Isla with a Toddler (Review)
Hello fellow travelers! We just returned from five nights on Isla Mujeres with our two year old daughter and had a lovely time. I personally rely heavily on subreddits and FB pages for travel advice in advance of going anywhere with my toddler, so figured I’d post some up-to-date info and feedback post holiday.
We stayed at Ixchel, and thought it was a great family hotel. Had a one bedroom suite, which far exceeded my expectations space wise. The hotel has floats and pool/sand toys available for use, and the pool has a shallow area great for little shorties that can’t quite swim.
We booked a babysitter one night through Isla Nannies. Amanda runs the company and was who I messaged back and forth with in advance of our trip. She was off island while we were there, but set us up with somebody in her network, a young Scottish woman named Kirsty. Both Amanda and Kirsty were great to work with. Somebody we met at the beach (staying at our hotel) told us they didn’t think Ixchel would let us bring in an outside babysitter … apparently they stopped allowing for in home chefs and massages post-covid. My husband checked with the front desk and they asked us to have her bring her passport and check in with them upon her arrival, and wanted her to stay in the suite. We didn’t end up checking her in bc there was too much activity going on in the lobby, but had no issue with her being in the suite for a few hours while we went out for dinner and drinks.
I was able to walk one morning to Yoga in the Treehouse, which was just to the right of Ixchel. Really lovely class and the instructor I had was also in the nannie cohort, which made me feel even more comfortable in advance of the sitter arriving.
We booked a golf cart one day and did a little island tour, stopping at The Joint, Punta Sur, and Isla Mujeres Brewery. The roads in general felt perfectly fine with her in my arms and my husband behind the wheel. As others have pointed out, the biggest “danger” was the speed bumps. And the heat, lol.
A couple other things that were recommended to us were feeding the fish in the bay at Mia Hotel … which was a bust for us but maybe we were just in the wrong spot. We also tried to go to the new-ish water park, Zazil Ha, which is less than a 5 min walk from the hotel. It’s supposedly open daily from 11-6, but when we tried to go at like 2 on a Saturday it was closed. No great loss for us since we were staying right next door, but it looked really cool and we would have enjoyed it if it were open.
Kin Ha Beach Club was also recommended to us both by the babysitter service and some different blogs. We had the best of intentions of going but it was just far enough away that we decided it wasn’t worth the trek.
Hope this helps anybody on the fence about Isla with a toddler! It was our third time in Mexico with her but our first time venturing to the island, and we’ll definitely come back at some point.