my husband and 4 year old son will be traveling to playa del carmen in the fall for our first family vacation. my first gut instinct is that an all inclusive isn't for me, but i'm open to it. i'm worried about crappy food. i'm picky and my husband is a chef. but, seems like the all inclusives have better accomodations and that there will be a ton for my son to do at an ai. with all the pools etc, i'm thinking we could just relax most of the days and then maybe go to one of the eco park one or two days? any suggestions to steer me either way? also please recommend specific hotels.

Any of the Iberostars would be a good bet. There are def. more AI's down there than the alternative. Yes, you would have much more for your child at an AI.

We did Xcaret our first time down and it was okay. Go early.

Peace, Greenie

if we do go ai, we would really like one with good food too . .

If you are even remotely concerned with food quality, I would skip the "AI experience."

We have found that PDC has an extremely varied and sophististicated dining scene that improves and expands with our every trip there.

Plus, almost all of the AI's are waaay out of town - necessitating the use of taxis to get pretty much anywhere.

It would be a trade-off - more for your child to do and so so (at best) food, or stay in town, sample the amazing dining choices, and let him enjoy the beautiful beach and all there is to do and see in town.

Me, I'd opt for the non-AI choice, but I don't have kids and food is very important to me. I've done the AI thing a few times and won't again.

Generally, AI and good food don't appear in the same sentence unless you are willing to spend the $$$ at someplace like Royal Hideaway. (I don't think they allow kids the age of your son.)

Good luck!

Diana is right,the Royal Hideaway says children must be at least 13 to stay there. But the food was very good IMHO.

I also recommend any of the Iberostar resorts in Mexico. They are very family oriented and have great kids programs. The food is not gourmet, but it is pretty good.

Several years ago when I was pregnant with my fourth, we took all of our kids to PDC and stayed at the Gala Resort Playacar. I think it is now owned by Sandos. It was an all-inclusive and we liked having the kids club as an option. The food was o.k., but kid-friendly. We actually used the kids club at dinnertime once when we out to PDC for a quiet romantic dinner. We loved the fact that the hotel was smaller than the other hotels along the row and it was the last one--which meant that our beachfront was always less crowded. We went to Xel-Ha instead of Xcaret (though we've been to Xcaret since) we actually liked Xel-Ha better. Xcaret gets kicking at night with its "disneyesque" shows but our kids wouldn't have lasted that long anyway so for our money, Xel-Ha was better. Our boys loved Crococun wild animal park. They got to hold snakes, ferrets, and I got to hold a baby crocodile.