CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort

A recipient of the (well-earned) AAA 4-Diamond award for 18 consecutive years, CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort is located along the Mexican Caribbean coast in Cancun's Hotel Zone and features oceanfront accommodations, a spa, a variety of international dining options, and close proximity to nearby cultural excursions and area nightlife. The JW Marriott Cancun is right next door, giving CasaMagna even more restaurants, pools, and other amenities to choose from. Between the two, you'll get a upscale vacation experience with top-notch dining on one of the Caribbean's most famous beaches.

CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort features 450 guest rooms, including 30 suites and 300 premium oceanview rooms, ranging in size from 702 to 3,094 square feet. All rooms feature a private balcony and standard resort amenities; as you'd expect from Marriott, guest accommodations are clean, reasonably stylish, and well-equipped, without any particular amenities that will blow you away. Hotel towers sit on either side of a central pool and plaza area, which is mere steps away once you exit your ground-floor room or the elevator. Oceanfront rooms have an unobstructed view of the Caribbean, although none open directly onto the beach.

Guests have access to five on-site restaurants and two bars, some of which are truly excellent. In addition, guess have signing privileges at next-door JW Cancun Marriott Resort & Spa restaurants, including the AAA Four Diamond Gustino, the Southwestern inspired Sedona Grill, and Beach Walk, a poolside favorite. By and large these avoid the curse of the "hotel restaurant" -- the quality and service match anything you'd find in any freestanding Cancun restaurant.

Hotel restaurants include:

• Sasi Thai specializes in modern Thai cuisine in a breezy, open-air setting. Our meal here on the first night of our stay was an entertaining romp through the cuisine of Asia, from shrimp and vegetable spring rolls to a variety of curries and entrees ranging from Peking Duck to Caribbean lobster with a Thai twist. Pay close attention to the little chili symbols on the menu: some of the dishes are seriously hot (we ate a pepper here that literally made us cry).
• La Capilla Argentina, CasaMagna’s steakhouse, offers a range of Argentinean cuisine, from premium cuts of meat and grilled seafood, to a specialty chateaubriand.  La Capilla also houses its own “wine cave,’ boasting 200 different labels from around the globe.
• Mikado offers a fusion of Japanese and Thai cuisine.  Menu items include sushi and Teppanyaki style cuisine.
• La Isla is CasaMagna’s poolside grill offering classics like salads, sandwiches, and fresh seafood. Burgers here are excellent, and a shaded patio gives you the option of enjoying a meal at beach level while enjoying the sounds of the crashing waves or watching a volleyball game nearby.
• Champions Sports Bar has 40 TVs, pool tables, a dance floor, live DJ, and nightly karaoke. The menu features American classics like wings and burgers. Again, this is no mere hotel knockoff of a sports bar, but a huge, bustling place that attracts fans from across the Cancun resort area when a big game is on.

The hotel features a large pool with swim-up bar, five restaurants, two bars, a coffee shop, fitness center and spa, 11,000 sq. ft of meeting space (well positioned between the CasaMagna and the JW Marriott for easy access from both), and wireless high-speed internet throughout public spaces and guestrooms (you can get an access code that allows you to get WiFi while roaming around the resort). The Kids Club welcomes children ages 4 through 12 with a variety of fun, supervised activities such as Spanish lessons, swimming, water balloon contests, and table games. Pre-arranged childcare is also available 24 hours a day.

Don't forget the shared amenities between the two adjoining Marriotts. If you just want a quick treatment, the spa here is fine, but for a more full-service experience we'd recommend the larger spa at the JW Marriott next door. Similarly, the large hot tub attracts a big crowd at night, which is great for socializing; but if you want a more private experience, check out the smaller outdoor jacuzzis at the JW.

The beach is a big attraction, but the Cancun strand has been battered by the sea in recent years, and a restoration project has been only partially successful. Tons of sand have been added to counter erosion, but when we visited the ocean had eaten away at some of this, creating a cliff of sand several feet high that you have to navigate to get from the hotel to the shoreline.

Offsite amenities range from the nightclubs of Cancun to the newly reopened Maya Museum in the Hotel Zone; other big attractions, such as the Xel-Ha park and the Mayan ruins at Tulum, require a drive away from the barrier beach and along the Riviera Maya coastal road.

Address: Boulevard Kukulkan Km 14.5, Lote 41, Zona Hotelera, Cancun, Quintana Roo 77500, Mexico
Phone: 1-800-223-6388
Website: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/cunmx-casamagna-marriott-cancun-resort/
Rates: from $119 per night

As is common in the travel industry, the writer was provided with complimentary services for review purposes. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our Ethics Policy.