Resort Review: Grand Bahia Principe Coba

Our first trip to Mexico was the Grand Bahia Principe Coba, located in the Mayan Rivera. This resort is part of the Grand Bahia Principe chain and is one of four resorts on a massive property.  This is our review of the resort when we visited with our 1.5 and 3.5 year old children in 2015.

Grand Bahia Principe Coba Resort Review

Location

From Cancun International Airport, the Grand Bahia Principe Coba is an over 1.5 hour bus ride to the resort, which is quite LONG with young kids.  Prior to our trip, we worried about how our kids would handle the bus ride, but besides a few whines of “how much longer”,  it wasn’t too horrible.  Prepare yourself in advance with snacks, games, toys and iPads to help kids pass the time.

The Coba resort is not directly located on the beach. If you are beach goers than you could take a 10 minute shuttle to the Tulum resort which allows you use of all the amenities, including food and drinks.

Pools

The main attraction of the Coba resort are the two massive pools and a water park for the kids!  With a water park, we didn’t mind being away from the beach.  In fact, we preferred the water park over the beach as we didn’t have to worry about our kids getting sand in their eyes.  We spent many hours at the water park which turned out to be perfect for young kids.

Beside the water park is one of the large pools with a small shallow area for young toddlers.  Since it was connected to the larger pool, it allowed us to sit in the water while the kids played beside us.  This pool also has a beach-style entrance but be careful as we saw a few people slip.

Grand Bahia Coba Review Pool
Kids Club

The kids club at the Coba resort looked amazing which our kids were a bit too young for. We heard other parents say it was important to register your kids early in the day before it fills up with kids.  Throughout the day, the kids club staff would come by the pool and organize games for the kids, which our guy enjoyed.  Kids can also participate in a mini disco every evening.

Grand Bahia Coba Review
Food and Drinks

WOW!  The food and drinks at the Coba were the best we’ve ever experienced at an all-inclusive resort.  After having been to Cuban resorts countless times, it was not hard to impress us as first time visitors to Mexico.  It was great to be able to get mudslides at every bar.

The buffet was massive and had countless freshly made food options.  There was a counter for almost every food genre we could imagine, such as Italian, Asian and Mexican.  We didn’t have time to try all the food available in the buffet.  The buffet even had an exclusive area for the kids that was filled with all the classic kids meals on lower counters.

Grand Bahia Coba Review

The à la carte restaurants were all impressive. We dined at four of the available nine restaurants throughout the Grand Bahia Principe resorts.  At each restaurant, we were blown away by the quality of the food.  A couple of the restaurants have small buffets for your appetizers. Warning: Do not fill up too much on these delicious appetizers as you won’t be able to finish your dinner!

Grand Bahia Coba Review
Rooms

One of the features of the Coba resort are the large rooms that are equipped with a couch that can be set up as a bed for small kids. This eliminated the need for two beds and allowed us to sleep in a king size bed.  We also requested a crib for our youngest child, which turned out to be a pack and play cot.

The Coba by itself is a massive resort so learning your room location is key!  We got lost a few times trying to find our room block after walking in circles.  Be sure to take note of landmarks to help get your bearings.

Our room was located far from the pools, main lobby and restaurants.  When vacationing with kids, we typically need to make several return trips to the room to fetch forgotten items. A long trek to the room is not ideal.  It may be worth requesting a room closer to the pool to avoid this hassle.

Tip: Download the Bahia Principe app for your smartphone.  It allows you to send instant messages to your friends and family at the resort, make dinner reservations and find directions through the resort’s WiFi connection at no charge.

Overall

We loved our vacation at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba Resort and had a great time.   The on-site water park is perfect for young kids.  For the adults, the food and drinks are to die for.  The staff at the resort are incredible and focused on pleasing each guest.

The biggest downside was the incredible size of the resort. This vacation helped us realize that we prefer smaller resorts, but that is simply our preference.  I do believe that if our room had been closer to all the main facilities, it would have changed our opinion.  We will certainly consider another stay at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba, if the price is right (cause we are savvy travellers after all) as we would love to return to the Coba!

Grand Bahia Coba Review

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