Playa del Carmen

[cactusjack]

Anybody have any recomendations?

We are Cancun people, but have decided to spend a week in Playa, and go over to Cozumel, etc....Looking for an AI that you enjoyed. I've got about 4 properties I'm looking at, including the Riu's, but if you have a favorite resort, and info about restaurants in town on 5th avenue, etc....give it to me!!!

Thanks!

[mejake007]

Not to threadjack ya but what keeps ya'll going back to Cancun? We've been tossing around the idea of going there but just haven't quite made it yet. Last fall we found a place called Yelapa (south of Puerta Vallerta)...it was awesome but pretty "rustic".

What places do you recommend in Cancun?

[cactusjack]

Not to threadjack ya but what keeps ya'll going back to Cancun? We've been tossing around the idea of going there but just haven't quite made it yet. Last fall we found a place called Yelapa (south of Puerta Vallerta)...it was awesome but pretty "rustic".

What places do you recommend in Cancun?

Cancun is pretty americanized. Its a 2 hour flight, and a 10 minute ride to your resort. Its easy. The clubs and places to party are great. We go to CocoBongo's, Carlos and Charlies, etc,etc...the shopping is pretty expensive, but my wife likes LaIsla mall. You can swim with the dolphins right there, take a ferry to Isla Mujeres island, etc...we always meet great people there, and it has everything we want which isn't much. Beach, good drinks, food, and nightlife if we choose to go out. All right there.

For a young married guy, I would recommend the Riu Caribe, or Riu Cancun. Riu properties are always good, and these two places get rave reviews for the most part. The Riu Cancun is walking distance to all the clubs,etc... Its on special the week we are going too. I can get 7 nights with flights, everything for $1910.00 for the both of us out of DFW. They are AI's.

Right now thats a good price for nice places. You can get better deals, ala the Oasis, but the food sucks, as well as everything else. I can recommend 25 places, but some are very expensive, some are adults only, etc,....

[mejake007]

very cool...thx for the info

[andyokstate]

Hey Jack -

I've been to Cozumel several times for diving. While I don't have any suggestions for places to stay/eat in Playa del Carmen, I've had lots of good eats in Cozumel. Will you go SCUBA diving while there? I have a couple of suggestions for solid dive operators if you are...

If you can go to Cozumel on a Sunday afternoon/evening, do it. The whole town comes out to hang out at the square in the afternoon. It's cool to see whole families dressed up and mingle around the square. Usually music, vendors, and such going on then.

There are many good places to eat in Cozumel. If you want to people watch on the square, go to Casa Denis. It's good Mexican food representative of the area. It's been there for ages and has always been consistent. Not expensive.

Guidos is a good place on the main drag a bit north of the main square area. Always have good fish dishes and some interesting Italian things. A bit pricey.

El Moro is one of my favorite places, but you have to take a taxi to get there. Great freaking mole enchiladas and also good shimp dishes. It's not in a touristy area, but is really good. Average priced.

La Choza is another good Mexican place. It's the largest of the places I've mentioned and is a block or two off the main square.

And if you find a place you like I didn't list, lemme know! Always looking for new places to try.

If you're just wanting to hang out and have several hours, you might want to rent a car (or just rent a taxi for the time and have the guy drive you) and go to east side of the island. Other than 4-5 fun bars, it is not very developed. You can pullover to the side of the road and have a huge stretch of beach all to yourself. All the bars have awesome views of the ocean and aren't that crowded except on Sundays, when all the locals are out.

Have a great time! Just out of curiosity, are you going through worryfreevacations/mltvacations/atusa? There are always great deals through them it seems.

[cactusjack]

Thanks Andy, we will definently hit Cozumel on Sunday if we end up in Playa. We are in the process of taking scuba lessons here in the city before we go, so I will get with you about the dive operators.

People watching is a great way to spend some time. Thanks for the suggestions.

We go through a variety of places. I probably use Applevacations the most. Worry free 2nd.....Funjet third....and then some other places that friends from around the country use. I have one place that will beat any deal from apple by 10%....have to look it up.

Sometimes I take my best deal to my travel agency friends at sun and ski in okc and let them match it. I try and do that when I can.

[osupride97]

Jack, you know I just went to Cancun/Riveria/Playa in July. That's where we stayed, the Riveria Maya area. I would not recommend that, however, because we had to take taxi's to Cancun/Playa every day. In the middle, but still a drive either way.

We did not like Cancun, but LOVED Playa. We spent more time there then anyplace else. I don't have any ideas on where to stay though. We enjoyed the shopping and the beach was better there than at our resort. The beaches in Cancun were beautiful, but if I got to an island, I don't want it looking like anytown USA. Didn't like it at all.

I prefer Aruba to Cancun, but that's just me. I'd like to go to Belize next, but it looks like BVI's are next summer's getaway.

[allie]

we went this summer and stayed at barcelo maya tropical, south of PDC near Puerto Aventuras. Great beach with decent snorkeling right from shore. We really like it. Big resort with lots to offer. Nicest part, the Palace, is beautiful but would not pay extra to stay there. Nicest beach is off the Tropical side. Ate at Carbonicitos in Pdc. Great food. Not necessarily the most "local" place - but not a chain and locally owned. YUMMMY.

Would recommend ProDive Mexico out of Puerto Aventuras for scuba trips. We only used them to snorkel but they were great and have a couple of cenote trips that look fabulous. If you haven;t done the cenote thing - it is pretty fun.

[allie]

Lots of europeans at the Barcelo - and quite a few of the women had a very "european" attitude about bikini tops. google unoffical barcelo maya and there is a website devoted only to this resort and they all love it, so keep in mind none of those people will be critical of it. That said, we loved it for our purposes.

All inclusive. Food was pretty good. Pools were nice. As i said, best beach ever. Night time enterainment - pretty weak, but there were nice bars to have a drink in. We did not go to the disco. About a 20 minute ride to Playa - if you want to take the collectivo, it was about 4 dollars one way per person. We rented a van for 12 people for about 70 there and back.

In playa, we thought the Gran Porto Real looked nice for an in town all inclusive.

If you are really beach people as opposed to pool people, do some research on your hotel. Some of the beaches in the PDC area, particularily in playacar are really really eroded. Www.playa.info is a good resource as is www.locogringo.com. You can usually find pictures and information regarding which beaches are nearly gone.

[bumpas34]

You can get better deals, ala the Oasis, but the food sucks, as well as everything else.



That sucks because I am going to Cancun in April and booked at the Oasis.