Been to Cancun, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cozumel. Lovely but a little too resorty...too many high rises and too American. Any out-of-the-way places, more village like, with charm and history and nice beaches, too?

Go north of Manzaniilo to Melaque or La Manzanilla. The entire coast from PV to Manzanillo is great. North of PV is Sayulita, San Francisco etc. Sayulita is a small fishing village that was great. Mainly casita/house rentals, beach restaurants, dirt streets, wide beach good for surfing. Not many tourists when it is not a vacation period.

Check out Isla Mujeres. It is easy to reach from Cancun (about 20 minutes by ferry) and great place for a vacation. Playa Norte is a wonderful beach and there are places to stay and eat in all price ranges. This is a good website for the island - www.isla-mujeres.net

Maroma Beach, Mexico (30 mins from Cancun) has been voted the best beach in the world according to cable Travel Channel. Maroma Hotel is situated on this beach in a quiet jungle area. Nature reserve and ruins are nearby for touring.<BR>Another good selection would be Isla Mujeres.

Just my own experience despite Maroma's beach being wonderful, the hotel left much to be desired when compaing its price to other Mexican and Caribbean destinations. They have also constructed a large all inclusive adjacent to the hotel. Puerto Maroma named after the choppy waters and whitecaps that are caused by the winds.

Puerto Escondido, far south on the coast near Chiapas

I was condsidering to honeymoon in the playa del carmen area. royal hideaway, marooma, and pariso del bonita were among my choices. can anyone make some suggestions. I am leaning towards royal hideaway because there seems to be more ammenities.

If you are going to a non commercialized placed outside of Cancun, I only have two words for you:<BR><BR>Montezuma's Revenge

I just booked the Royal Hideaway for May. I did a ton of research (I'm very anal) and feel very good about my choice. If you go to the latin america board and search royal or hideaway, you'll come up with a bunch of posts. I visited epinions, debbies carribean resort reviews, and many more and couldn't find a lot of negative info. It's our first real vacation in 10 years, I hope it lives up to all my expectations. I'm just worried about rain in May. Pray for dry weather!

Susan, Are you a doctor? Have you had personal experience with this? Where were you? What happened? Where did you eat that this occurred? How long were you sick? What did you take? <BR><BR>I've traveled in many of the less-visited areas of Caribbean coastal Mexico for 12+ years with no problems - 400+ meals.<BR><BR>Lucky, there are many wonderful places up and down highway 307 south of Cancun that are are lined with gorgeous beaches, swaying palms, lovely resorts or cabanas, and excellent snorkeling and diving.<BR><BR>Look at Akumal or Tulum. Still a little on the touristy side but a delightful place is also Playa del Carmen.<BR><BR>An excellent site is:<BR><BR>locogringo.com<BR><BR>There are not too many places in the Yucatan with all that you are asking for, but to me great uncrowded beaches, low-rise and low-key resorts, frosty Margaritas, and good snorkeling are all found in abundance in or around the places above. <BR><BR>Enjoy your planning!