Playa del Carmen

[Pink_Converse]

Has anyone else been? We went last year and loved it! We has also been the area briefly on a cruise before. We stayed at the Iberostar Quetzal. This year we thinking of either returning there, or renting a house on the beach. I think a house on the beach would be great, we can cook out, hop out of bed and walk to the beach, etc and it should be around the same cost, but it could get boring with just the two of us after a while. What would you do?

Also any reviews for me? Food, attractions, etc.

We loved Palapa Hemmingway's-DH had a great steak stuffed with goat cheese and I had some excellent shrimp. Also the guacamole they prepare at your table was really good.

Tequila Barrel-This is a fun little bar to enjoy a beer at and prople watch.

Xel-Ha-Fun for novice snorklers, we've been twice so far and would go again. We always get the all inclusive package.

Iberostar Quetzal/Tucan was a great resort. I don't love resort food, but it was decent. Everything else was excellent except the beer choices were very small.

[wander_woman]

I rented a house on the beach in Playa del Carmen with a bunch of friends a few years ago. We had a blast! I definitely recommend the house idea except my only concern would be finding a house small enough to be worth it for 2 people. It seemed like most of the houses we saw were huge. Our house fit 14 people! It looked like most of the houses in the neighborhood were similar size. If you could find a smaller house, I definitely think it would be worth it. We really enjoyed having a full kitchen to cook in and it just feels more "real" than staying at a resort. We also had a great jazuzzi on the deck with a beautiful view of the ocean. Much nicer than anything you can find at a hotel (and it was a lot cheaper than a hotel). We pretty much had the beach to ourselves every afternoon. I don't think it would be boring at all. You're still just a 5 minute walk from the main town area. We went out into town every night. It was just nice to be able to get away from it all when we wanted to.

As for stuff to do ... I don't remember any specific restaurants or bars, but I went scuba diving in Playa Del Carmen and loved it. Cozumel has fantastic diving, but I actually dove in Playa because it was my first dive ever and Cozumel was a bit too advanced. If you have any interest at all in diving, Playa would be a great place to learn (you can do "resort courses" there where you take a class in the morning and go on 2 dives in the afternoon or you can take full scuba certification classes). There's also good snorkeling although the waters can be a bit choppy for that.

[Pink_Converse]

We would LOVE to go with a bunch of friends but they are extremely hard to get together to do anything. We are still going to try tho. They usually either don't have the money or don't want to leave their kids, yet don't want to bring them :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the info.

[Bbbethie]

I would recommend checking out the boards at www.playadelcarmeninfo.com. I only recently came across those boards myself and have found them to be of great help. A lot of the posters there prefer to frequent the local places rather than go the AI route. They have tons of recommendations for restaurants and other activities.

I've been to Playa twice and our third trip is planned for next month. However, we usually stay at an AI so we don't spend too much time in town.

Can't wait to hear what you decide to do!

[Pink_Converse]

I'm actually looking at Villa Flamboyan which is a playinfo regular's villa. I used that site to plan my trip last year. It's a great resource.

[clammyinsf]

we just got back from spending a week in cancun. we're not big party people so we ventured out most times. i loved xel-ha! we got the all-inclusive package, too, and it was well worth it... all the ice cream we could eat on a hot & humid day and plenty to do.

if you're into snorkeling, i would definitely recommend taking a day trip out to the island of cozumel. they have ferries leaving almost every hour from playa del carmen. cozumel boasts the 2nd largest coral reef in the world (next to australia) and the snorkeling is amazing! clear waters & plenty of fish. we went out on one of the glass bottom boats and they dropped us off at three different locations along the reef to explore. the island is cute, too. lots of bargain shopping and restaurants.