Bahia Principe Luxury Esmeralda - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

9387 reviews

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  Excellent Concierge Service and Beautiful Resort

  Our trip started with a small glitch; they could not find our reservation in the system. We still aren't sure if it was an issue with Air Transat or the hotel. The service level and attention we received from Francia at the concierge desk was exceptional. She checked in on us daily and made sure we were enjoying our stay. Anybody working in travel and tourism should aspire to be as good as Francia. She is the best. Our room was clean, beautiful and spacious and the grounds at the resort are lush, green and plentiful. The food options at the buffet restaurants were more than enough to satisfy any hungry guests. The A La Carte restaurants did not disappoint either, my wife states that the fish at El Taino is the best she has ever had. The beach is beautiful but busy. It is apparent no one pays attention to the signs stating you cannot reserve beach chairs as all palapas had towels or personal effects on them by 6AM. Kelvin at the lobby bar also deserves a special mention. He is creative, funny and entertaining. We look forward to returning next year.

  Apr 20, 2025
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  We should have planned better!

  This is one of six sister hotels. Each with 3-4 pools! and with like bars and restaurants. The average rating is of our own doing. We wanted a relaxing trip and this hotel is not that. If you are traveling with kids, this is for you! It is noisy, we rented a swim-up suite to relax by the water, but the adjacent pools were full of children. The door slamming and shouts/laughter starts early (7am). The hot pool had an adult feeling but it was never hot and it was just another children's pool. The choices to eat available are very good (I would say excellent). You must try Limbo (great bar) and the Fish Market restaurants - skip the rodizio one, low quality meat choices. The liquor that they give you is premium and free flowing, and the non-restaurant food throughout the 6 hotels is very good. The entertainment group were very fun and the music events are above par. Couple of pointers: They have a sister hotel, The Ambar, that seems less "wild" DO NOT buy tours at the beach, buy it at the hotel. The hassle of going with the non-hotel group is not wroth it. However, do the boogie and cenotes tour.... it was fun. Make reservations to the restaurants before hand. You can change it if you need. The other annoying practice but this is an issue in all hotels - the bad habit of "savings" the pool and beach chairs to the point that you have nowhere to sit. Overall, not to relax but good value.

  Apr 19, 2025
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  Nice beach

  Very nice beach Great customer service I like it so many resort in one place They have all day entertainment. The show at night need to be changed. Workers are so friendly. Brazilian restaurant are not so good their meat are not eatable. Mongolian restaurant are the best. I would do it again.

  Apr 17, 2025
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  Fantasy Island

  Great place to be, it feels a little like “Fantasy Island”. Great restaurants, great staff. The bracelet works at all the bars in the Bahia hotel group here, so one can explore and still get a drink and coffee. Wifi is seem less at all corners of the resort. Easy to use electrical buss service across the large resort. Rooms are large and well cleaned. I truly can’t think of a negative, beside putting on weight despite the gym. Rosa makes the best coffee at the sports bar.

  Apr 14, 2025
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  Great service and experience at Esmerelda

  Just got back after a week at Esmerelda with our 18 month old. We have stayed at Ambar before and Esmerelda is definitely a family friendly version of Ambar. We had a lovely stay all thanks to Willmer from guest services who helped us with anything we needed and more. It was like having a friend watching out for us for the week. He is a gem of a person and we would totally come back because of the experience he provided.  The staff are all very friendly especially towards kids. There is always something for the kids to eat wherever you eat.  Just ask for the kids menu. We went to Maiko, Yurta, Cassa Bella, Portofino and Tequila.  Yurta is everyones favourite for a reason. You choose your own meat, veggies and carb. It was a lovely experience. Casa Bella had great food and service. Cant really go wrong with the menu.  Maiko is your standard teppanyaki place.  Tequila has very delicious food. It is definitely a must try but the service takes very long so just be aware if you have kids. Its an open air restaurant as well so bring mosquito repellent. We had no mosquitos on the esmerelda side.  The resort is laid out very nicely. Everything within Esmerelda is steps away and easy to get to.   Bring your whitenoise machines to drown out late night entertainment music for the kids to sleep. Rooms are very nicely renovated and are energy efficient.

  Apr 13, 2025