Beaches in Riviera Maya?
 

We plan to go to Riviera Maya (RM) mostly for the beaches. We want to stay near PDC. Heard that beaches are good. I have been reading a few reviews about AI near PDC and they say that the beaches are rocky. Example - Sunscape Puerto Aventura, Paladium Grand.
Please tell me if this is true and if it is what should be my choice

Thanks, yours truly
Nick

The two that you mention really aren't near PDC, but are a bit south, about 30 minutes. You'll want to look for AIs in the area of Playacar...where there are no rocks and close to PDC.

We have stayed at the Grand Palladium...Me: Three Times, and my husband: Two Times. Love it!!! I went with a girlfriend and liked it so much, I went with my husband on our honeymoon. Then, we took our sons (my stepsons) this June. The Colonial area is our favorite. The beach is beautiful.
We made the mistake of going to the Sunscape. It is awful. The beach isn't the greatest, but worse is the service, staff, condition of the rooms, many things are broken in the room, and the elevator is lucky to get you where you are going. We had bugs in our room. Upon arrival, our tub was full of sandy, dirty water! Our safe didn't work, remote for the TV didn't work. And, worse, the air conditioning didn't work. We were moved to another room after a great effort...politely, tactfully, and patiently waiting! The next room was better, but no furniture!!!! We asked but never received furniture...chairs to sit on, a table. It was uncomfortable. The food isn't the greatest...I could go on and on. It is rated a five red apple by Apple Vacations. We think it is only a three...maybe a two!!! We've stayed at five red apples before without a problem! So, beware.
Pladdium is completely the opposite. We were treated exceptionally well, the food is wonderful. The pool there is huge! The beach is very, nice, clean, and not rocky.

If you want to send me an email I can send you to at least one link with some recent beach pics. But they would be of central PDC, not down south. Haven't been down there in a while, but the beaches have generally been good lately around Playa.

Steve

Check out the Iberostar Tucan/Queztel in the Playacar area. Great beach and the Iberostars are wonderful resorts.

Have you read any reviews on www.tripadvisor.com ?

We stayed at The Occidental Grand Xcaret a few years ago and it we had wonderful time. However the beach at this hotel is manmade and fairly small. As I recall I don't think it comes out to the ocean at all, so it is very safe-and no rocks here.

The main thing I didn't like about the beach at this hotel was the presence of sandflies and I was bitten to shreds even though I used a bug repellant before I went out. I think that is a problem at all beaches in the Caribbean, because this has happened to me in other locations as well.

Just about all the AIs in PLayacar (right next to Playa Del Carmen) have good beaches.

The refer to some of the areas with 10-20 miles from the actual town of PDC as the PDC area, and some of those do have rocky beaches.

I've not been bitten by flies or bugs in Playacar or Playa Del Carmen. Did find some flies in the Tankah area but nothing compared to the flies at the beach in New York.

The beach at the AI's in Playacar are gorgeous! So is the beach in north Playa by Shangri La Caribe and Las Palapas. Just returned from Playa and stayed in both of those areas. Beach is also very nice in central Playa by Playa Maya. I've also stayed there and if your looking for a median priced place with great food adn drinks, Playa Maya is great!

Also, when in Playacar, we stayed at the Riu Palace Mexico, which was excellent. Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal and Royal Hideaway(if you really want to spend some$$) are also excellent!