We've stayed at non-AIs in Cancun several times and were thinking about basing ourselves in Playa del Carmen instead as I'd like to take a daytrip out to Cozumel and maybe a daytrip to either Tulum/Xelha or Xcaret. Are there any good non all inclusives in Playa del Carmen? If so, are there enough good restaurants that you would want to go non AI? And are the hotels within walking distance of the restaurants and shopping?

Thanks for any advice you can give me

Yes! Lot's of good non AI in Playa. Hotel Playa Maya is great and on the beach, Hotel La Tortuga is well liked, Mosquito Blue is lovely and El Faro is nice too and also on the beach! All are within walking distance of MANY restaurants. You'll love it.
Go to www.playadelcarmeninfo.com and check their message boards. Their main board is for people who DON'T go all-inclusive so you can get a lot of info there!

I agree with Ally. The Playa-Maya is on the beach and its a great little hotel. A little more expensive are the condos at the Blue Parrot, also on the beach. You will not even being to imagine the number of restaurants in Playa and many are very good. Playa de Carmen is small enough that almost all hotels are walking distant to restaurants and shopping. The Playa-Maya, El faro and Blue Parrot are all central locate to everything. Enjoy!

There are also several cheaper alternatives to the abvoe mentioned which are right on the beach. We stayed at Hotel Colibri last Janaury. Next door is Hotel Costa del Mar. A little further up the beach is Blue Beach. It just depends on how much you want to spend. If you get a couple of blocks off the beach, there are several places for under $50.00 that are decent.

Jean

Thanks for the advice! Hotel Playa Maya looks nice and I'll be sure to check out that website Ally.

The problem coming from Chicago is airfare though, packages from Apple and FunJet seem to be cheaper than trying to put it together yourself. The only EPs offered are Continental Plaza Playacar and the Gran Porto Real. If I can't find cheaper airfare, are either of these options OK?

The beach in front of Gran Porto Real doesn't get much praise. Small and rocky, bad erosion. However, a few minutes to the north there is a wonderful beach. I haven't stayed at either, but Porto Real seems to get better reviews.

Have you looked into an 'air only' option with either apple or Funjet? Sometimes cheap fares can be found that way.

Jean

Thanks for the suggestion Jean but I already checked and FunJet was a whopping $399 for our dates and Apple claimed to have no flights. Expedia and Travelocity were equally as high. I can get a 4 night package through FunJet for $515 or $545 so the hotel would have to be $58 or lower to break even. But I'll keep checking, never know when a fare sale may hit.

Coming from east central Iowa, where we have to connect to Chicago, $399.00 actually is a very good fare to Cancun. I'm happy any time it's under $500.00.

You can get rooms at Hotel Costa del Mar for $54.00. We're trying to decide between there and the more expensive bungalows on the beach at Blue Beach (still under $100.00).

Jean

Jean, how much is it approx. to transfer from the airport to PDC? With the packages it's included. Do you grab a taxi?

I guess I'm spoiled coming from Chicago where you can get cheaper flights almost anywhere, $399 sounded pretty high to me.

I *think* taxis from the Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen are around $50.00. I'm not sure though. We take the Riviera bus which boards right at the airport and goes nonstop to downtown Playa del Carmen for about $13.00 US round trip. They leave almost hourly during the day. If you have a flight arriving at night, you'd have to arrange different transportation. There are also several transfer companies, not sure about rates, they make stops where ever people are staying, so there may be multiple stops before you reach your destination. This is also true of the Apple/Funjet transfers.

I'd check out the hotel list at http://playadelcarmeninfo.com/
If you stay four or more nights at one of the hotels that they're affiliated with, you get a 'free' Playa Deal card. We've not used one before, but the discounts are pretty good, looks to be about 25% at participating restaurants. And there are good restaurants on the list.

Actually, I just e-mailed La Tortuga to check on availability for next March.

Thanks Jean, that website is great and will probably answer a lot of my questions!

There are some nice places on the northern side of PDC which have nicer (wider) beaches. Las Palapas, and its next door neighbor, Shangri La del Caribe. I stayed at the Shangri La on a totally last minute trip last spring, and I felt like I stumbled into a gold mine. $150 per night, breakfast and dinner included. Breakfast was great, dinner was good, but the price is low enough where you can go eat dinner at the other restaurants in town and not feel like you are wasting $$$. So it's sort of a mini AI, but with the smaller family hotel atmosphere. And yes, the other people were right.....$399 is an excellent airfare to Cancun. Jump on it!