mexico with teens and parents
 

We are starting to plan a trip to Mexico for the 2nd week in April and wondered if anyone can please help.
"We" consists of two families made up of parents in our 40s (well okay my husband was 50 this year but he just ran the houston marathon and is a very youthful 50!), and 4 teens, My three , daughter aged 18 the week before and sons , 16 and 15, and our friends' 16 year old daughter.
We are not looking for the spring break experience though! the kids can do that without us some time!
neither however do we want them to be bored and so are looking for somewhere with activities.
All of us enjoy sailing, windsurfing, beaches, lying by the pool, sightseeing ruins and shopping in varying degrees.
To this end we have been thinking of an all inclusive holiday for once.
My husband suggested Tulum / Akumel.
If anyone can offer us any suggestions ,advice or places to stay I would be very grateful.
Our last holiday in Costa Rica was developed almost exclusively with the help of Fodor's and it was a resounding success!
Many hanks, Aileen

Hi again,
I am just checking in to see if anyone has any ideas .
Is this actually the correct board for queries about Mexico?
Thanks again , Aileen

My family loves the AI beach vacations. It's easy with kids. They can eat what and when they want. No need to carry money around. There tends to be other kids of similar ages there, and activites (pick up games, contests, etc.). Just about all these places include non-motorized waiter sports (sailing, etc).

A couple of years ago we stayed at Barcelo Maya which is between Playa Del Carmen and Akumel. Barcelo had a lovely beach, even some decent snorkelling. It's a big property, nicely landscaped. We never had trouble finding a shady spot by the beach or pool. Tennis courts were always available. My son played some organized basketball and soccer games. I felt completely comfortable with my kids roaming around the property. A few years before that we stayed in Playacar at what is now called the Gala resort. That was nice too, but I don't remeber it being as large, as the Barcelo, and the grounds weren't quite as nice. The playcar area has several AI's along the beach. Most of them get good reviews (the Iberostars get good revdiew here). The nice part about playcar is the town of Playa Del Carman is a 5 min. cab ride, or a 20 min or so walk away. The ferry to cozumel is in town, which is an easy side trip to take.

Theren't aren't quite as many resort in the Tulum, Akumel area but I think more and more are being built all the time.

From any of these lcoation you can rent a car to do site-seeing trips (Tulum, eco-parks, etc).

Do a search here on Akumel, and you'll probably find info about resort there. There are also smaller cabana type hotels in that area.

We are heading to Costa Rica this Easter with our kids. Our favorite all-inclusive was Puerto Vallarta. You loose the tourquise water, but gain so much culture/jungle/hills (assuming this interests you if you enjoyed CR). We rented ATV's, zip lined, 30.00/hour boat guide off the beach (great), bull-fight, and enjoyed the hotel a couple days. Most resort area on the Pacific interest me more than Cancun/Tulum which is much more commercial (in my opinion-depends what your looking for)

Thank you fro these replies. I am wondering if anyone has been to any of the all inclusive hotels in the Akumel area.
if so , we were wondering if anyone is able to reccomend a hotel with sailing and/or windsurfing facilities.
Many thanks again, Aileen

Dear MFNYC,
Do you have a web address for the Al vacations? Every which way I google it i come up with places in Alabama!
Thanks you very much for your help again.

We stayed at the Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar over Christmas break and loved it. There was plenty for any age group to do. The grounds were beaituful and the staff could not have been nicer. IBerostar has six hotels in the Riviera Maya. Four are at the Paraiso complex and two (Tucan/Quetzel) are closer to Playa Del Carmen.

aileen -

You might want to try locogringo.com. They some of the better AIs. There are a few in that area since the ecosystem is so fragile; unfortunately more are being built.

There are 3 ruins close by: Tulum, Coba and Muyil.

Sorry - can't help more; we're a family that loves Tulum with it's small hotels and lack of simulation.

Thank you for all this helpful input which we are following up.
I wonder if anyone has visited the DREAMS Tulum resort and spa?
It seems a if it might fulfill all requirements .
Any input wold be of help.
Thanks

AI is just an abbrevaition for all-inclusive. I think funjet and apple vacations have websites that list many all-inclusives.