Overview
** PLAYA DEL CARMEN, MEXICO **
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Playa Del Carmen is completely fun and SAFE! I had an amazing time. We stayed at grand riveria Princess and even going on and off the resort (even for night life) was super fun and we felt safe and seen the whole time. The locals were super friendly!
My husband and I just returned to Mexico 6 years later (we first went for our one year dating anniversary) and brought our infant son to the same resort we stayed at 6 years ago (full circle moment ??). We stayed at Occidental at Xcaret in Playa del Carmen. When we first arrived 6 years ago, it was our first out of the country trip and we didn’t know what we were doing, what to look for, etc. Coming back, we realized how large the property is and how much could be done (swimming with whale sharks, an aquarium, night shows, etc.) all on the property. Granted we weren’t as adventurous as we were 6 years ago (though we could have, but I’m nursing and didn’t bring any pumps or bottles so that his nana [who also came] could feed him while we gallivanted ??) but the property truly is beautiful and we still had a great time!
I recently went to Playa Del Carmen and stayed at Secrets Moxche. This was an all inclusive, adults only resort that absolutely took my breath away! There’s so many pools, you won’t be able to visit them all. All of their pools are heated and the ocean water is typically warm too from the heat of the sun.
It’s not often that all inclusive’s have good food, but this resort did not disappoint in any way! Their breakfast buffet has an avocado toast bar…is there anything more that needs to be said?? They offer a wide range of restaurants such as a French bistro, Italian restaurant, island bar, Sushi house, seafood spot, and more!
On Tuesday’s they have an event called Roads to Mexico where they give you a fake passport and you have to walk around the resort to hit all of the different ‘states’. Each state is a region of Mexico that shares food, entertainment, desserts, cocktails, and more that are unique to that specific state. It was not only a tasty and enjoyable experience – but also educational and informative. They sell artwork at this event and all of their proceeds go to children with heart disease.
The staff is friendly, there are plenty of amenities at the resort, and the rooms are big and aesthetically pleasing. Do not forget to book a hydrotherapy session at their spa, I promise it’s worth it!
I love Playa del Carmen and Mexico in general. Though there’s lots of good all inclusive resorts in Riviera Maya staying in Playa gives you a chance to try some great restaurants. Quinta de Piedra is my favorite in 5th avenue. The music is good whether it’s the piped in chill kind during the day or live music or DJ sometimes. We went almost everyday of our trip for something. The chilaquiles is my absolute favorite breakfast item but everything we’ve tried was good. They usually have 2/1 specials on drinks as well at that are much better than some of the places further down 5th. La bodeguita next door has Cuban salsa most nights with a really lovely crowd and vibe till late. Didn’t love the food there except a couple people raved about their flan. The restaurants on 38th Ave also seem more local than the ones on the other end. Sanchez, cueva del chango stood out but there’s plenty of choices and types of cuisine. If you go down to Tulum try Negro Huitlacoche. The owner does some amazing things with corn in so many forms. The corn ribs are enough to go back for by themselves.
https://www.quintadepiedra.com
You can’t beat Mexico for low price and proximity to the US if you want to visit another country. The people are friendly and welcoming. It felt like a shared brown people love fest. The men will never let a woman sit while everyone is dancing. And they won’t let you eat alone. Introverts be warned! These are outgoing, family-oriented people. The Riviera Maya area of Playa del Carmen has great Caribbean weather.
I stayed at the Riu Palace all inclusive Resort. It’s classic and old school style, not party central. But go with friends and you make the party happen together! The onsite Brazilian restaurant was the best. Second best was the Japanese restaurant. But if you want real traditional Mexican food you have to leave the resort. Great location for day trips to Cancun. Make sure to visit Mayan historic sites.
Downtown Playa del Carmen is heavily policed. Kinda like Times Square in New York. The beach itself was full of seaweed in June. There’s too many people hustling on the beach trying to get you to buy stuff. It makes laying on the beach not very relaxing. It felt like a city street at times. After a tropical storm passed my room had an outbreak of termites. None of my friends had the problem so it was isolated. Also don’t be surprised at how freely pet-sized wildlife roams the area.
Pandemic travel to CHICHEN IZTA from the Mayan Civilization A.D 200 – A.D 900 City of Stone Era…1of7 Wonders of the World. Take time to appreciate the same things in life during this time. I stayed at The Reef 28, which is adult only. Beautiful stay in the master suite. Great all inclusive resort. Very close to 5th street. Good night life when the city is open.
Restaurants are taking Covid precautions. The weather was beautiful despite being there for a hurricane. I recommend caring cash as well.
I had my first all-inclusive resort experience in Playa del Carmen. I stayed at the Reef Coco Beach, a small and affordable resort located at one end of the popular shopping strip, 5th Avenue. There was a nice sized pool, DJ, and activities for most of the day, creating a fun and lively atmosphere. I enjoyed the convenience of having a beautiful beach steps away from my room. Book through the hotel’s website for perks including a free RT ride to the airport and a spa credit. The only drawback was the food; it was pretty bland and the drinks weren’t strong.
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Playa del Carmen is a great base for exploring the Mexican Riviera. Halfway between Tulum and Cancun, you can take day trips to either city. I had fun getting into my exploring my adventurous side. Some of my favorite memories are zip-lining in Xplor park and climbing up the ancient Mayan pyramid of Coba.
My girlfriend and traveled to playa del Carmen for Valentine’s Day weekend we stayed for 4 days at the TRS Yucatan hotel. It was a beautiful all inclusive resort with several restaurants and several pools including an infinity pool and a salt water pool
We also took a day to travel to Tulum and enjoyed dinner at the Azulik hotel which also provided several lounges and restaurants as well. It’s about a 30 minute cab ride
Playa del Carmen also has several cenote which are cave like pools you can swim in and are very scenic for Instagram pictures
Our resort was on the beach front and also had a white sand beach as well.
Overall it was a great stay and we Would definitely return
Mexico is was alot of fun especially when in Playa del Carmen. I stayed at Catalonia Riviera Maya Resort which is an All Inclusive resort and booked it for about $200 CAD a night. Everything is included when it comes to the drinks and food, also there is an airport shuttle included in the package. This entire package was booked through Hotels.com, the airfare, hotel, transportation and excursions.
For entertainment, decided to book an excursion with Xplor Park as part of our package on Hotels.com which came to $140 CAD. While at the park there was lots of activities to do including snorkeling, zip-lining, trails, all-inclusive food and drink, and many more. Definitely to trip to take again!
I had a blast staying in Playa Del Carmen this past August! There is so much to do if you love adventure as much as I do such as Xel-Há and Xcaret! Xcaret is a big park that includes Xel-Há. A ticket there is about $100 which is a great price for what’s included. Admission includes snorkeling, touring cenotes (which is a pit in the ground that you can swim in), cliff jumping, zip-lining, trails, all-inclusive food and drink, and many more! The resort I stayed included transportation, but you can also book transportation on the website. I can’t wait to go again!
My friend and I stayed in Riviera Maya in February. We rented a car which made it easy to get around. I wanted to look for sea turtles so we went to Akumal Beach. We rented snorkel equipment on the beach and I bought water shoes at a local shop. The water was lovely. We did not see any turtles but a lot of fish. We relaxed on the beach after.
For excitement, we booked excursions for Xplor Park. It was a 2 day pass. At night there was ziplining and other activities. I had never ziplines. There were 7 altogether, one through fire and the last into water. Dinner included. The next day we had snorkeling and swam with dolphins. Lunch and alcohol included.
For my friend’s 29th birthday, we wanted a grown and sexy vibe along with a mix of history, relaxation and of course the turn up. So we decided to head to Playa del Carmen, which is about an hour each way from Cancun and Tulum. Our adults’ only all-inclusive pick was Live Aqua Boutique Resort which costed us about $650 USD for 4 days and 3 nights. Another perk of the hotel is that it has a partnership with a beach club called Kool, which allows for a free day bed as long as you spend a minimum of $25. I was satisfied as soon as I walked into the modern room (any place that offers Morton Brown products earn 5 stars in my book). We had comfy beds, a balcony, a sitting area, updated electronics that fit the latest iPhone and iPad, and a super modern clean bathroom. My only downside of the room was the lighting (ladies do your makeup before sundown because the lights are dim). The fridge was packed with chips, sodas, bottled water and of course beer. Now this was my first time at an all-inclusive and I’ve heard the food is usually trash, but everything I ate was good (specifically salmon and steak). As for alcoholic beverages, just ask for a shot to go along with your cocktail to make it stronger. We enjoyed the views from the rooftop and infinity pool as well as the local turn up on La Quinta Avenida. Our hotel service was amazing! They negotiated taxi prices, cooked whatever we wanted especially when we stumbled in lit at 4 am, and most importantly helped us plan our excursions. They booked our taxi for the day ($160 USD) and sent us to the Chichen Itza ($24.43 USD) which was roughly two hours away. I suggest going as early as possible to beat both the heat (a blazing 100 degrees) and the tourists. The site is just breathtaking especially because there is so much history surrounding the Mayan Culture that we never here about it. Be sure to actually walk around because there are multiple monuments to see as well as photo ops. After physically melting for an hour (I promise it was worth it), we headed over to the Cenote ikil de Chichen Itza to relax and cool down (roughly 5 minutes away). I have always been a sunset type of girl, but the view and the clear water literally took my breath away.
My only regret on this trip was not indulging myself in a spa treatment. Until next time, Hasta Luego!
Sometimes you aren’t looking for much adventure or too many thing to do. You just want a chance to get away from home, enjoy warm weather, beautiful waters, good food, the company of someone else and simply the chance to decompress and relax. This was my main goal when visiting Quintana Roo, Mexico; and boy did I achieve that goal. While in Mexico, I stayed at TRS Yucatan Hotel and it was magnificent. The hospitality was wonderful from the minute I stepped foot on their resort and into their beautiful lobby. Words actually won’t do this hotel justice but when you visit and stay at the adult only section of the resort you will be delighted. The villa was very nice and well kept, access to the beaches and pools was a quick walk away, and if you needed a shuttle the workers on site would make sure one was waiting for you within minutes. The food choices and restaurant came in a variety and the ability to just enjoy your entire day with different activities were pretty much endless. You want the opportunity to enjoy your time, and a chance to relax while romancing with great vibes….this is a very a good choice!
While we did enjoy some of the cheesy entertainment at our resort, Riu Tequila, we did want to get out and hear some music we recognized. One of the performers recommended Prana Hookah Bar and it did not disappoint!
It has a nice outdoor area for hookah, and the service was wonderful! They always made sure that our drinks were refilled. The music was also great a mix of songs we were familiar with and Latin Trap (I guess that’s what you call it? It was good!).
There ‘s an assortment of clubs near the Hookah bar so there’s plenty to explore nearby!
Mexico is lots of fun ! Be prepared for lots of tequila and tacos. If going to Mexico be sure to stay in an all inclusive it’s the best ! You can eat all day as well and drink. When I went I stayed at the RIU Yucantan in Playa del Carmen and it was the absolute best. On the beach behind the resort they have several activities. You can jet ski, parasail , and even get a massage on the beach.
While visiting Mexico I stayed at Platinum Yucatán Princess Adult only.
My room had a swim out but it was not private.The Hotel did not serve local Mexican food which I wasn’t to pleased about.If you decide to do any adventure you could let the hotel know and they would pack a lunch bag for you. Which is very helpful. I wasn’t to pleased with the hotel drinks……I booked Adventure with Amigo Tour(Chichen Itza & Cenote swim)
Cancun sightseeing(snorkeling,Cozumel Jeep tour)…….Locals food I ate at 5th ave. Went clubbing at Palazzo,Coco Bongo and Mandala….Traveling while black, It was very annoying traveling while black because people wanted to touch my hair and questions about being black
If deciding to take a trip to Playa Del Carmen , Mexico…. definitely think about staying at Hotel Riu Yucatan. It’s an all inclusive resort with all you can eat and all you can drink including liquor if your 21+. There was also lots of fun activities on this resort such as jet skiing, parasailing, snorkeling, and so on. You will not regret staying at this hotel. They also have karaoke nights, foam parties and many more entertainment on the resort.
I fell in love with Mexico instantly. Playa Del Carmen is such a beautiful area, with so much to do. Fifth Avenue is the main strip where you can find countless stores, vendors, hotels, and condos for rent. Here you can stay, shop, dine, and or party. In just one hour of walking up the strip, we were offered countless free shots of tequila!
The strip is buzzing with tourists and locals. Most of the shops are locally owned, but there are a view brand name stores and mall stores like HM, Mac, etc. I would suggest staying in Playa Del carmen or taking a taxi from your hotel for the day. There is a beautiful beach and plenty of places to eat.
While there you have to book a tour to at least one of the Mayan Ruins. We booked with Viator on their jungle tour. This tour was great because it combines cultures, history and adventure. We went to the Tulum Ruins and learnt about the Mayan religion, Homes and temples. From there we went to a jungle park where we got to witness a Mayan Ceremony in a cenote with a shaman. After we had the opportunity to repel into a Cenote, swim, and then zipline across the park on 5 different zip lines; one going right into a cenote. We were also taken on a snorkel into the longest underground cave system in the world. We only did about 160m of the estimated 300kms, but it was amazing!
Definitely book a tour with a company who really knows their anthropology/archaeology as this will help facilitate your experience that much more.
If you are traveling to Mexico to party or relax playa del Carmen is the place for you. I’ve been to Cancun a few times but playa del Carmen was far better in every way. More clubs more local stores more local restaurants more beaches lol. There is also a great beach bar/restaurant near all the clubs called “Zenzi”. They have cheap drinks and will bring out your food to you while you lay down and relax feet from the shoreline
We stayed in Playa Del Carmen for 6 months and it is definitely one our favorite places to visit. You fly in to the airport in Cancun Mexico and you can catch a taxi, shared van, or bus to Playa Del Carmen. We stayed near the beach and there are many activities to do such as going to the beach, snorkeling, jet skis, parasailaing, and many bars and restaurants are available to relax and have a great time. There are also a lot of tour companies located everywhere so it’s easy to shop around for the best prices when looking to take a tour. We visited one of the 7 wonders of the world the Chichen Itza. We also rode ATVs, went zip lining, and swam in many different cenotes even one that was located inside a cave. We also did a lot of shopping while being in Playa Del Carmen. They even have a local Walmart which was great to buy things that we forgot before leaving the United States. The local shared vans called Collectivos can take you to and from Cancun Mexico which is located 45 minutes away and they charge about 5 USD each way for the trip and the vans run 24 hours a day. There are shared vans that will also take you to and from Tulum for about 4 USD each way and they run from 6 am to 11 pm daily so there are endless amounts of things to do while being in Playa Del Carmen. You can check out our experience on our YouTube channel: Carolina Travel Queens
Playa Del Carmen was awesome I set up my trip from a Mexican tour Mexico Destinos from Mexico City. For 5 days and round trip flight included we spent $650 for two our all inclusive resort was a Spanish resort but most the staff still spoke English our first day we relaxed on site and drank haha. Second day we rented a car for $40 and drove to tulum ruins around 7am by 10am headed to the cenotes near the Chichen Itza pyramid and lastly visited the pyramid. The next day we relaxed during the day then did the X-Plor tour during night. I highly advise going at night they have zip line(7) off road tour, cenotes swimming, cenotes rafting peddling with these small paddles on your hands free dinner all you can eat and more overall that was pretty fun and cost about $100 per person. That wore us out so we relaxed and did shopping the last day taxis charge 90 pesos buy you can give 50 and say it’s all you have they’ll work with you lol. It’s very very touristy so you’ll see people of all races and things are over priced for Mexican standards due to that fact. It’s expected but still a very cheap adventure you’ll love it!
Stayed at Le Pasion Boutique Hotel. Cute hotel, great breakfast, close walk to the main strip snd beach. I went to Xel Ha. A good buffet lunch and lockers are included. There is snorkeling, ziplining in the water, ropes course over the water, cliff jumping/tarzan swing, and other activities that you may pay additional money for. I had a great time. Be sure your GoPro is on tightly. I lost mine here. I did a day trip to Tulum. The ruins are on a picturesque hill by the ocean. It would be good to have a guide or book to know what you are looking at. There is an option to snorkel or swim here. The waves were a little rough in May 2017. When leaving, be sure to stop by the bar with the swings for the best piña colada. During the evening, there are many fun bars in the area playing a variety of music and a salsa club. I would return again!
Playa Del Carmen is a great place to visit, is budget friendly, has great food, not to mention amazing culture. PDC also has spectacular beaches and a nightlife. I am dedicating this review to a few of the things we did while on this trip. Some of the excursions are not in Playa Del Carmen, but ARE in the area, so, I suggest you take tours if you can. Public transportation is pretty good as well, so if you are on a strict budget you can also go that route or you can rent a car if you want to be super spontaneous.
Check out Xcaret Eco Park, it is big, so you will have a lot to do, underground and above ground rivers, zoo, food, museum’s, snorkel tours, speed boat, shows and more. Jay and I did the underground river and I was petrified (I watch too many horror movies), it is about an hour or so swim in almost full darkness. We also swam with sea turtles, snorkeled a small reef, but, the highlight of the park was the show at the end of the day.
Also, swim with the whale shark, they are in season between June – September to feed and mate, if you are in the area do this tour, it will not disappoint! You swim alongside them while they eat and sun bathe. Warning, they are huge, like a large school bus huge. This remains the most memorable experience I have ever had vacationing! After the swim with these gentle giants our guide took us to Isla Mujeres to eat and swim, OMG the ocean/beach here is beautiful!
If you want something good to eat go to downtown PDC and hit up Los Aguachiles Restaurant. The ceviche and fish dishes are soooo good! We went to the location on 34th street, from what I am told it is the less “touristy” of the two locations. It was a short walk from The Royal Hotel where we stayed, I highly recommend it if you want a real local experience and great food.
In March 2017 me and my boyfriend went to Mexico. It was a great vacation and there is a lot to do. Our hotel was in de middle of the city, 5th Avenida. Our trip and hotel were not expensive, but if you want to have a good time in mexico, you gonna spend some money on it. Don’t buy your trips by the first person you meet on the streets, but look further, it can always be cheaper!
Take the 3 hour journey to the Yucatán Peninsula to visit one of the 7 wonders of the world Chichen Itza a beautiful Mayan Ruin!!!! On the long journey up there are several cute cities with great street corn and tacos. Also looking to swim in a CAVE!!! There are several Cenote to choose from and different levels of adventure from zip-lining into or a simple walk down choose your adventure level!
I’ll give you a run-down of our itinerary, how much we spent, and some advice on how to make your trip go a little bit smoother than ours.
Day 1: Playa Del Carmen
We arrived in Cancun and the weather was perfect. It’s January (and early January at that), so it’s not going to be TOO hot. The temperature hovered around 77-81 degrees while we were there. We got into Cancun around 2 and went straight to the ADO Bus ticket stand. If you don’t see it inside, it should be outside by Platform 4 & 5. The tickets to Playa Del Carmen from Cancun were $190 pesos per person. That was definitely a deal because the bus was nice and air-conditioned, had charging outlets, and comfortable seats. It wasn’t packed at all the day that we went. An hour later, the bus dropped us off at the ADO Bus Station in the center of Playa Del Carmen on 5th Avenue. From there, we took a taxi to our hotel, Grand Fifty Suites. The taxi was about $170 pesos to our hotel. Upon arrival, the hotel was so nice! It is fairly new and very close to the beach. The rooms were clean and spacious. There was a rooftop pool and bar. The hotel gave you tickets to breakfast, which was about a block away or a five minute walk. They also provided towels where you had to give them the towel cards and in return they will provide you the towels. Our room had two queen beds and was $436 USD for 4 nights. Check in and check out was 24 hours and they also provided a shuttle to/from the airport for $40. The shuttle was however not 24 hours, so we had to take a taxi to the airport when we left which was about $60 USD.
After wandering around the hotel and settling down, we decided to get some pizza around the corner at Pizza Italia. It was around $200 pesos for four slices and drinks. It filled us up just enough because we were starving after traveling all day, and we wanted something quick. After we ate, we got changed and went to the beach. It was about an 8 minute walk from the hotel. We really just relaxed and saw the scene. We could see Mamita’s Beach Club from where we were and it looked like a huge party! The music was loud and the beach looked so crowded. We opted out of that and went back to the hotel for a quick nap. After catching up on some rest, we went to an Italian restaurant, Salento, that was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The food was SO good. I had the famous lasagna and it just melted in my mouth. It was a really long wait to get our food because the restaurant was packed, but it was worth wait. We all decided that were too tired to go explore 5th Avenue, which is the strip, and turned in for the night.
Day 2: Tulum
We woke up bright and early because we had to go pick up our rental car this day. We reserved the car for two days for about $82 USD from ADOCar Rental. The offices are between 10th and 4th Avenue. Now, when I reserved the car, it said nothing about a deposit but the deposit ended up being about $500 USD. Of course, they return this to you when you return the car, but it kind of took us all off guard. I would still recommend this car rental company because the insurance is all included and they were super nice as they let us extend the rental car for a day and didn’t charge us when we turned the car in an hour late (oops).
After having breakfast, we headed to Tulum which was about an hour away. We had to fill up first at PEMEX, gas station, and it was about $200 pesos for half a tank. They pump the gas for you and wash your windows. They even tried to check the oil but we declined. Once we got to Tulum, we decided we wanted to go to the ruins first. Parking was $100 pesos at the lot we chose and entry to the Tulum Ruins was $35 pesos per person. We really enjoyed learning the history of Tulum and the ruins were definitely impressive. We didn’t go on a big tour or pay a guide, but we were able to read the information on the stands in front of each ruin and we thought that was good enough.
By this time, we were starving. We headed to Charly’s Vegan Cafe and had a tasty lunch. Tulum is a hippy, ecology-friendly, vegan town! Not all of the restaurants are vegan, but A LOT of them are. And they are so environmentally conscious that some places did not have paper napkins or straws, Charly’s included. After lunch, we wanted to go to a cenote. A cenote is a natural fresh-water pool formed by collapsed limestone. We asked our waitress at Charly’s what cenote was closest and they told us one that was about 3 minutes down from the restaurant. I don’t remember the name of this one, but we hated it. We didn’t even get in. It didn’t really look like a cenote, and it wasn’t too impressive.
I had previously made reservations at a newer restaurant, Bejuco Hotel Tulum, in Tulum that had tee-pees you could enjoy dinner in with a view of the beach. This place was AMAZING. They had hammocks, swings, great views, and great food. I had the salmon which was so fresh and my friends had the pasta. We all enjoyed a glass of wine while watching the sunset. I would definitely go back and possibly even get a room there next time.
After eating, we headed back to Playa Del Carmen and went to sleep after a long day sight-seeing and exploring Tulum.
Day 3: Chichen Itza and Cenote IK-KIL
We woke up around 7:30 A.M. in an attempt to get to Chichen Itza early before all the crowds. From Playa Del Carmen, it is about 2 hours away. However, everything did NOT go as planned. Remember to take money out for the tolls! Pesos!
When we got to Chichen Itza, we ate at the restaurant they had on site. It was delicious. My friends got pizza and pasta and I got the shrimp tacos. Everything was so good. They even held our leftover food for us while we went into the ruins. The entrance fee was $232 pesos per person. Definitely get there early, the line was so long and around 11-12 is when all the tour buses start arriving. We parked outside of the park on the side of the road and it was free. It was a good 10 minute walk to to the entrance from where we parked. Chichen Itza was so beautiful and rich with history. The ruins were breath-taking. It was well-worth two hour drive. Be prepared for hecklers trying to sell you things all throughout your time in the ruins and outside waiting in the line to get in.They just don’t let up sometimes, but just be polite and try to enjoy your time there.
After Chichen Itza, we took some advice and went to Cenote IK-KIL. Beautiful and COLD! The entrance was $30 pesos per person and $2 USD for a life-jacket and a locker. The cenote is 150 ft deep so if you are not that great of a swimmer, get a jacket (don’t be that guy). We stayed there for about 30-45 minutes and then got out because the sun was going down and the water was getting colder. We definitely had a good time watching people jump in from different platforms and everyone seemed to be in good spirits enjoying themselves.
The swim left us hungry so we headed back to Tulum and went to Mateos Restaurant. I had the baja bites and my friends shared a pizza. The total was around $30 USD with drinks, non-alcoholic. The food was okay to us but the music was lively and we had a good time. When we were heading out of Tulum, we got pulled over. The officer said we were going to fast around the roundabout. We were going about 10 MPH so we knew we were being targeted because we were tourist. We had heard that they target tourist, but did not think we would experience it first hand. Basically, he was trying to take my friends ID and keep it over night until we paid a $3000 pesos ticket in the morning. We weren’t going for this and somehow my friend talked him down to either $900 pesos or $100 USD. The officer asked us to pop the trunk, just to see how much stuff we were carrying and probably how much he could get out of us. It turned out we only had $400 pesos and he was not accepting this at all. Finally, we gave him $100 USD and he let us go. He even made us turn the light off in the car while we gave him the money. I don’t know about you, but I have never known police to accept money on the side of the road. It seemed real shady and left us all with a bad taste in our mouths. We made the hour drive back to Playa Del Carmen and got some rest.
Day 4: Mayan Jungle Spa & Cenote Kin-Ha
Today we wanted to just chill. We went to Cenote Kin-ha in Puerto Morelos since it was close to our spa appointment later and we soon realized we should have came earlier in the day. They had ATV’s, zip-line, and two cenote’s. You can buy access to two cenotes, but we just went to Kin-Ha. Everyone was really nice and they had hammocks everywhere. A guy named Flavor led us to cenote and showed us a hole, saying we had to jump in. Well he was kidding, that was an option, but there are also some steep stairs. We loved it and we pretty much had to ourselves. There were some ropes you can swing off of and there was a zip-line rope you could use to swing into the pool. We definitely enjoyed ourselves here. It was about $17 USD including a locker, life-jacket, and snorkel gear.
Sometimes on trips, I will want to make a visit to a local spa (not the ones found in resorts or hotels) for extra relaxation. I made a reservation through Facebook for Los Colibries Mayan Jungle Spa for all of us. For two people and a 2 hour treatment, it was $180 USD They only take cash or pesos so make sure to head to an ATM before going to your appointment (don’t be like me and forget – oops, again). The 2 hour treatment includes sitting in the Tezmacal (traditional Mexican Sweat Lodge) for 30 minutes with cold showers every 15 min, clay treatment everywhere on your body (literally), a dip in a hot bath after washing off the clay while getting massaged, and ending it with a 30 minute massage. My friends and I can easily say this was the BEST massage we have ever experienced. I would definitely recommend taking some time out of your trip to go here.
After the spa, we headed to drop the rental car back off and changed for dinner. We went to La Buena Vida in Akumal. The taxi to get there from Playa Del Carmen was $350 pesos (we bargained – try it!). We wanted to make it before sunset but failed and went anyway. They have tree-houses you can eat in and you have to pull up your meals and drinks. Even though we did not get to experience that part, we still loved it. I had blackened fish and it was great. The drinks were pretty good as well. I think I spent about $25 USD for my meal and two drinks. When we were done with dinner, we sat on the hammock and looked up at the stars for bit and then got a taxi back to the hotel for about $600 pesos.
Total Spent (Approx.)
$436 on hotel, Grand Fifty Suites (this was total, not divided)
$290 round trip flights on Spirit and Frontier
$200 on food/snacks
$12 ADO bus from Cancun to Playa Del Carmen
$50 on two cenotes and things included
$122 on rental car (added extra day, around $40/day)
Advice
Take pesos out, you’re going to need it
Check deposits for rental car companies, if you don’t see it – ask
Go local with a rental car company, cheaper prices
Make sure to check your routes and see if they have tolls, don’t be like us
Get a rental car if you want to do your own thing
Wear walking shoes if you are going to the ruins
Go see Chichen Itza and Tulum Ruins (both were worth it to me, make it to Coba!)
Get to the ruins early to avoid long lines and big crowds!
Stay present and enjoy yourself
Overall Thoughts
I can definitely say I would go back to Playa Del Carmen again, We felt as though we didn’t have enough time to go sit on the beach and explore Playa Del Carmen like we wanted to. I would not mind spending more days in Tulum as I really liked the vibe of the beach town. I really wish we could have gone to Merida and Coba, but there’s definitely more time!