lhs624

Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Playa Maya in PDC recently. It almost looks too good to be true.

Thanks!

Diana

I stayed there in 2004 and 2003 and would stay there again.

Very clean and on a nice stretch of beach in a very central location.

Friendly helpful owner and employees, and a nice breakfast comes with the room rate.

Definitely a place I recommend.

Ally

It's been 3 years since I was there, but knowing the owners/manager, I'm sure it's just as nice now as it was then. I'd not hisitate to make another reservation there.

swimmr

I stayed there January 20. Wonderful little hotel, perfect location on the beach in PDC. You enter from the beach, around the corner from the Alhambra hotel on Av. 8. Friendly staff, clean room, great view of the beach.

mimipam

Hi,
I note that Diana says "a nice stretch of beach." Is the beach really nice and how is the water there? Is the swimming good with sandy beach in the water? What about rocks? I have been to Maroma where is beach is fabulous, but it is very expensive there. Just wondering if we might be happy with Playa Maya. The beach is our most important aspect plus the website for Playa Maya looks good.

Diana

Hmmm. HOw to phrase this delicately?

Playa Maya is not at all in the same class of property as Maroma, but it does have a lot of wonderful things about it - as was mentioned earlier.

The beach at PDC is not really known as a "swimming beach" per se. It's more of a see and be seen kinda place.

The beach at PDC is also VERY susceptible to erosion, and each storm system eaither takes away or replenishes sand there at an astonishing rate. It is possible to lose or gain several feet of beach from one week to the next there.

If the beach and swimming are important to you look at Isla Mujeres a short ferry ride from Cancun. Playa Norte takes my breath away.

Ryberg

Nice to see interest and nice comments!

The beach has been excellent in this neighborhood, I'm happy to report, since Hurricane Ivan's visit some month ago raised it 3-5 feet vertically and improved it a good corresponding stretch horizontally out into the water. While Ivan had a good hand in some of the ravaging of the beaches that has resulted in the appearance of a lot of hand-wringing posts recently, it had the opposite effect (it just shifted all the sand around, after all) on the beach in central Playa from about 6th street (which happens to be just south of Playa Maya) all the way north to the new dock.

But yes, beaches are susceptible to rapid change, for the better or worse, with no notice. They are part of unpredictable natural cycles, so unfortunately there's not much more ability to predict with accuracy what the beach will be like in a given place at a given time than there is to predict how many days you might get windy or rainy weather during your trip.

Steve

zootsi

I just came back from PDC a few weeks ago. The beach in front of Playa Maya is quite nice, one of the best sections of beach in the downtown area. Yes, it is great for swimming - sandy bottom, crystal clear.

mimipam

Thanks to all of you for your input. I really depend on this site a lot.

swimmr

I thought the beach in front of Playa Maya was quite nice. I swam out there, and the bottom didn't have many rocks. The water was really clear on our day there, maybe we were lucky, but I thought it looked better than the beach in front of other PDC hotels.

Ryberg

And you're very sweet, Diana, but you don't have to worry about pulling any punches or whatever with me!

Steve

lhs624

Thanks everyone. Booked a room at Playa Maya. Can't wait!