens. The ocean is 40 feet away! Paco is the manager and used to be a chef. He is awesome! Andres is the owner and was very welcoming. It's definitely the opposite of the AI experience.

We were the only guests while we were there. So, it was very quiet. We spent time on the beach in our own palapa, used their kayak to go out to the reefs to snorkel in the most amazing blue, warm, sea pest free water ever...the reefs are not exactly teeming with sea life but there were plenty of fish to see and take pictures of.

We also drove 15 mins. south to Hidden Worlds to do the ecopark adventure thing. Their 'ultimate adventure' was a real value. The park is run by the ejido which means all the money goes to their community and not stockholders. That doesn't mean it's cheap! But, we did a lot for the $80 admission: zip line, bike line (literally, you pedal a cart across the zip lines), rappell, zip line ending with a splash into their cenote, roller coaster zip line (watch your necks and backs on that one) and lunch. Tip: early in the day tours mean fewer people which means a shorter wait for all "rides".

The second night, I woke up in the middle of the night concerned that it must be storming or something. In my sleepy state, the surf sounded so loud, I had to get up and peek out the window to see if it was right at our doorstep. Instead the sky was clear and the answer was that it was high tide.

We found Al Cielo to be simple, friendly and unpretentious. The amenities are not "fancy." There were a couple of very teeny tiny places in the room where day light filtered through the wall. I was concerned that I might be startled by a creepie crawlie. But we were there three nights, and I can say with a clear conscience that our room was absolutely, 100% spotless and bug-free our entire stay. I was delighted that a place could have a little bit of a rustic feel and yet I was never once startled by something skittering in a corner.

We ate delicious food, we slept very comfortably, we read in the shade of our palapa. The service was very good, genuine and happy to be helpful. We told friends that the place seemed like a restaurant that happened to have four rooms for overnight guests and a perfect beach. A back-to-basics restorative beach retreat. We loved it.