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Spacious Beachfront Villa, Ideally Located
| Sleeps | 6 |
| Bedrooms | 3 |
| Bathrooms | 3 |
| Half Baths | 1 |
| Property type | villa |
| Minimum Stay | 4 nights |
Overview
Villa, 3 Bedrooms + Other (See Description), 3.5 Baths (Sleeps 6-8)
Reef House in Xcalak is the ideal choice when you’re traveling with a few other people, either friends, or your children who are old enough to stay in rooms by themselves. Reef House offers each of you the privacy of individual hotel rooms, while providing generous “gathering space” where you all can be together comfortably. It’s an ocean front, two-story house of concrete construction. Relax on your own private beach; on the second floor covered balcony; or the ground floor terraces.
The second floor has a master bedroom suite with queen size bed, bathroom, and secluded balcony facing the jungle; spacious living room; dining room; full kitchen; and another balcony facing the Caribbean. There is an additional half-bath on the second floor. All the rooms except the bathrooms have views of the Caribbean. The panoramic view from the living room and dining room is breathtaking. The roof is also accessible for star gazing and sun bathing.
The living room has two concrete platform couches that are suitable for children or even average size women to sleep on. On the first floor are 2 separate bedroom units, which have private entrances. One of those rooms has a queen-size bed; the other has two single beds. Each has its own bathroom, of course, and sliding glass doors leading out to a patio facing the Caribbean.
Reef House is conveniently located just two and a half kilometers (a mile and a half) north of the town of Xcalak--far enough to be completely removed from the noise and activities of town unless you choose to participate in them, but close enough to have easy access to the stores and restaurants in town without having to spend half your day driving up and down the road. If you have been to Xcalak before, you know to appreciate that. If you haven’t, you’ll find out soon enough!
At Reef House you’ll have use of an 80 meter private dock. Snorkel right off the end of the dock. Vibrant coral heads with an abundance of marine life are just a few minutes away. If you would rather paddle than kick, there are kayaks for your use.Thanks to the dock and Reef House’s location so close to town, boats will pick you up right here for diving, fishing, and snorkel trips. You won’t have to drive into town and try to find the guide you think you have reserved, or stand around waiting for the other people on your trip to arrive, or arrange for other people in your group to drive you to town so they can have the car while you’re gone. Just relax on your balcony, or at the end of the dock. You’ll be able to see your boat coming.
Amenities
Xcalak Villa Accommodation and Amenities
- villa
- Guests provide their own meals
- Max. occupancy: 6
- non smoking only
- Beachfront
- Oceanfront
- Internet
- Linens Provided
- Parking Off Street
- Wireless Internet
- Coffee Maker
- Cooking Utensils
- Dishes & Utensils
- Kitchen
- Oven
- Refrigerator
- Stove
- Toaster
- Dining Area
- 3 Bathrooms,
- 1 Half Bath
-
Half 1 -
toilet
Full 1 - toilet , shower
Full 3 - toilet , shower
Full 2 - toilet , shower
- Full Bath for each bedroom plus half bath on main floor
- 3 Bedrooms, Sleeps 6
-
Bedroom 2 -
1 queen
Bedroom 3 - 2 twin/ single
Bedroom 1 - 1 king
- Video Library
- Balcony
- Deck / Patio
- Wood Deck
- reefs
- restaurants
- beachcombing
- bird watching
- eco tourism
- photography
- walking
- fishing
- fly fishing
- snorkeling
- swimming
Reviews
5/5 -
(3 traveler reviews)
Terrific House
We spent the last week in October 2016 at this beautiful house. We flew into Cancun, rented a car and spent our first night in Puerto Morales. The next day we drove to Tulum, exchanged our money and stocked up on groceries then drove to the Reef House. We had good, paved roads all the way to Xcalak and felt completely safe. Reef house is a short drive from Xcalak on a well maintained dirt road. Total driving time from Cancun to the Reef House took us about 5 1/2 hours, but it is a beautiful drive with lots to see.
The house is great and exactly as described. Spacious, clean, comfortable with beautiful views right on the water. You need to bring groceries, tin foil, paper towels, etc., but the kitchen is well stocked with all the dishes and cooking utensils. We did not use it, but i believe there is a BBQ on property. Bring charcoal. A very nice housekeeper cleans the house each morning. This house is solar powered so leave your blow dryer and curling iron at home. There is no air conditioning in the house, but we did not need it. Between the ocean breezes and ceiling fans we were fine and we never had an issue with power. The house does have good internet service.
The bedrooms and bathrooms are well equipped with linens, soap and TP. the house comfortably sleeps six, more if someone wants to sleep on the couch in the living room.
There are kayaks and paddle boards available for guests to use. We brought our own snorkel gear and used the kayaks to reach the reef, which is close. We loved it! Saw stingrays, eels and numerous colorful fish.
The best part of the house is that it comes with Ben and Esther who went over and above to make our stay wonderful. Ben helped arrange fishing trips, knew all the restaurants and where to snorkel. He checked on us regularly and made sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed.
We loved our time at Reef House. Thanks Ben and Esther.
Loved it!
We spent a week and a half at the Reef House (Winter 2016) and just loved it! Well appointed, fabulous views, right on the beach, solar powered, super clean. On the latter topic: house cleaned daily by friendly staff, beach front cleaned every morning -- even though we rose for sunrise most days, I don't recall ever beating the Reef House crew being out front and at work!
The new owners, Ben and Ester, are super nice and worked hard to help us with anything we needed: something for the house, use of bikes or kayaks (both available on a share basis if you're staying there), and restaurant recommendations. On the latter, Ben and Ester made many suggestions and really cared that we had a good experience -- when we came back Ben would check in to see how it went so he could give the next people staying with him the latest skinny. A simple thing, surely, but indicative of how Ben as Ester look after those who stay with them. They also had local lobster and shrimp on hand and allowed us to use the grill -- what a couple of dinners we were able to make (yum!), along with cooking multiple species of fish we caught.
We spent most of our time fishing, kayaking, exploring up the coast. We snorkeled, although not at the highlight area out at nearby reef. We paddled out to the reef twice -- its easy, perfect distance -- but it was windy and choppy enough both times we decided to just enjoy the paddle, instead. Friends report amazing snorkeling at the reef. We went many times, just closer in to shore (still great, just not as much coral and associated life).
Our only caution is just to be open minded and recall that the Xcalak area is far off the beaten path (5-6 hour drive from Cancun) -- and doggone it we assume that's why most people will want to come here! Town has several small grocery stores, but we recommend bringing a big supply from a bigger town and filling in with what's available in Xcalak. You won't find t-shirt shops or zip lines or bumper cars or para-sailing or Senior Frogs etc in Xcalak. If that's your gig, have a ball but probably don't come to the Reef House. But if you like doing & discovering things on your own--though Ben is happy to help you get fishing, snorkeling, and scuba diving guides--we couldn't recommend Ben and Ester's place more highly.
Fabulous destination, but not for everyone
I stayed five nights at the Reef House with my husband and two children, ages 9 and 11. The property itself was exactly as described on VBRO, and the quantity and quality of amenities (pots & pans, dishes, towels, etc.) exceeded our expectations.
We flew into Chetumal Airport from Mexico City, rented a Dodge Durango truck from National rent-a-car and bought a week's worth of groceries and supplies at the Wal-Mart on Insurgentes Avenue in Chetumal before driving out to the property. We stocked up on paper towels, toilet paper, batteries, etc. just in case, but none of these items turned out to be necessary as the house was fully stocked when we arrived.
Our goal was to get as far away from the beaten track as possible, and we succeeded. Looking over the photos from our trip, it appears that we spent a week in a ghost town. The town of Xcalak seems smaller than even the population statistics would suggest. The only commodities that can be reliably obtained from local stores seems to be ice cold beer, soft drinks, bread, snacks and various canned and dry goods. Beyond that, there are two grocery trucks that make the trek up the coast each week. Still, we never found ourselves at any risk of inconvenience.
There was an incredibly strong sea breeze during most of our stay, so we never encountered a single mosquito of no see um bug during our entire vacation. The flip side of the coin is that fishing, snorkeling and dive charters were totally unavailable during most of our stay. In fact, Majahual and Xcalak ports were actually closed by the harbor masters making it impossible for cruise ships to make their scheduled port calls. This made it fun to walk around Majauhual and let the kids play on the beach since there were literally no tourists in a town apparently built entirely to accommodate thousands of Disney Cruise ship passengers.
Our drive down the old costal road connecting Majahual to Xcalak was one of the highlights of our vacation, made possible by the fact that National Rental Car provided us with a Dodge Durango 5.8L Hemi truck with a 6" lift for the price of a minivan... thank you very much...
We found the caretakers, Bob & Caroline, to be friendly, knowledgeable and obliging and recommend that guests make all arrangements with them well in advance of their arrival.
Yet, this is not a destination for everyone. Xcalak prefers retired guests with no children. We did not have any problem with this, but others might.
Map
Additional information: southern port of entry into Mexico on the Caribbean.
Xcalak doesn't just have scuba diving and fly fishing, it has world class scuba diving and fly fishing. Both fishing and dive boats will pick you up right here (for snorkel trips, too!). If you don't already have your favorite fishing guide in Xcalak, we will be glad to reserve a guide for you.
Photos
Rates & Availability
- Available
- Unavailable
Additional information about rental rates
| Tax Rate | 14.0% |
$250/night for the entire house
$150/night for upstairs only;
$75/night for each downstairs room
3 night minimum at all times;
14% tax additional;
Dates Available: Year Round
Manager's Cancellation Policy
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