Playa and Cancun trip report

where'd you stay? How was the beach faring in Cancun and Playa? Did you have a good time? Thanks.

Wow, Larz, you did all the great stuff! Sounds like a wonderful trip.

What were your favorite things you did?

Larz,
We will be down in Playa the first week in April. I want to learn how to scuba. I am taking the first two parts of a PADI course before we leave. I was thinking about hooking up with a scuba place near Cozumell to do the open water part of the course. Any suggestions?
Scott

Hello,
In PDC, we stayed at the Riviera Caribe Maya hotel - a few minutes walk from the beach, and a few blocks away from 5th Avenue(where all the bars, cafes, etc. are) - so it was peaceful. Very nice place and helpful staff. At Cancun, we stayed at the Ambiance Villas - right on the beach along the top part of the "7" in the hotel zone. Also very good. We enjoyed all of the activities, and the variety was great. As I personally love historical old ruins, castles, medieval cities, etc. the Mayan ruins were a real favorite - and each was very different from the other. Snorkeling in underground caverns was a very unique way to spend an hour or so! We weren't too impressed with Isla Mujeres. While it was sort of "quaint" and colorful - there wasn't too much to actually do there, and the town is very small. But it is an easy ferry trip from Cancun.
Scott - as for scuba diving - this was my first experience. I took the PADI "Discover Scuba Diving" course at a place in Playa (35 feet down along a reef for 45 minutes - very cool!) I understand that the way you are doing it(getting all your theory and water-skills completed at home, and then doing the open water dives at some exotic location)is a great way to earn your certification, if one can schdule it. From what I have heard and read - Cozumel is one of the BEST places to go diving! Perhaps ask your diving instructor/school for the names of several diving schools in Cozumel(there are many!)that would accept a "referral" from your school. Then email a few of them, and ask about their open-water dives. Also, check out Fodors book on the Yucatan(Cozumel, Cancun, Playa, etc.)The Cozumel chapter has a great list of dive shops and dive destinations. Also, many hotels are set up to cater specifically to the needs of divers. Good Luck!

sounds like a fun trip, thank you, Larz. I agree with you about Isla, nice for an afternoon, but it wasn't for me.

Did you travel to Tulum by colectivo? Is it a long walk from where the collectivo lets you off to the ruins? You must have been there a long time to have fit all these great adventures into your holiday. Our concern is that we will get to a place by collectivo and not be able to get one back because it is too full. Are they frequent?

Did you do the zipline at Hidden worlds cenote? Before your trip you asked about Altournative Tours. Did you go with them? You seem to have asked the same questions I have.

We did everything in 9 days: 6 in Playa and 3 in Cancun. We took an ADO bus from Playa(the station is right in town)directly to Tulum. I think it was around $3/per person, and about an hour's drive. From there, we took a Collectivo(around $2.50/per person)to Hidden World Cenotes, about 15 minutes away right up the 307 highway. When we were finished, we took another Collectivo back to PDC. They run pretty frequently, so if one is full, another will be on its way shortly. We did NOT do the zipline, rappeling or other such adventures, because these were a bit TOO adventurous for my wife! So we didn't use Altournative. For Coba and Chichen, we used CancunVista tours - which were good - but for me, not enough time was spent at the ruins of chichen. I needed another hour or two. For Tulum, an hour and a half was good, and at Coba, 2 hours was sufficient.

Hi,
Your trip sounds great. I am trying to arrange a Mexico trip for Christmas. Would you reccommend PDC? We are a family of 4: I like to swim and explore, my husband likes ruins, old towns, a few bars but not clubs and good restaurants. Our daughter will be 17 and our son 15. I am also considering Cancun but think PDC sounds better as our duaghter would probably be a bit of a handful in Cancun! We travel to Europe a lot but have never been to Mexico or Caribbean.
Thanks,
Carol

Larz thank you for answering all of my questions. We have snorkeled at Akumal and Chankanaab reef and I wanted to try Hidden Worlds but didn't want to pay a hundred dollars for a tour. One more question. What is an ADO bus?

No need to answer the last one. I have found the answer, it is just a long distance bus.

Hi everyone,

Does anyone know what the weather is like in Playa del Carmen in late June / early July? My kids are in school and it's pretty much the only time we can go, but will we be miserable? Is it so hot that the pools become hot tubs?

Larz,
We will be going to Cancun for 5 nights in the last week of March and I'd love any tips you have. I started to check your other posts - you asked many of my questions so I'm sure I will find the answers, but if you have any quick and dirty advice, hidden gems or updated info for Cancun, it would be appreciated. We were debating activities, guided tours vs going on our own (two of us speak spanish - one fluently), as well as how much to squeeze in. Do you think you tried too much or spent the right amount of time? We want to see everything and relax too. No conflict there, lol. Oh and just heard after giving blood, one can't give blood for a year if you go to the ruins in Mexico because of maleria concerns. Aside from the normal travel precautions (no water/ice) anything you did or didn't do on your trip that helped?

Hi Carolina -
I would recommend Playa over Cancun.
First, it is much nearer(by about an hour)the ruins of Coba and Tulum, and is likewise closer to Xcaret and Xel-ha(if you are interested in visiting these ecological parks.) Second - it has more charm and character and a bit more of a "Mexican" feel to it. Everything in town is walkable, there is a main street full of shops, eateries, cafes of all sorts, etc. And being on the beach, you can easily snorkel, rent jetskis, etc. We went to Cancun primarily to "check it out"(I was never there)and as a convenient base to visit Isla Mujeres. We did enjoy the speedboat through the lagoon and snorkeling however. By the way, in Cancun(the "hotel zone")there is a small set of ruins(El Rey)which were actually pretty cool. One photo I took showed the Hilton in the background. So in this one photo, is the really ancient, and the truly modern!.
Fairygemgirl - the only "tours" we did, were to Coba and Chichen Itza. If I were to do it over again, I would try to do Chichen independently. The tour was just way too rushed for me. The one to Coba was good, however. I would check out the "El Rey" ruins, down the street from the Hilton Hotel. I don't think we did too much in the time we had. The only problem was, it would have been nice to have a little more time to relax and "hang out." But the problem was the weather. Several days were not "beach days" and it gets dark there early(around 6pm...when we went).
By the way Gunk - the cenote snorkeling tour we did was $25 per person. The 2-cenote tour(about 2 and 1/2 hours)was around $40 I think. I recommend it.
Larz

Thanks. We don't scuba but have snorkled at Chanknaab and Akumel. We've been to Coba and Tulum. Any feelings on Muyil?

Hi we just booked a holiday in Coba beginning next Friday. We would love to go to Chichen Itza and check out the ruins. If we don't take an organized tour, what is the best way to get there and would you know the approximate cost? Would it be overkill to go to Tulum if we are already going to Chichen Itza. Tulum is a little closer to where we are staying.

Also, we are staying at an all-inclusive, but kayaking is not included. Do you know if there are places in the vicinity that rent kayaks? Cost?

Thanks

HI Larz

Quick question re: Xel-ha and Xcaret- did you take a bus or a tour? and if you took the bus system, was it fairly easy to get there? We will be staying at the Royal at PDC. Thanks

bookmarking

Hi there,
Considering the speed boat snorkeling (or the wave runner) and want to know what you thought of it (my husband and I are complete snorkeling novices). And also, which tour company you went with. we leave for Cancun on Saturday (Sept 1) and I'm wondering if we should book one of these tours in advance.

Would appreciate your opinion please! Our family is going to PDC in April with our two boys (ages 9 and 12). Given the short attention span of kids, I am considering going to Coba (and maybe Tulum on the same day?) rather than Chichen Itza. I've been to CI (20 years ago!) and love it. But it is such a long ride and I'm thinking that maybe Coba will keep their attention more since they can climb and ride bikes. Is enough "uncovered" at Coba to give them an appreciation for the Mayans?