Tsuuk Akumal - Parque Natural - 77776 Akumal

I moved to Tulum a year ago and thought it would be a nice get away to Akumal to enjoy together. The town is nice, beach is great and people are friendly. I went to park my motorcycle in the free zone with the other locals to go enjoy dinner with my girlfriend, and one of the local workers in a red hat came out and told me it was 50 pesos. I did not see a sign and asked why I had to pay to park. He started being very rude and told us if we didn’t have money to leave and laughed and mocked us. I was pretty upset and went to go park somewhere else, when another local came and parked his moto next to mine. I asked him if he had to pay to park and he politely smiled and say no, it was free parking. The other guy in the red hat started being extremely rude to me and my partner so we decided to leave and park just up the street for free. Before we headed to the restaurant called The Fisherman’s House (which is AMAZING!), we met across the way to find the guy that wanted to charge us to park to eat at the restaurant. We talked to his manager and then he bright out the man with the red hat who said he was told to charge us from another person because I am a “gringo”. I was extremely upset and they made a report and so did we. It’s not ok to take advantage of tourists and to be ride and border line racists. I actually run a travel agency and would NEVER come back to Akumal or bring people here or recommend this place. They scam you if you are not a local and it ruined our trip. The man was very rude to me and walked off after we confronted him. Don’t trust the people here and know your rights, take measures into your own hands and don’t let people take advantage of you because of your skin color.

! Don't pay the rude guys (500 Pesos)! As all beaches in Mexico, Akumal is a public beach. Get to the beach another way (through a hotel, etc.). You can swim and use the beach for free.

I agree with several of the previous reviews. This "parque natural" is the only public access to the Akumal beach. Do not confuse public access with free access. This is indeed an access that the general public can use, but it is not free. You have to pay $5 to access the beach, and considering they claim to use the money to protect the turtles' habit, it's a complete embarrassment for the Mexican people that the place is dirty and packed with trash. You will find that private properties have taken over making it impossible to access the beach freely, so you are limited to the park 9 to 5 hours. Considering this is the Yucatan, and global warming is obviously not skipping the area, they should be open by 6am. Calling this place a reserve and harassing people to buy additional services only adds to the predatory vibe that surrounds this town. Sad that the people here cannot find a productive way to make a living.

Scam. Avoid. Miserable experience. Absolutely the worst PAID snorkeling experience in my life. Pay for parking, pay for entry, pay for “forced” guide. Then snorkel in the “protected reserve” that is a joke, it has nothing to do with protected “, the turtles are directly in front of the main entry/exit point to boats docked on the beach and sand is stirred up with each passing boat, smell the gasoline from the engines with each passing boats just a few feet away. Outright hazardous area to be in. Poor turtles. Miserable tourists who overpaid to this scam. Do not support them. In not sure how this place gets away with calling itself a park. Someone should investigate. It is a scam scam scam.

Turned from a beautiful and quiet public access beach into a dystopian tourist trap in less than a decade. Paid entrance or not, to whatever degree the government is actually, truly involved in managing the Parque Natural - which is questionable due to the presence of relentless touts, a beach bar clearly operating with permission, and lots of trash - that involvement needs to be stepped up in a meaningful way if the beach is to have a future again. That official presence if it exists is unclear and, frankly, embarrassing. If the government is not currently in charge here, I sincerely hope your operation is nationalized with all due speed.

Highly recommend going on the Turtle snorkeling tour with David (check Air BnB experiences for listing). I got to see 7 turtles (and a couple of them surfaced right next to me!!), along with a handful of stingrays and many varieties of fishes!! Several nice restaurants nearby for when you're done snorkeling.

It is the worst place where i have been in Mexico. Organizatorom by park is horrible. You pay 120 peso for enter -it is ok. Later on the beach you can not pass line because of ??? Only because that there is a lot of local guide. If you will not pay for swimming with them you can’t go to the place where are turtles. Lucky you can find turtles in this small zone but not so much. If you will not choose local guide they are rude for you. They have guards on the kayaks and they take care that nobody can cross the line. All this situation is selfish and horrible. You are playing with tourist. In some comments I can see that park says that they are not responsible for this local guides but it is not true. If park would like to really take care about tourist should make one payment for park and make big open zone for all. Never again.

My husband and I shared 2 magnificent days in Akumal. Visiting Tsuuk Akumal - Parque Natural both days. The fee is minimal and the views are EVERYTHING! You have to go with a guide to view the turtles and reef. The water has rope and buoys to mark off that spot. I support this 100%. Without careful consideration of the reefs and sealife, we would not be able to enjoy it. Also - No sunblock. It harms the reefs. The bar on the beach is great! It took a minute to get drinks but they were worth it!