Playa del carmen resort with snorkeling beach
 

We are heading to playa del carmen area in early may and would like to know if there are any good resorts for families with young kids. I have 3 children ages 3-8. My 2 older children enjoy snorkeling and I was hoping to find a resort where we can snorkel from the beach. Any ideas?

Playa is a fun place to be, but it is not known for good snorkeling. Just 1/2 hour south of Playa is Akumal which has the best 'from the beach' snorkeling on the coast. Akumal is a quiet little enclave of condos, small hotels and restaurants. The best snorkeling spot in Akumal for small children is Ya-Kul Lagoon, which is at the north end of Akumal. It's quite safe and teeming with thousands of fish of all sizes and shapes. Akumal Bay beach is a wide sandy beach in the center of Akumal that also has great snorkeling, but to see the turtles you need to swim out into 8' deep water - could be tricky for little ones. If you want to stay near Akumal beach, check out Club Akumal Caribe and the Akumal Beach Club. Also visit locogringo.com for tons of info on the whole area.

The Barcelo resorts in the Puerto Aventuras area used to have some decent snorkeling from their beach. I haven't been in several years so don't know if that's still the case.

Does akumal have any of the bigger resorts that you find in Playa? How are the Gran Bahia's or Grand Palladium's? We're looking for a 4 starish resort with nice pools and lots of other activities for the kids. If we had to we'd take a drive to akumal or xcaret for the snorkeling or maybe even a ferry ride over to Cozumel. Perfect world would be to get the resort and the snorkeling beach but I wouldn't want to sacrifice on the resort for the snorkeling. Does that help any?
Thanks for any feedback.

Just checked out the Barcelo resorts. They look like what we are looking for. Thanks
Any other suggestions?

The Barcelo resorts are close to Akumal, so you can easily take a cab to some of the better snorkeling spots in Akumal as well.

When we went to Barcelo (I think the Maya Beach resort, some of the others didn't even exist at the time), there was a pier toward one end of the property where there was good snorkeling. People will bring bread, and throw pieces in the water. Lots of fish would swim up. I just googled, and apparently the pier is still there, and the snorkeling still decent. The beach there, in general, is very nice. My kids had a great time (they were a little older than yours).

Look into the Grand Sirenis. There's a Riviera Maya side and a Mayan Beach side (www.sirenishotels.com). Excellent snorkeling off the beach (kind of deep water, though), and only a $10 taxi ride to Akumal Beach and also close to Yal-ku Lagoon. It's a very stark looking resort with the white buildings and not a lot of vegetation, but service is great, rooms huge, and includes some nice extras like a lazy river, coffee shop, and ice cream shop.

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