Blueeyedgirl

My sister asked if I would help her do a little research. She and her husband want to "gift" their adult children a trip to Mexico for Christmas (all 5 go somewhere this coming summer-June). Parents are in their 50's - one daughter who is 25 and a married son, 27 & his 26 yr old wife. They want to go somewhere that offers activities and the drinks and food are inclusive. They were thinking Mexico would probably be the most reasonable package deal. They have all separately been to Playa Del Carmen, but for the parents it has been 5 years or so. They are thinking maybe 4 days. Any suggestions on an area or specific resort. I didn't want to ask for a specific dollar amount, but am thinking nice, but not luxury.

suze

Puerto Vallarta
Cabo San Lucas
Mazatlan
Playa Del Carmen
Cancun

All those destinations offer All Inclusive (and not) resorts and hotels.

You can use a website like http://www.cheapcaribbean.com/ as a starting point to get an idea of what all is available and prices.

Stewbear

Xmas? This year? A bit late now I'm afraid

suze

Don't rain on their parade Stewbear. Of course you can still find something for the holidays this year. Selection may be somewhat limited and things will be expensive, but it can be done.

Stewbear

You may be right Suze but my experience has been poor.In "97 when I ship wrecked off Baja Sur on the way to PV, then traveling from there via car/bus & plane to PV I stayed with Gloria at The Los Cuatro Vientos for as long as she could squeeze me in but was forced out Christmas week (with my then fiancee). We of course had planned staying on our then destroyed sailboat so I hunted throughout PV for accommodations finally finding a small but very noisy apartment across from the old supermarket (Rizo's ?) on the South side.
I was embarrassed to find that I was rented that place because I paid in advance for 2 full weeks when in fact it had been booked by a Mexican family for Xmas week. The landlord got greedy figuring a 2 week rental at inflated Gringo prices was worth the hassle of being yelled at by the original renters.
I have no idea if they found another rental but always felt terrible about it.

cabron

Far too late to find anything good for this Christmas IMO.

maried11

Depends on where you're coming from, but if it's Canada,tonnes of good deals to be found. If it's history and that kind of thing, the Mayan for the ruins (and beaches). If it's more of a walking town, then PV,but if it's only 4 days, I might go with what's closest to them and definitely AI for a short trip.

MichelleY

I think the OP may mean this as a gift for Christmas, but not necessarily to take now? For 4 days, I would choose somewhere in Mexico that has handy flights from your home.

RAC

Mexico is a great place for all-inclusive beach places--so much so that the variety of choices can be overwhelming. The advice above of choosing a place based on convenient flights is a good one. Some places (e.g. Mazatlan) are very convenient for some cities but terrible for others, while others (e.g. Cancun/Riviera Maya) are generally good for just about anywhere.

suze

MichelleY is right!

The trip isn't until "this coming June" it's the giving of the gift of the trip that's happening at Christmas time.

June is low season in all the Mexican resort coastal towns so you should be able to find very good rates for that time of year.

Stewbear

Your Right Suze, I missed that.

jamie99

One thing to keep in mind, is that the single daughter, if staying at an AI, will very likely have to pay an expensive "single supplement" fee. This can be as much as 150% or more of the regular per person double occupancy fee.
I normally don't stay AI but did one year and had to pay $105 per night vs $68 per night double. This was a Long time ago and during the Swine Flu scare so prices are obviously higher now.

maried11

Lots of resorts have single specials in low season.

andrews98682

If you go to PV, I would strongly consider not doing AI and pay a la cart at the hotel, instead. That's because there are tons of great, inexpensive places to eat and drink in town. And the town is amazing.

suze

Well I don't do the AI thing myself (in either PV or Cabo are my past experiences) or even stay at a "resort" but these people specifically WANT to:

"go somewhere that offers activities and the drinks and food are inclusive"

It's really difficult (impossible?) to make suggestions without some kind of budget expectations, knowing where they are flying from, etc. etc.

suerte, suze

andrews98682

The thing about an AI in Puerto Vallarta is that unless they drink a lot, it's not a good deal financially. I know the OP said AI, but the impression I got is that they want a big resort above all.

Christina

Paying an extra $30 a day seems remarkable to me (re the single supplement) as obviously you are getting the entire room to yourself, so the supplement should rightly be half the room charge. So an extra $30 isn't expensive at all IMO.

Any single person is going to be paying more per person for a room, whether an AI or not, so I don't understand that comment. You will in a hotel, also. The charge in an AI per person should already be based on only one person for the food and activities.

I met someone coming back from an AI south of Playa del Carmen at Thanksgiving, (not quite as far as Tulum) and she bought a package on www.cheapcaribbean.com and the price was amazing, I thought, I'm going to look into that next time. She really liked the AI, also, as it was a smaller one and right on the beach.

Now out of curiosity, I checked that website for the difference in Dreams Tulum AI (which is a more expensive place) for one person versus 2 and for single occupancy, it adds on only about $57 per day (it is $280 for a single versus $445 for 2 people or $223 each). That seems like a bargain to me when you only have one person in the room. I stay in a regular modest hotel, and the difference per person would be about that much, as it costs about $100 a day for a double room when I go. I was checking in January when rates should be higher than June, anyway.

You can get packages with a cheap flight and transportation on cheapcaribbean, they look pretty good but maybe they are as cheap if you book every part yourself, I don't know.