Staying at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo on the Riviera Maya

For the first half of our trip to Mexico, we stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo. The wedding was supposed to be at the Iberostar Tucan, but with the number of tourists in Mexico so down, the Iberostar closed the Tucan and moved all the guests to the Lindo. The Lindo is apparently an upgrade from the Tucan and boy was it a nice property!

The Iberostar Paraiso is actually a series of properties, all together in a huge compound. Guests of each property can visit the other properties, including the pools and restaurants. I think the Lindo was the prettiest of all the properties and that makes sense, since lindo means nice, lovely or pretty in Spanish.

The Iberostar is an all-inclusive resort hotel, which means you pay one price and it includes your lodging, meals, alcohol and a bunch of activities. Guests wear a wristband and it's your key to the kingdom. There is a kids' camp from 10-4 (CJ wasn't interested); there's two shows each night in the auditorium; there are a half dozen restaurants so something is always open; there's a series of pools (wading pool, wave pool, lazy river pool, pool with a swim-up bar, deep pool), and there's snorkeling, diving and parasailing.

The food was good, not spectacular, and there was a decent selection of cuisines. The two buffet restaurants had some nice Mexican dishes, the steakhouse at the Maya was pretty good, and the seafood at Jambalaya was really good.

We're new to the all-inclusive resorts, having in only one other property - the Paradisus Playa Conchal in Costa Rica last year. (Why do these properties all have paradise in their names?)

The lobby of the Lindo is a little over the top. It looks like some
Mayan temple with a lot of lapis, marble and gold.

The raised walkway from the lobby to the rooms was a real treat.
There were pools and fountains everywhere, which made me and CJ
very happy. CJ just loved watching the fountains!

There were old-looking columns between the buildings.

Here's a view of the pool from one of the restaurants.

Here's one of the sunning areas by the pool. There were chaise
lounges everywhere, plenty for everyone!

This was the courtyard by our room.

On Monday evenings, there is a night market at the resort.
This guy was painting using spray cans! The paintings were
not in my style but he was very talented and had a lot of buyers!

Check out what this artist is able to do with spray paint
and pieces of paper that he would use to create hard and
wavy lines and wipe away paint!