Iberostar Paraiso Beach or Palladium Grand Resort - Playa Del Carmen
 

Hi,

We traveling to Mexico for the first time in June. I am so lost!! After starting with Cancun and then reading many messages on this forum, I think that the Playa Del Carmen area might be more of what we are looking for.
Can anyone give me some input on the following for these hotels:

1)Fun for kids? Girls ages 10,13
2)Decent Food?
3)Nice Pool area?
4)Nice Beach for swimming and snorkeling?

Also, are either of these hotels a long drive from the airport?
I hope I didn't ask for too much information in one post. We have been to Hawaii many many times but this is just so different, and there are so many options, I am completely lost!
Thanks for any input you can share.

Beth

I don't stay at all-inclusive resorts, so can't help with specifics. But, if I was going to do so, I'd want to stay at one that was close to Playa del Carmen. It's such a nice town. Great restaurants, nice beach bars, decent shopping. The resorts in Playacar are a very short cab ride or a fairly long walk away. Paladium is maybe 20 miles down the road. I don't know where the Iberostar is. Some of those resorts are pretty much out there by themselves. If you don't want to leave the resort, that's fine, but it would make me nuts.

I do think you will need to get away from the Playacar area if you want to snorkel right off the beach. You might want to look at the Akumal area, some nice resorts and also some restaurants off site that aren't too far away.

Jean

My husband and I have stayed at the Iberostar the last two years. It was a great experience for us. They do have a great children's program with activities all day long as well as special night time shows just for them. I would recommend greatly.

My 15 year old son and I stayed at Iberostar Paraiso in 2002. We both loved it so much we are visiting again this April. I gave my son a choice of any resort in Mexico or even going to Jamaica, and he wanted to go back to the Paraiso. The pool is absolutely awesome ! I have friends that went to the Palladium and loved it. Both are a distance from the town of Play del Carmen, but a very short bus or cab ride. There is no good snorkeling at Paraiso, I don't know about Palladium. One thing that kept me from trying the Palladium is that their entire pool is 5'3" deep. I am 5'2" and I like to walk around in the pool. Your girls would love the Paraiso, but I don't think you could go wrong at either ! Good luck and have fun !

IU think few of these resort have decent snorkelling right off the beach. The one that does is Barcelo. I also don't know about the specific ones you mentioned, but from my experience with AIs in the area with kids, they all are good, food is decent, but never great.

Just one addition to what SR said. I have stayed at the Palladium. The main pool is indeed about over 5 feet deep. However there are two smaller pools that are about 4 feet deep. (Note that one of these pools is adults only - the other can be used by anyone. Neither of these 2 pools was heavily used when I was there - I liked them for the quieter than main pool environment. There is a Kids Club but I cannot tell you much about it - since I do not have kids. The beach is quite long. Some areas are rocky (requiring water shoes) but other areas (like in front of the Kantenah section) have very few rocks and some decent snorkeling. The main pool area is spacious and nice but except for a shallow kids area it is deep. The food variety and quality is good. All the Mayan Riviera hotels are a bit of a drive from the airport. I think the Iberstar Paraiso Beach is closer to the airport than the Palladium (which is over an hour from the airport). BTW PDC and Mayan Riviera in general are a MUCH better choice than Cancun.