Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort in the Mayan Riviera

10 years. That’s how long Patrick and I have been married! We decided to celebrate with a big family vacation to the Mayan Riviera. Yes – it was our anniversary, but we couldn’t NOT take our kids with us (#homeschoolfamily … in fact, in the weeks leading up to our departure, we did a fun unit study on Mexico and Ancient Maya, which really helped the older two connect with the trip)! Papa and Nana also joined us, which was awesome because Patrick and I could sneak out to be alone throughout the week while the kids spent quality time with them (they live in another state from us, so this was a special treat!). Multi-generation vacation for the the win!

Most people travel to the more popular Cancun or Playa del Carmen areas, but we wanted something quiet and quaint. We found exactly that in the serene fishing village of Puerto Morelos, which is tucked in between the two more popular resort areas. We also didn’t want to do too many excursions, because in the past we would pack so much into our itinerary, that we returned home feeling like we needed a vacation from our vacation!

For the one adventure we did choose to do outside our resort, read this!

Home Away from Home

For a 7 nights and 8 days, we called the Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort home. This beautiful, family-friendly, all-inclusive resort provided the most relaxing time for our crew – from the littlest of us (who is four years old) all the way to the grandest of us.

A Pool the Whole Family Will Love

Our absolute favorite part of the resort was camping out near the main pool with cascading waterfalls, rock slides, and even a jumping cliff! The only con to this was the challenge we had trying to peel the kids away from the area so we could go eat!

Adjacent to the main pool is the little kid pool, with zero entry. I loved that there was this separate areas so that the younger children could have their own slide and be able to swim without bigger, rowdier kids splashing all around them.

Beach Fun

When we weren’t at the main pool, you could find us down at the ocean playing in the surf and sand.

The resort also has kayaks you can use for free.

When You’re Hangry

All that fun in the sun makes for happy, but hungry campers! Hotel Marina El Cid has five restaurants, all serving different cuisine, which is great for those wanting variety. However, most days we grabbed breakfast, lunch, and dinner at La Alhambra, the international buffet. LOL, the kids couldn’t get enough of their ice cream and smoothies!

We did get to try a couple other restaurants for dinner – Trattoria Di Gulio is where they serve Italian fare and La Marina is where they serve fresh seafood. Patrick and I had a date at El Alcazar, which is where they serve Asian-Mediterrean fusion (we forgot to take pics there!).

Kid Paradise

All we wanted from this vacation was to retreat and relax. The beautiful pools and beaches, coupled with not having to cook for a whole week, was glorious enough. Hotel Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort gave that to us … and then some!

Oh man, was Max surprised when Spiderman and Green Goblin made their appearance by the pool!

The resort does have a kids club (which seemed amazing when we passed by it … crafts and fun activities), but because we had Papa and Nana with us, we didn’t use it for our own kids. I’m not sure if these character appearances were part of the kids club program or what, but it sure added to the magic our kids were already experiencing.

And if you have animal lovers like we do, this place delivered! It was so fun walking around the resort and coming upon some kind of creature. It became a sort of game every time we left our room – who could find a new animal or the most animals!

Most people plan romantic getaways to celebrate milestones in marriage, but celebrating by being able to make these memories with the kids and the grandparents was the best gift we could give ourselves.