Grand Palladium Select White Sand - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

8779 reviews

• 

  Great holiday, shame about the bedroom not 5 *

  Myself & 15 year old daughter spent 2 weeks here at the end of August. I booked with TUI, was pleased did the private transfer as quite a distance from Cancun over 1 hour which is something to consider when doing excursions outside of Rivera Maya. The check in process was easy although our wrist bands didn’t open the door so had to go back to reception to get room cards. The hotel have staff wanting to discuss upgrading with you at check in to Family Select but I wasn’t interested in this pays upgrade. I was very disappointed with our room allocation, it was old, outdated, the shower head was a challenge to keep upright. It wasn’t the room that was on my room booking on TUI. There are very little toiletries in the room & it took several requests to get a bar of soap for hand washing. The hair dryer was good, I had took my Dyson air wrap but the voltage wouldn’t work with it so couldn’t use. There’s a scruffy bath robe but no slippers in the room. There’s curtains were coming off the tracks & a hole on the mosquito screen in front of the glass doors. To get around the hotel you will need to go by golf buggies & the advantage is you can go between the hotel lobbies & have a change of scenery. We were in the white sands select & the hotel was very quiet which we preferred. There are nice jacuzzi areas in the pool, in the pool sun loungers. There is not much pool entertainment, they do have Aqua fit which is repetitive & the odd music entertainment. We tried the colonial pool but too deep & was literally a swim up to the bar. The good point here was direct access onto the beach & easy to get a drink from the bars. The beach restaurant there took over 1 hour to bring our food so wouldn’t want to be there if the hotel was busier. There are some steep steps around so I would not recommend this hotel to anyone with mobility issues. You can arrange with the golf buggy staff to collect you from your villa, which is useful when checking out your help with your luggage. Although they didn’t turn up to collect us to take us to colonial loo by fir our trip so had to walk, fortunately it was very early so we managed in the heat. The food was reasonable, as expected repetitive all inclusive but always something to eat. We enjoyed the stir fry made to order nice & hot along with the Mexican tacos in the buffet. We preferred the breakfast location on the white sands than the colonial. We dined in the al a carte restaurants; you can eat in these as often as you like during your day of there is availability. David was useful & helpful with the bookings of restaurants but another lady was very uninterested when I asked for assistance. We tried the steak, Brazilian, Italian, Japanese al a carte restaurants, the best was probably the steak El Dorada located in Colonial. We really enjoyed the made to order pizza’s & lovely cocktails. The coffee shop in white sands lobby does gorgeous strawberry & vanilla milkshakes. There is lots of wildlife around the hotel, iguanas very close to deck chairs so if you’re not a fan of creatures just to be mindful they are close by. I liked the wildlife & the flamingos at the colonial. We didn’t use the beach because of the seaweed, which they worked hard to clear & the beach bar was closed. To get out of the hotel you can use the Colectivo buses which are really easy & cheap to use. We went to Akamal which cost 70 pesos each way for the 2 of us; you can go out of the hotel by Colonial lobby use the underpass to get to the other side of the carriageway to get to Akamal. If you put your arm out for them to stop they will flash their lights if they have room for you & just pay your fair. We booked a sea turtle snorkel trip on get your guide £28pp which included GoPro photos & videos, plus the bus fair, a brilliant trip! We used one of the tour guides in Colonial lobby to do a Catamaran cruise (make sure Barter on the price), we paid just over £200 for the 2 of us but it was a 12 hour day to the Isle of Mujeres which was absolutely amazing. Want to give a big shout out thanks to the staff that looked after us during our stay, particularly in the white sands lobby Irma, Roger & Javier who make the best spicy Margaritas ever! Thank you also Daniel, Roberto & Yousaf at the pool bar, all those sparking waters, Apple juice & cocktails you do a brilliant job. Overall a great holiday, shame about the bedroom but we would highly recommend.

  Sep 13, 2026
• 

  Amazing stay

  2nd time staying at White Sands. Took us 10 years to return but we made it!. Short version review….absolutely loved our stay for the 2nd time. Food is good, all the staff are very polite, areas are kept clean. Didn’t use the beach due to sargassum but we knew before going that it would likely be a no go. It wasn’t as bad as where we stayed last August which was further up the coast nearer Cancun. But when the pools are as nice as they are we didn’t mind being pool people for our stay. For those with the patience to read a novel here’s the longer version….We were welcomed by Greua Delfin at Reception who was just lovely. We stayed in a bungalow which are very nice as no adjoining walls other than the outside shower so you hear no one (unless the couple next door are having an argument on the deck area when you happen to be in the shower lol!) Being a light sleeper it was lovely knowing I wouldn’t hear people above/below/next door but in the bungalows in the night the racoons or conti’s do like to run up and down the roof between the wood and thatched part so ear plugs are an essential item to pack if staying in one of those. I recently discovered loop ear plugs which are comfortable to wear for hours so they have definitely paid for themselves. We mentioned to Reception & maintenance came and looked but I guess other than putting something to block their entry it’s an ongoing problem. Reception offered to move us but I wasn’t interested in packing & unpacking again so ear plugs in. We loved the outside shower. The whole room was lovely, obviously some signs of aging as expected but it was kept very clean. If you want to stay in new and modern then TRS I think is the newest area. The whole resort is kept clean so everywhere we walked was always being maintained. We never used the trolleys that can take you place to place as a lot of the walkways have shaded pathways which was welcomed in the heat of August. All the restaurant staff were amazing, being a celiac they were very good at having the chef walk me through what I could/couldn’t have & they are aware of cross contamination too. Breakfast buffet in White Sands had a GF toaster but people were putting regular bread in so if you are celiac take your toaster bags with you. Apparently the big industrial toaster where the main bakery items are wasn’t good enough for them and they would rather contaminate the GF one. Colonial breakfast buffet they will take the bread to kitchen and toast it in separate toaster. We went to White Sands for breakfast most days, servers all very nice Eduardo would give us a little Spanish lesson each time he came to our table & on our last day even though he wasn’t our server that day he came to say goodbye. Juan was lovely too. Favourite restaurants were Mexican and the Argentina. Brazilian was also good. El Dorado steakhouse was the least favourite. We spent most of our time at the White Sands pool. Andres put on a good aqua fit class that we enjoyed every day. We did have Anna & Carlos a couple of times who were also good but Andres was louder with the enthusiasm to attract a bigger crowd. Diego the server around the pool was very polite & friendly. And Guadalupe & another server which for the life of me I can’t remember his name unfortunately, but at the bar next to the lunch area next to the white sands pool were always polite. Used the spa for a massage a couple of times. I should have done the review sooner so I could remember all the names as I had a female RMT the first time for a deep tissue massage which I generally have but holy moly it was deep so next massage I had to ask for a Swedish instead. Fernando done an amazing job so I feel I might be converted to Swedish massages now. As it was my birthday after the massage with Fernando he led me out to a glass of bubbles & some chocolate covered strawberries which was a lovely touch. I never used the hydrotherapy area, should of but I was on a couples holiday & didn’t feel the need to disappear on my own for any longer than the massage time. Wish I had of checked it out…next time. There is an adult pool but as the resort was much quieter at this time of year we didn’t feel the need to disappear to the quiet area. Live music was good. Don’t think the app was quite right in checking what was on as found we missed some of the music in either white sands or kantennah lobbies. The margaritas were definitely better in White Sands & Kantennah lobbies rather than Colonial lobby. Entertainment is good, didn’t have Michael Jackson unfortunately. We always love a good Mexican Michael Jackson show so a little disappointed he doesn’t appear at this time of year. August is a quieter time so you will find restaurants will alternate the nights they are open so plan well when booking. We would definitely return, would we try a different part of the resort to stay in? Probably not. If you are going as a family then Colonial or Kantennah might be the better options. I don’t think you can go wrong in either choice to stay in other than there may be some restrictions in restaurants/pools to use. The transfer from Cancun Airport took about 90mins on arrival and 2 hours returning to the airport. This is not anything to do with the resort but just a heads up that you may prefer a private transfer. Can’t wait to go back though!

  Sep 13, 2026
• 

  Amazing resort

  Best staff, organized, great food and service. Could not have asked for it to be any better. Bit to day celebration was great also.

  Sep 13, 2026
• 

  Fantastic holiday

  We can not fault this resort it is so clean very friendly and caters for your every need . David who we book our Alacarte meals with is a credit to you he stands up to greet us remembers the other days we have booked restaurant asks how we are is very knowledgeable about the area, thanks so much David. Carlos our entertainment manager (I think he is the manager deserves to be)he has got a fantastic nature treats everyone with respect no matter who he is dealing with he always has a smile is very professional I have been to his yoga class a few times a definite plus to my holiday also when we see him running the show in the evening he is a credit we always get a wave and a see you later thank you Carlos 😊

  Sep 12, 2026
• 

  Lobby drink

  Irma waitress white sands lobby is very friendly happy such a lovely person xx

  Sep 11, 2026