Cancun - Riviera Maya

batt_man

Hi,

Apologies if there have already been threads related to this, I did look but couldn't find anything appropriate.

I was wondering if anybody has been to Riviera Maya and would recommend it. Planning a holiday with my other half for our 1st wedding anniversary. Any info on the area would be greatly appreciated. We are thinking it's probably best to avoid central Cancun as we want something a little more relaxing...but still somewhere that is within close proximity to a more lively place.

Cancun isn't somewhere that we have definitely decided on, more a starting point. Basically we just want somewhere hot in May, all inclusive, relaxing with things to do around the resort area. Other possible destinations include Cuba, Jamaica etc, think we would like something in the Carribean (we've already been to Dominican Republic)

Any recommendations please?

Bongedone

I'm going to Playa Del Carmen/Playacar on the Riviera Maya this year. Cannot really help recommending it as I have not been before.

We where advised by a friend to avoid Cancun as we would not like it. Also been told you should avoid American college holidays.

Clarieloo

We went to the Riviera Maya for honeymoon in 2008. We stayed at the El Dorado Royale which was amazing. I would definately recommend the Riviera Maya over Cancun - we went into Cancun and I didn't fancy it - too busy/loud/too many "types" IYKWIM. That said it was interesting to take a day trip to. I would love to go back to the Riviera Maya as we had overspent on the wedding and I couldn't do all the things I would have liked on holiday. So I need to go back again...

sexy_fufu

Hi,

We stayed in XCARET which is inbetween Riveria Maya and Playa del carmen.

It is nice if you want to relax and do nothing elsa, we went July and it was so hot the heat was unbearable.

We had a day in Xcaret theme park which is like a big zoo you can swim with dolphins here.. We also went to playa del carmen for the day cost about £10 each way in a taxi.

Please note cancun is approx 1 hour away so if you wanted to visit it will cost about £50 taxi fare round trip.

If you have any more questions please ask..

Bongedone

There is plenty of public transport without having to resort to taxi's. Public transport is also dirt cheap:

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g150812-s303/Playa-Del-Carmen:Mexico:Public.Transportation.html

Bongedone

sexy_fufu wrote: »

Hi,

We stayed in XCARET which is inbetween Riveria Maya and Playa del carmen.

It is nice if you want to relax and do nothing elsa, we went July and it was so hot the heat was unbearable.

We had a day in Xcaret theme park which is like a big zoo you can swim with dolphins here.. We also went to playa del carmen for the day cost about £10 each way in a taxi.

Please note cancun is approx 1 hour away so if you wanted to visit it will cost about £50 taxi fare round trip.

If you have any more questions please ask..

How much was it to swim with the dolphins?

Becles

We stayed at Playa Del Carmen.

I didn't fancy Cancun. The locals call it the American playground! It's like a Vegas style strip, with high rise hotels, glitzy shopping malls and American chain bars and restaurants. It's popular with college students as a place to party. That's not my kind of holiday.

I liked Playa Del Carmen as it's low rise hotels and it's much quieter. There's a main strip with small independant shops, bars and restaurants and it's got a much more laid back feel. I would go back there as we really enjoyed our holiday.

This website has loads of info on the area:
https://www.playa.info
Their trips are fabulous too. They are the best holiday trips I've ever been on and I can't recommend them highly enough!

charlea

we stayed at the bahia principe riveria maya iover xmas and new year a few years ago and also stayed in cozumel as well Bahia principe is great resort, very very big 4 hotels loads of pools shops resturants you can use all facilities its at the top end of the highway closer to tulem and the ruins

if you look here it give you maps of the area with the hotels plotted on there so you can work out where they are in relation to everything else and it give you lots of info on each area as well
http://www.travelyucatan.com/mayan_riviera_mexico.php
http://www.travelyucatan.com/mayan_riviera_hotel_map.php

this is also really good as it give you lots of info on the area and what hotels are in what areas and what surrounding it
http://www.hotelsplayadelcarmen.com/

this is a full size map of the riveria maya and all of the hotels
http://www.hotelsplayadelcarmen.com/hotel_playadelcarmen_maps.htm

basically from what i remember you have the main highway 307 and most of the hotels are on the beach side of this rd
At the far end of the highway you have tulem the ruins and in between you have Xel- Ha Puerto Adventuras Xcaret Playa Car and then Playa del Carmem
In the middle of the highway you have Peurto Adventura http://www.puertoaventuras.co.uk which is a complex of hotels and a gated resort community with a marina - it has condos hotels beaches shops resturants ect and a big aquarium where you can swim with the dolphins we did swim with the dolphins here and we did the catamaran boat trip from the marina here as well It was approx 150 us dollars each to swim /interact with the dolphins but this was a while ago
two hotel that are on the complex Onmi beach resort and catalonia yucatan beach i also think the adventure spa palace is here as well but not sure and there are quite a few others on this complex

We did the swimming with dolphins here they also have manta rays, sharks, ect and we did the catamaran boat trip from the marina here as well It was approx 150 us dollars each to swim /interact with the dolphins
i think you can also do the swim at XCARET http://www.xcaret-tickets.com/index.htm this is wicked really good day out especially if you do the river/snorkle trip its tireing but really good day out

Next area is Playacar, (walking distance from playa del carmen mainly five star all-inclusive resorts, big luxury golf course, shopping mall and resturants sort of gated community but not as its has all the tourist in the hotels so not really gated two main areas the beach or the golf so your hotel would be on either but most are on the beach
you have a fair amount of hotels in playa car lots of rui hotels ie rui lupita rui palace mexico, sandos playcar hotel playacar rui yucaton & ocidental hotels ect

Then just a bit further along the highway you have the actual town of playa del carmen in playa del carmen you have 5th ave which is where the shops bars and resturants are centered around and you can get the ferry to cozumel from here as well for day trips
i

if you want to be able to walk around in towns shops ect then a hotel in playa car or playa del carme would be better located
The grand porto real and sister hotels are right in playa del carmen and mins to 5th ave and the ferry to cozumel and there are a few more as well http://www.realresorts.com/Gran_Porto_Real/

but if you are further out along the highway ie tulum ,akumel areas then you can get on the local buses on the highway ( there is no official stops you just walk to the highway and wait for one to come along normally you dont have to wait for more than 5mins and it around 50 cents ( that was going all the way from bahia pricipe to playa del carmen which is around 30 -40 mins be prepared to be squashed like sardines but they are really good fun and a cheap way to get around

if i was going to go back there again my first choice would be the grand porto real :j( i had a look when i was there and its really luxurious) if i couldnt afford it then a hotel near playa del carmen or playa car mainly cos you can get out and about quite easily and not stuck in the hotel

batt_man wrote: »

Hi,

Apologies if there have already been threads related to this, I did look but couldn't find anything appropriate.

I was wondering if anybody has been to Riviera Maya and would recommend it. Planning a holiday with my other half for our 1st wedding anniversary. Any info on the area would be greatly appreciated. We are thinking it's probably best to avoid central Cancun as we want something a little more relaxing...but still somewhere that is within close proximity to a more lively place.

Cancun isn't somewhere that we have definitely decided on, more a starting point. Basically we just want somewhere hot in May, all inclusive, relaxing with things to do around the resort area. Other possible destinations include Cuba, Jamaica etc, think we would like something in the Carribean (we've already been to Dominican Republic)

Any recommendations please?

batt_man

Thank you so much for all the info. I have been looking at a hotel in Riviera Maya that I am interested in...reviews on tripadvisor have been really good...it says that Akumal Beach is 2km away so I was thinking that isn't too bad. But apart from the beach, are there any restaurants and bars etc around there?

Charlea thanks for the detailed info...you have made me think that maybe Playa Del Carmen might be the better place to go...we want a 5star resort all inclusive with the option of wandering around the area if we choose...generally when we go on holiday we still like to have bars and restaurants local so we can go there for meals if we fancy a change...so do you think that is the better option for us?

So confusing trying to find the right holiday lol

sunshinetours

batt_man wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the info. I have been looking at a hotel in Riviera Maya that I am interested in...reviews on tripadvisor have been really good...it says that Akumal Beach is 2km away so I was thinking that isn't too bad. But apart from the beach, are there any restaurants and bars etc around there?

Charlea thanks for the detailed info...you have made me think that maybe Playa Del Carmen might be the better place to go...we want a 5star resort all inclusive with the option of wandering around the area if we choose...generally when we go on holiday we still like to have bars and restaurants local so we can go there for meals if we fancy a change...so do you think that is the better option for us?

So confusing trying to find the right holiday lol

We stayed at EL Dorado Royale and loved it also but it isn't a resort for wandering to local town etc

Playacar, as mentioned by Charlea's excellent post would certainly more meet your requirements. I wouldn't look to necessarily stay right in Playa Del Carmen

Definitely check out tripadvisor forums as well as the reviews

Do check the US spring holidays though to avoid them

Xcaret and Xel Ha "water parks" are well worth a look

charlea

what hotel have you been looking at if you dont mind me asking

most of the hotels that are on the highway 307 dont have anything apart from the hotels facilities (think M4 motorway and service stations with the service station being your hotel and you wont be far off - well not that bad no little chefs and happy eaters , but if you are in a all inclusive hotel on the 307 you will have to get bus /taxi to be able to walk around really - unless you want to play chicken with the trucks and the buses

I think akumel is a small resort on the highway and has few bars resturants ect but cant really remember to be honest im sure that we walked there from when we went to the ruins at tulum but not 100per cent sure
this is taken from wiki lol Akumal is a small beach-front tourist resort community between the towns of Playa del Carmen and Tulum. The 2005 census showed a population of 1,198 inhabitants.
this is a map of akumel so there is more there than i remembered its def the other way from playa del carmen though
http://www.akumalvacations.com/akumal/akmap.html

if you really want to walk around and be able to do your own thing and go to local resturants ect then i would say either playcar or play del carmen would be your best bet for this - lots of big 5 star hotels in both places Playcar is like 10 mins walk from playa del carmen and although playdel carmen is not huge huge like cancun there is more than enough to do there , lots of shops resturants bars ect plus from there you can get the bus to cancun if you wanted to for the day

also if you want a night out and you are further up the highway ie tulem akumel then the local buses stop running around 11pm ( check this though) So you will have to get a taxi back whereas if you are in the playcar playa del carmen area you can stagger back to the hotel after one to many tequillas :rotfl:and its no big deal even the bahia principe which is where i stayed was way to far out for me so was the peurto adventura resort althogh it was a bit closer you still had to bus /taxi it to get to playa del carmen most of those resort on the highway if you wanted to do anything it was a bus or a taxi no where to walk to unless like i said you want to play chicken with the truck on the highway


I wouldnt reccomend jamaica or cuba for places to go that you can go out and walk around Jamaica cos i have never really felt safe walking around there of the hotel complex and plus most of the hotels are away from anything within walking distance although jamaica is very pretty
and Cuba because although its very very safe to walk around there is not really much to do /see unless you are on organised trips ect or in Havana and then everybody walk the malecon at night or want to drink lots of rum and smoke cigars

Just to confuse you even more Peurto Vallerta which is on the paciffic side of mexico (and a longer flight) is really nice as well,
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton made it famous when they filmed "Night of the Iguana". its a proper town by that i mean not man made /pupose built like cancun
Puerto vallerta is really nice typical mexican streets cobblestones ect street markets and a big boardwalk plenty to do then you have neuvo vallerta area ( this is similar to peurto adventura with dolphins/ golf course condos marina
Then you have Bucerias which is a smaller local fishing village lots big hotels on the beach, lots of bars resturants ect along the beach and side streets its more of a local /place but really nice if you want the option of going out at night we stayed at the Royal Decameron Costa Flamingos for 3 weeks no rain at at just sunshine its about from Bucerias Puerto Vallarta

batt_man wrote: »

Thank you so much for all the info. I have been looking at a hotel in Riviera Maya that I am interested in...reviews on tripadvisor have been really good...it says that Akumal Beach is 2km away so I was thinking that isn't too bad. But apart from the beach, are there any restaurants and bars etc around there?

Charlea thanks for the detailed info...you have made me think that maybe Playa Del Carmen might be the better place to go...we want a 5star resort all inclusive with the option of wandering around the area if we choose...generally when we go on holiday we still like to have bars and restaurants local so we can go there for meals if we fancy a change...so do you think that is the better option for us?

So confusing trying to find the right holiday lol