Hi,
My first time on this forum...I am looking to go to the Mayan for a vacation with my 8 year old daughter - somewhere in the Playa del Carmen area. Looking for a nice all-inclusive, kid friendly place, where we would absolutely love it! Would like to be on a beach of course - and we love all water sports! Also suggestions for best time of year to go (we are in the planning stages). Thanks!

Hi, I haven't taken our kids to Mexico yet, but I've done some research. My husband and I have gone the the Mayan Rivera a few times and the kids really would love to come with us (they're 5 and 7 now). I've been told that the Iberostar resorts are great for kids. There are around 5 in the Playa del Carmen area ranging in price/ameneties, but all are very nice, AI's. I've also read good reviews for Occidental Grand Xcaret for kids. You get a day pass to the park. But I don't think it's actually on the ocean - they have a man made cove/lagoon. But it's supposed to be good for swimming. But I think the next time we go, if we bring the kids, we might stay at the Barcelo Maya Tropical/Colonial.

As far as time of year to go, we've always gone in May or June and then we've also gone in August. August is HOT....May is nice. Watch for hurricane season. I've read that Dec - March the pools may feel a bit chilly. I don't think you'll run into spring breakers as much in Playa as you would in Cancun and many of the AI's there don't book to spring breakers, but you have to consider that as well.

Have fun planning!

Thanks for that! Of the places that you've been in the Mayan, what has been the nicest place so far? OF the things we are looking for is a hotel close to great beach, proximity to villages for nic nac shopping, and cool places to go snorkeling.

I don't think I'm going to be a great help with that. My husband and I have only stayed at adults only AI's in Mexico, so I can't really help with where to go with the kids other than the research I mentioned. We haven't stayed in Playa del Carmen, we've always stayed a little closer to Cancun, like Puerto Morales. Which I wouldn't recommend, because there really isn't much there other than hotels. You definitely want Playa.

I would go to the reviews and forums on tripadvisor.com. You can get a lot of info about family friendly all inclusive resorts there. I would read the reviews posted to get a feel for the resorts. A lot of them have pictures posted with them too. You'll get some good info from the Playa del Carmen forums as well. You can do searches on the forums too.

Look into the Iberostar Resorts. There are five of them in the Riveriera Maya. Go to
http://www.iberostar-board.com/boards/index.php
For great information.

I just "won" an auction for a all-inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen on the website skyauction.com. It's my first experience with it and it has been great thus far. I have some friends who have purchased a few trips through this website with no problems.

They have several package deals at different resorts on auction in Playa, Cancun and Cozumel (amongst others.) Depending on who is bidding against you, you can get some great deals. I won an auction to stay at the Xcaret for 7 nights with roundtrip airfare from SFO (on American Airlines!) and we were able to add on an extra night for a fee. For four people the cost came to just over 4K which I think is a pretty good deal. Again, you might be able to "win" the auction for a lower bid price...

Check it out! Good luck!