Hotel Boutique Quinta Chanabnal

I have mixed feelings about this hotel. Let's start with the pros: the location is vey beautiful, in the middle of the jungle and you can see monkeys in the trees outside your room. The room was very big and the bathroom functional (nice shower with good water pressure). The staff was very kind and helpful (although communication not super easy at times as little English spoken) and they organised a very nice guided tour at Palenque ruins which I really recommend (our guide was called Mildred and she was very good and fluent in English, best guide we had in our two weeks in Mexico). Now the cons: there were a lot of mosquitoes, in fact we decided against using the outside pool. The hotel does provide repellent and mosquito lamps on request but I feel they should do something more - only the bathroom window in the room had a net, making the room unprotected as there were gaps in the windows. They should put a bed net and provide plug in mosquito devices in the room for guests' comfort. This is the only place where we got mosquito bites in our two weeks trip, we are very careful but there was no way to escape. Finally the restaurant was disappointing for us, we thought the menu was a bit pretentious with too many international dishes (why would I order pasta with seafood or tuna steak in Palenque?!) and too little choice of Mexican food, and the Mexican food we did have was really underwhelming.

We have been travelling for three weeks but this was our favourite place. We stayed in a junior suite which was huge, well-appointed and had a balcony with seating. The place feels very tropical and has lots of trees and a lake and a cascading pool area. We ate dinner here and the menu featured a range of traditional Mayan dishes that were delicious. There were a couple of families of howler monkeys in the surrounding trees and listening to them in the morning and at dusk was incredible. Staff were all great and we would have loved to have stayed longer than 4 nights. Very hard to leave this special place right in the jungle. It was only 4km from the ruins, we caught a taxi there, but walked back via a very good footpath.

The rooms/cabin were very comfortable and spacious. We had a large bathroom, there was a fridge and safe. There was efficient Air Con and fans which was needed as it was very hot. The eating area was very quiet and pleasant. As there are no restaurants nearby we ate in the hotel and the food was very good. We were very well looked after by the staff. There is a very nice pool area by the lake at the back of the hotel gardens which are a very pretty. We visited the nearby zoo which frankly was a sad experience. It is not recommended to drink tap water so supplies of bottled water are necessary. The nearest shop is about 20 minutes walk from the hotel.

We enjoyed our stay at the hotel. It's a unique property, with the Mayan architecture and location in what feels like the jungle. The rooms are spacious (we were three people, so had an extra bed brought in for $40 per night). The pool is beautiful. My wife had a back massage in the spa area and loved it. We heard all types of birds, and saw and heard the various howler monkeys which was really cool (one morning they were very loud, but this seems unusual). The location is good, as it's between the city and the ruins. We had dinner once at the hotel (decent, but glad on the other night we went into Palenque). The breakfasts were good (we had the continental breakfast with yogurt, granola and sweet breads).

We were very happy with the accommodations here! The manager and all the staff went over and above to make our experience special. The hotel is very beautiful with lovely art throughout. The pool was great; such a treat after a long day exploring the fabulous Palenque ruins. We saw monkeys and lizards and other cool wildlife as we swam. Our room was wonderful. Cool and comfortable with a great shower. We really appreciated the complimentary beverages in the mini bar every day. All of our meals in the restaurant were delicious (I’m still thinking about the fruit plate they serve at breakfast!) and the waiters were really nice. We had to catch a very early flight the day we left, too early to have breakfast in the restaurant, so the manager arranged for us to have a bag lunch to take with us, which I thought was very kind.

Great location for the Palenque ruins and communication for organising tours was excellent. The design of the hotel is in-keeping with the Mayan culture that you’re here to see. However it feels a little run-down. It was also a shame that the jungle setting couldn’t be seen from the room or from the dining area.