Hotel Rancho Encantado is a wonderful place through and through, from the location, to the staff, food, and amenities. On top of that it is affordably priced and located only 10 minutes drive from the cool little town of Bacalar. Everything was up to or exceeded our expectations, except that perhaps the dinner at their restaurant was a little overpriced. I would come back and stay here again in a heartbeat. Their section of shoreline on the lagoon is incredible, the pool and hot tub are great, and the room we stayed in was spacious, comfortable, and had filtered water and a mini fridge. They have kayaks and paddle boards for rent, which they are super chill about. We both did yoga with a local instructor twice, which I think was like $270 MXP a person or $15 USD (very affordable), and my wife had an hour long massage for about $1500 MXP or $80 USD (also affordable).

The only minor complaint that I have is that the dinner was somewhat overpriced for what we got.

we loved the sweet welcome we received when we told them we were on our honeymoon. i anticipated the room to be slightly more private than it was (we were adjacent to the boat rental area and our private dock looked out directly to the 'shared' dock), but it was fine in the end and generally very quiet and calm. we had a great couples massage and loved that the massage house was positioned over the lagoon with glass floor! the hotel arranged a seamless airport transfer from Chetumal - communicating with the reception via whatsapp was easy and helped to arrange things in advance. the restaurant was generally good and overall the experience was lovely. oh and the purified water in the room + the provision of beach towels was great!

there were a lot of children and families at the property (understandably as it was the high season), so we never felt like relaxing at the shared pool. thankfully our room had a private jacuzzi! I would have loved some additional floor lighting options in the bedroom, as it was a naturally dark space, but it really didn't matter.

We upgraded on site to lake view for the first few nights, this was really worth it compared to the room we had thereafter, really a must if you can spend the money, amazing sunsets

Price difference between lake and garden views doesn't feel right, garden view should be cheaper for what you get The restaurant is the problem area if they really want to become a resort, no flexible service (black or white thinking): for example no way you can have this as a mocktail instead of cocktail, no way we can add chicken... Also they need to update the menu in the off season, sometimes had to order three times before I picked something they actually had available "no tengo" was heard too many times

The staff and facility were top notch. We got a room with a lake view and it was well worth it. This is a very relaxing peaceful place to stay. The restaurant was very nice and the food was really good. We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay and relax. I highly recommend the tour around the lake. It is truly beautiful. I could have been a little longer, as we wanted to stay in the beautiful canal swimming for just a little longer.

The facility is a little bit of a hike from the small town. Like I said, the town of Bacalar is small and minimal options for shopping, which is what my wife likes most about traveling ;).

Our deluxe suite was so beautiful. We absolutely loved it. It was perfect for a family - we had the big bed, our toddler slept on the sofa bed and our baby in a crib and there was still plenty of room to move around in and for everyone to feel like you had your own sleeping space. The little deck and private jetty to the water was a real surprise. I didn’t think we were getting that. My son loved finding snails in the water. The rooms were lovely and clean. It rained so much while we were there but the staff were quick to make everywhere as accessible as possible. And despite the rain it was still a beautiful place to be. I had an amazing massage with the best view ever - right on the lake! The free kayaks and paddle boards were really great too.

The food in the restaurant is ok but not amazing. Could do with more options for kids at lunch and dinner.

I had breakfast in the hotel as it was included and it was delicious. Customer service was exceptional all over the hotel. The room was very comfortable and just steps from the water and it was beautiful and a very private area. The sunrise was amazing from the room! As a solo traveler I felt very safe there. The pool was nice and clean and hammocks are everywhere. Paddle boards and kayaks are available for free which is a nice touch. The hotel is in a beautiful spot. Santos did a good job with the lagoon tour. Alex (concierge) got everything set up for me in advance and he was very responsive. I would recommend this hotel and the tour and the massage.

Prices are going up in this entire region so I felt that many of the hotels here are overpriced. The deep tissue massage was great but the prices are on the high side for this hotel.

Great peaceful setting on the lake. Kids loved the hammocks on the jetty and the hot tub! Staff were very friendly and helpful.

breakfast was quite expensive for what you got. I had thought it was included in the room price so was a little disappointed that it wasn't. We had a leak in our room from the air conditioning unit which wasn't very nice. They offered to put us up in another room for the last night but it was a real hassle to move all of our bags.

We loved our cabana, which had a private dock with direct access to the laguna. It was so spacious, quiet, and comfortable. The entire hotel is so serene and blends in with its natural surroundings. There were kayaks and stand up paddle boards available for use free of charge. The pool was a decent size and next to the jacuzzi. We also enjoyed a lovely boat tour of the laguna with Santos - we highly recommend this as it was a highlight of our stay! We were sad to leave when it was time to check out.

The breakfast formula included in our reservation seemed a little rigid. For example, the free coffee that came with it was only American filter coffee (no espresso, which came at an additional cost). If you wanted neither the included juice nor the fruit cup, the fruit bowl with yogurt on the menu also came at an additional cost. That said, this was more than offset by the variety in the menu options outside of breakfast, as well as the attentiveness and kindness of the staff throughout our stay.

Breakfast was included, and the menu had plenty of options to chose from so that you didn't have the eat the same thing everyday. The toast with the jam spread was a great before breakfast treat too. My kids enjoyed the pancakes, the yogurt, the fruit, and granola. I tried several of the breakfast dishes and all were tasty. My wife stuck with the same omelette every day, because it was just that good for her.

Not a huge issue by any means, but the lagoon can be quite rocky. Maybe in a perfect world the bigger rocks could be pushed a little further out. The road down to the hotel can be a little bumpy, maybe in the future they could pave it to make it a less bumpy ride for smaller cars.

The lagoon view is beautiful, all the hotel is beautiful.

The road in the entrance to get at the hotel and the parking is just ground, for the price, it could be much better, is ugly. The trees in front of the bungalows are very big, don't let enjoy the lagoon view from the rooms. There's not TV in the rooms and there is not bath 😒. The breakfast is good but the dinner menu is very poor, extremely expensive and bad taste. I don't think is 5 stars, is 3 stars.