Yucatan itinerary help
 

My wife and son (16-yo) are staying at the Mayan Palace Riviera Maya for a week in July. This resort is between Puerto Morelos and Punta Bete, north of Playa del Carmen. We are renting a car and would like a mix of relaxation, adventure and culture.

I have just started my research and am asking for feedback and suggestions on my itinerary thus far:

Day 1: Arrive Cancun International in AM, explore Cancun resort area before drive and check in to resort

Day 2: Hidden Worlds Cenote and Xel-Ha

Day 3: Puerto Aventuras Deep Sea Fishing 1/2 day

Day 4: Coba Ruins in AM, Tulum Ruins PM and beach

Day 5: Open day at resort, spa / beach

Day 6: Punta Venado ATV adventure

Day 7: Open, beach / Playa del Carmen

I have never been to this area and am unsure if I am interested in going to the touristy area of Cancun, particulary with my son. Any feedback on these tour ideas, on the Mayan Palace, or any suggestions regarding restaurants are welcomed.

Thanks.

Tim

Cancun would be good if your son needs a fix of American tourist culture -- chain restaurants, amusments -- otherwise, I'd skip it.

You might find touring Coba and Tulum in one day pretty tiring. It's hot pretty much all the time, and though you'd think the seaside location in Tulum would be cooling, the place can be an inferno, too. I see you're planning to spend some time at the beach at Tulum -- very wise.

Also, I'd strongly suggest you do a bit of snorkeling outside Xel Ha, maybe at Playa. Boats leave from the beach and run north along the coast.

Thank you for the input. Perhaps it would be better to pair up Coba with Hidden Worlds Cenote on the return drive to my resort. Then I can leave Xel-Ha and your suggested snorkling to its own day, and Tulum and the beach to its own day. I want to see as much as I can but also have a relaxing vacation. My hope would certainly be to come back again anyway.

Thanks

We have done Coba and Tulum in one day. We rented bikes at Coba to get around much, much faster. It can be done - but bring lots of water!! We always bring two Camelbaks. Try to get there first thing in the morning. Then do Tulum - which has no shade, but has an area to swim - I'd probably head right for the beach area after seeing Coba to cool off; then see the site.

Have you thought about doing an Alltounative guided tour? I would do that instead of Xel-Ha and Hidden Worlds. Choose the cave snorkling trip that uses a Unimog to go into the jungle. It's a huge adventure!!

Well, I hope your vacation went well. Were you subjected to the Mayan Palace strong-arm sales scam? I hope not.

Mayan Palace has a messed-up company culture and a really bent concept of how people want to relax, based upon our experience last week. If you don't say "yes" to their incessant attempts to sell you a $50K time share, they get downright mean. Their 90-minute "free breakfast" and presentation will take many hours if you let them. I would advise others to stay away from the Mayan Palace if they want to have a relaxing vacation.

There are lots of other places in the Yucatan / Quintana Roo area with great pools at the beach. We really enjoyed our stay at the "Presidente" hotel in Cozumel (part of the Intercontinental chain). If you want to rent a car, make your reservations in advance. Good luck!!

Yes, Mayan Palace is definitely not where you want to go if you really want to feel like you're in Mexico. Stayed there once last year with a friend while waiting on my condo to be finished and I thought I would go out of my mind. But now, after being in PDC for awhile I have a good friend who sells for Mayan Palace and I certainly wouldn't want his job for all the pesos in the world. I think if he could he would do something else but finding work that is not construction can be difficult. Especially if you want to get paid anything to be able to live. I'm guessing the 16 year old would have had fun though since most people at the MP speak english and the pool is huge. Not my cup of tea though.

It has been almost 2 years since we were there with our 2 daughters and I am writing this without my notes, but anyway we rented a car and stayed in Puerto Morelos for 1 night and enjoyed the quiet pace, then stayed on the beach in Tulum for a night, walked the beach all day, very peaceful. Drove to Cancun for an hour and that was enough, too commercial. Coba is a 3/4 day adventure whereas Tulum can be seen in a couple hours. Don't miss Chichen Itza or Uxmal. We had a car and spent a couple days in Merida, very authentic. We took the car to Cozuumel and thouroughly enjoyed the back end of the island. We are not resort people so I can't help with that. Great fun and easy to get around.

bookmarking...great details on this thread, thanks all!