The Westin Cozumel

If you want a full resort rather than a small hotel with a pool squeezed into the corner, The Westin Cozumel gives you room to spread out. The setting is beachfront, the sea is part of the outlook, and the resort combines two pools, several places to eat and a proper spa with the practical services that make a diving holiday easier.

English, Spanish and French are spoken by the hotel team, so you can get things sorted without resorting to underwater hand signals at reception. The resort opened in 2016 and was renovated in 2017, with 174 rooms arranged over a single floor.

It suits divers who want the hotel itself to carry some of the holiday: a drink with an ocean view, dinner on a terrace, or a quiet hour at the spa while the rest of the group does something else.

You are on Carretera Costera Norte, in San Miguel de Cozumel, Mexico, around 3.1 miles from the town centre. This is a coastal resort rather than a town-centre address, with the sea directly in front and a sandy beach reached from the property.

The beach comes with sun loungers and parasols, so you can move from the water to the shade without turning the operation into a military exercise. The airport is around 3.8 miles away, keeping the arrival and departure transfers relatively short.

There is a golf course around 1.9 miles away, while the resort itself gives you access to a private sandy beach, a public beach and the open Caribbean outlook that comes with this stretch of coast.

Ocean views are the thread running through many of the room categories, with balcony rooms for those who want an outdoor perch and junior suites or suites when you prefer more room around the bed and luggage. The classic ocean-view double is the straightforward couple's choice; the quadruple ocean-view room is the more sensible direction when three or four people are sharing rather than trying to make a standard double do heroic work.

The room features cover the useful post-dive basics: air conditioning, a fan, blackout blinds, a minibar, coffee and tea-making facilities, a safe, television, Wi-Fi, towels, slippers and toiletries. Some categories also offer a whirlpool, while the cabanas look over the pool rather than the ocean. Features vary by category, so the room card below matters more than a hopeful assumption that every room contains every gadget.

A private bathroom is part of the room set-up, and selected rooms add a desk, hairdryer, telephone and iron. Room service runs around the clock, which is handy when your appetite arrives at an hour chosen by your body rather than the restaurant. Pets are accepted, and children aged up to 11 can stay with an extra bed available.

You can choose between room-only and all-inclusive stays. The food operation covers breakfast, lunch and dinner, with Gaviotas Restaurant serving all three in an indoor setting facing the Caribbean Sea. Its menu includes land and sea dishes as well as vegetarian and vegan choices, so the table does not force everyone into the same culinary lane.

Cuzamil is the evening restaurant, serving international cuisine on a terrace with views towards the Cozumel sunset. It is the sort of setting that asks for a slower dinner, particularly when the day's main event involved getting wet and carrying more kit than any normal person would willingly lift.

For lunch, Snack Bar & Pool sits by the beach and pool, with outdoor dining, drinks and handcrafted beverages. There are two named bars: Lobby Bar, known for cocktails and ocean views, and Sky Lounge El Cielo, a rooftop bar on the resort's 17th floor with lounges, happy hour and an infinity pool bar. Room service is available 24 hours.

Two pools give the non-diving day a choice of pace. The semi-Olympic-sized pool is the practical swim, while the adults-only Sky Lounge Pool is an infinity pool on the top floor, paired with the El Cielo rooftop setting. The direct sandy beach adds the simpler option: a lounger, a parasol and no timetable worth worrying about.

Zazil Spa is the place for a proper reset, with massages, facials, a hammam, sauna, jacuzzi, mud baths and body wraps. An outdoor pool sits nearby, and the resort also has a gym and fitness equipment for anyone who prefers recovery with a little structure rather than complete surrender to a sun lounger.

When you want to leave the pool area, the resort offers snorkelling, windsurfing, fishing and bicycle hire. Golf is available around 1.9 miles away. Families also have a kids' club, a children's play area, a games room and babysitting, while an excursions service can help arrange outings.

The airport is around 3.8 miles away. You can use the hotel's concierge and excursion assistance for practical arrangements, while car hire is available through the resort's services. Free parking is provided if you arrive with your own vehicle.

Wi-Fi is free throughout the hotel. An accessible layout includes lifts, step-free access and rooms for guests with reduced mobility, with an accessible restaurant as well. Laundry, dry cleaning, ironing, luggage storage, a reception safe, an ATM and concierge services cover the less glamorous jobs that still need doing on holiday.

There is an on-site infirmary, and the resort is non-smoking. Pets are welcome. The hotel accepts cash, Visa and Mastercard, and express check-in and check-out are available.

The resort carries the SafeTravels WTTC Green Hotel recognition. It is a named environmental and travel-safety recognition attached to the property, rather than a long list of sustainability claims to wade through before dinner.