Playa del Carmen: Beach, Good Food, and More!

5th Avenue is a big strip with lots of restaurants, cafés and vendors. No cars are allowed there. There are also lots of hotels on this strip, too. We stayed on 5th Avenue; the place was comfy, and it took only a few minutes to walk to the beach. You really don’t need a rental car there; we took buses everywhere. They have great beaches to walk, with not many rocks and lots of sand! Seafood and seafood is what we mostly ate. As far as vacations go, it was not too expensive.

For a few dollars, take a taxi to Chadraui, a very large supermarket, for all your groceries.

Quick Tips:

Use your ATM at any bank to get local currency, as they may rip you off if you use only dollars. Bargain with taxis or use the bus instead!

Always haggle if you don’t mind it. Avoid timeshare presentations for free breakfast offers, free blankets, etc., nothing is free unless you have free time and want to buy a timeshare!

Best Way To Get Around:

Take a bus or taxi or go by foot!

High-season rates are about $60 to $70 and happen around late January. This is in a great location. Rooms are clean and comfy but have no frills, with no phone and no real amenities or a safety box in room, though it is truly in the heart of 5th Avenue and in a very, very convenient location.

It is in a truly fantastic location if you are looking to be near the beachfront. The owner/manager, Ulysses, is very nice and personable and will do what he can to make your stay a good one! We called him directly to book our room.

This is technically an area known as Playacar. It is a timeshare, but we ate several meals there, namely breakfast and lunch. If you are looking for a good value, this is it. It's buffet-style and ranges from salads and fresh fruit to Mexican, seafood, and continental. All is priced under $10, and you have an open-air restaurant that has views of the pool and the sea.

Can't go wrong here...

You can't miss this place if you are looking for Classic Mexico with seafood; this is another famous one... We had fajitas there, which were very good, and I like to have their local drink, known as "Orchata." I may have mispelled it, but it is a creamy, frothy, almond-based drink.

They are in the heart of 5th Avenue, and while I don't remember, everyone knows where it is. You can't get there by car; you have to walk to it. There's also plenty of mariachi music there to keep you entertained!

I have been to the one in Cancun, so I was familiar with this one in Playa del Carmen. It's basically American and Mexican dishes: burgers, tacos, nachos, etc.

Food was good, and the atmosphere was nice, as it overlooks Playa del Carmen, a fountain in the square, as well as the shore.

However, I did get food poisoning at this restaurant. This was our last meal before we caught our flight home. I've been to Mexico a dozen times and nver got sick until this time--AVOID THE DIP/COLESLAW THING, WHATEVER THAT WAS! I think that is what did me in.

That ruined my dining experience there!

This restaurant offers a quiet, candlelit setting, steak, and grilled seafood. There's a bar and live music, and credit cards are accepted. It's located at 5th Ave Nte between 4th and 6th Nte, and it was towards the beach, so that is why it is a bit quieter than being directly on 5th Avenue. The waiter waiting on us and the restaurant staff in general were really friendly to us. The atmosphere was nice, and they had a good variety of dishes; their focus, of course, with a name like that, was seafood. We had some calamari, and I had some shrimp dish that had some veggies and melted cheese, and they were both good. Bread was fresh, and it wasn't overpriced. We mainly had appetizers, drinks, and tasty fresh bread, and that was all about $18. If I was really hungry, I would have ordered the lobster! It looked good too.

We wanted to do this but really didn't formally plan it. You really don't need to. We just went to the nearby port at Playa del Carmen. There we saw plenty of tour operators.

They pretty much offered us a group-guided snorkeling tour with equipment and drinks on-board: a total of 3 hours for about $25 a person.

We took the ferry to Cozumel, which was about a 40-minute ride. We met our operator on the other side and hopped on the boat.

It was a group of about 10 to 12 people, so it wasn't bad at all. Take a waterproof camera, and you will have some wonderful photos...

Xcaret is a great place for outdoor activity. It combines swimming, nature, and Mexican folklore all in one.

This was my second time to go to Xcaret. We really enjoyed swimming in these caves/rivers. Some of the caves were dark, some were lit up, and some were exposed; either way, it was an adventure.

Definitely bring snorkels; without them, you will get tired, as it is a lot of swimming. You can also float on innertubes in some area. After you are done, you will be treated a fantastic Mexican folklore show. I must say this was an awesome show! The production was almost Disney-like--great singers, great costumes, and they had a variety of themes but were mainly talking about Mexico and how it evolved until the present day, showing the rich and diverse culture.

You can either go with an arranged tour or go directly to Xcaret and buy your tickets there. We did the tour thing, which is basically transport there; there's really nothing to explain. Just swim, eat, and have fun; then go see the show, as we did!!

P.S. I know I said this many times--bring your waterproof camera!

Well, some of us get a bit hesitant to try the bus and just prefer walking! Why haggle or get ripped off by cab drivers? Be a little adventurous and just ask ahead of time at your hotel; they will tell you what to do and not to do!

Watch out for the timeshare pitches!

All-inclusive is lots of money, and you feel tied down to that hotel's food. If you like to explore, it's not a good idea and really isn't a great deal.

ATM cards work over there, so there's no need to carry lots of cash or get ripped off by exchange places.

If you are staying here for a period of time, you might actually need groceries or possibly take back some souvenirs--buy vanilla extract.

Either way, there is a huge hyper-market known as Chadraui, a famous grocery store in this part of Mexico, and the one in Playa del Carmen is in a good location off the Federal Highway before you enter Benito Juarez Avenue. It is a fairly new shopping center area, and there are all kinds of things to buy.

We usually buy fresh fruit, breakfast items, bottled water, and things like that. Of course, you can find snorkeling equipment and so much more, too. From the main part of Playa del Carmen, you can get there by foot, but it is about a $2.50 cab ride, and there is a taxi stand in front of the store if needed.

Well, some people are hesitant to be adventurous in places like Mexico. People have typical and understandable fears, such as the water not being safe. After you get over some of your fears, you will realize that Mexico is still one of the best bargains out there if you do it right!

My very first time I got an all-inclusive package, which wasn’t bad for my first taste of the Yucatan. That does limit you, though, as you are eating the food of the hotel and stuck.

The resorts make a lot of money by charging you anywhere from $50 to $75 per person to feed and drink you to until you can’t anymore! Well, for us, it was important to not be tied down to a certain hotel and it's food, no matter how good it was, so that is what we do now.

Recently, on our anniversary, we had a 4-day stay in Mexico, which I booked through a travel agent. The charter flight cost us about $190 each and was a direct flight – a similar flight on American would be about $650!!! I investigated and looked for a reasonable no-frills hotel and called Don Emilione directly, where I got a rate of about $60 per night. The total was $650 for our 4-day stay.

As for the food, well, there is so much to choose, from breakfast at $3 a person or all-you-can-eat restaurants for about $5 a person, and lunch could be a local Mexican dish or, in our case, shrimp cocktail at a beachfront hotel with quesadillas and a fresh lime drink. For a nice dinner you could easily pay $30, and you would have eaten plenty of appetizers and seafood for that.

Therefore, the food tab would be $60 total as opposed to $50 or more for an all-you-can-eat deal at your hotel. Now, if you drink a lot, I guess that might appeal to you, so I guess it just depends on your interests.

With our way you get to pick a different place to eat and get to try different things. Also, if you go on a tour, there goes your all-you-can-eat! Well, they do give you a sack lunch to take with you!

A big money saver is buying some essentials from a grocery store. Use the bus, and if you have to use a taxi, ask ahead of time what they will charge!

Island of the Women is one of our favorite little islands. It isn't far from Playa. The first thing you need to do is catch a bus for about $3 to the Cancun bus terminal. Once in the Cancun bus terminal, catch a taxi to Puerto Juarez, which is about $1.5. There you can take the Ferry to Isla Mujeres, which is about $7 round-trip.

The best thing, especially if you plan to spend the whole day there, is to rent a golf cart for the day. They start at about $50, but we negotiated them down to about $32.

It is also a good idea to take a waterproof camera and snorkeling equipment. It will come in handy if you decide to go snorkeling at the Garafon Park.

This is a nice park with hammocks, a pool, a pier with snorkeling, caves, and a walking area, and there is a lot more to see. You can also swim with the dolphins and see a turtle farm.

What is also nice is to cruise around in your golf cart and see some of the homes and how the locals live - very nice! There are a few hotels here, and it is not as commercialized as Cancun. It is more laid-back and simple.