Exploring Cool Hidden Areas South of Cancun

South of Cancun is a wonderland of beautiful beaches and fun nightlife. Be careful in your selection of hotels or you'll be disappointed, as were we. There are plenty of tourist trap mega-resorts in this area.
We did manage to reclaim our vacation by taking the time to drive south and investigate some small areas that proved amazing beyond imagination at a great price.

Playa Del Carmen is a marvelous place to stay if you want a fun and active experience. Next time I visit I will stay a few days in Playa Del Carmen to party and then down in Tulum for some R&R and then back to Playa del Carmen.

Just south of Tulum is a wonderful, large white sand beach with minimal tourists and plenty of beautiful palapas to sit under while margaritas and beer are brought to you.
I am so glad we had a car and took the time to explore. We left the monster resort of the Mayan Place Riviera Maya and found a real "exclusive" beachfront hotel/villa (with only 8 rooms).
We also found Punta Allen and a fabulous hotel called Ana y Jose with the best restaurant and a beautiful beach for a day trip. To get to this hidden gem head south (from Cancun) on highway 307 (the only main highway) until you are just south of the big Tulum sign (about 131 kms or 81.4 miles south of the Cancun Airport).
As soon as you pass the Tulum Ruins parking lot look for the traffic and light turn left, drive 1 mile ahead and you'll find hotel signs, turn right. You'll be on the road that parallels the ocean, be patient as you drive past some hippy looking village spots (or if you are a hippie person stop here). Drive until you reach a large speed bump right in front of Ana y Jose Hotel and Restaurant. There is a parking lot on the right.
Another find is Puerto Morelos, a quaint city between Cancun and Playa del Carmen that time and tourist's seem to pass. There are restaurants around the town square where residents gather. We found a French (yup in Mexico) restaurant to enjoy our surroundings as we watched children run through the city square. Fishing boats on a beautiful beach are a welcome sight after being at a mega-resort which stripped all the charm and culture from the area.

Quick Tips:

Rent a car, rent a car, rent a car!
Do not stay in the Hotel Zone (if you want to feel as if you are in Mexico at all).
Do not stay at one of the monster hotels away from everything fun.
Explore and enjoy the culture. Drive and find small towns where you can experience the real people and food of the area. We loved Puerto Morelos between Cancun proper and Playa del Carmen.
Check out Casa Cenote where you can see (stand over) where the cenote actually pops into the ocean. A graduate student did a study on the water and found that over 400,000 gallons a minute of cenote water pour into the ocean at this spot. Casa Cenote is a must visit, a great place on the ocean to drink and eat as well as view the cenote on the land and ocean sides of this great location (it actually sits over the underground river).
Visit Playa del Carmen or stay there for a day or two of fabulous bars, restaurants and shopping. Avenue 5 is the main drag, about 2 blocks inland from the beach.

Best Way To Get Around:

Rent a car, rent a car, rent a car. It is easy to drive around (they drive on the right just like we do in America). There is only one main road, highway 307(hard to get lost on). You need your freedom to find all of the wonderful places to visit along the road. When you see a sign for a village, just turn in and check it out (Puerto Morelos). We found fabulous dining and amazing beaches by just driving in and around the small streets.

The Mayan Palace is nothing but a gigantic tourist-trap. The pool is the only redeeming quality; however, you have to get up early to save a good spot and it is not heated. Bring bug spray and tennis shoes. You’ll need to walk 20 minutes to get to the pool, unless you’re one of the lucky-few who manage to stay in a building near the pool. You become a human-feast for the bugs and mosquitoes along the path. Bugs are also at the pool along with sand fleas on the sand (you can’t swim in the ocean because of the rocks). Buildings sprawl away from the ocean, not along the ocean. I don’t think there is one ocean view room there, bad for a resort promoting a quarter-of-a-mile of beachfront property. Our view was of a watershed or laundry facility (see photo). Some lucky visitors can catch two shuttles to get to the pool, when we tried they were usually full and always had a wait.
The resorts boasts exclusivity, wrong, they have over 20 buildings full of tourists and are building even more (think construction mess).
The accommodations upset us because our friends traded a new, beautiful 2 bedroom 3 bathroom timeshare for a one bedroom. RCI wrote this unit sleeps 6, 4 privately. Look at the photo, the sleeper sofa they reference is the sofa and the extra two people are supposed to sleep on a wooden board with a thin pad on it. Yes, it pulls out of the sofa, but on the floor (see photo). Great, my idea of a romantic week is sleeping on a SINGLE board on the floor, closer to the bugs with a pad that my feet hang over. Additionally there is NO way you can pull both of them out at the same time because they would hit each other, deh (look at the photo).
We checked into an awesome resort we found after we asked the front desk if they had a two bedroom unit and they confirmed that they had plenty. We went to the timeshare desk and they told us that they didn’t have any two bedroom units available (uh, lie). I explained that they didn’t offer a fair trade, and they couldn’t care less. I explained the paperwork said it sleeps 4 privately and they said it did (in the living room). The paperwork stated that the unit had a sleeper-sofa and I guess they consider sleeping ON TOP of the sofa a "sleeper-sofa." We called RCI, spoke to a supervisor and they didn’t care either, they stated we were wrong. Hello, I’m here looking at the facility and they weren’t. The hotel could care less about your comfort, they’re just happy they scammed you into it. So check out my article on the really cool places we did find. DO NOT stay here, it’s a big scam! Crummy service and a crummy beach, oh and you better have a car because it far from anything.

Blue Sky is a beautiful and secluded resort at a bargain price. Every room faces the ocean and there are only 8 of them, four down stairs and four upstairs. We chose downstairs because the room had a sliding glass door that opened to our own patio and the ocean. The rooms are beautiful with their local tile floors and are quite large and spacious.  We just "dumb-lucked" upon this gem by exploring up and down and around little streets off the main highway. There is a wonderful Italian restaurant on site and they have kayaks that you can explore the bay in (for free…wow, a pleasant surprise after getting kicked by the large mega resort we left). Large rooms, wonderful price, great amenities and a beautiful bay! If you walk along the beach there is a wonderful restaurant and bar called Casa Cenote just one resort away. On site they also offer a wonderful Italian restaurant where we enjoyed many meals.
I would recommend staying here for a few days to relax and then head south to the perfect beaches 10 minutes away at Ana y Jose and then up north to Playa del Carmen for some serious partying.

Punta Allen is a fabulous peninsula with an expansive stretch of secluded, powder white soft sandy beach.
To get to this hidden gem head south (from Cancun) on highway 307 (the only main highway) until you are just south of the big Tulum sign (about 131 kms or 81.4 miles south of the Cancun Airport). As soon as you pass the Tulum Ruins parking lot look for the traffic and light turn left, drive 1 mile ahead and you'll find hotel signs, turn right. You'll be on the road that parallels the ocean, be patient as you drive past some hippy looking village spots (or if you are a hippie person stop here). Drive until you reach a large speed bump right in front of Ana y Jose Hotel and Restaurant. There is a parking lot on the right.

This is where we chose to stop… who knows what else is down the way… keep exploring and let us know. You can stop here or go to any of the small bars on the beach. If you don't stop here park wherever you can and enjoy the beach by walking up and down until you find a place that suits you. Of course we found the one with the most amenities and a fabulous restaurant and beautiful clean restrooms. If you drink or eat at a bar or restaurant in most of the small hotels on the beach they welcome you to use their beach chairs and facilities.

We found the most beautiful location at Ana y Jose and we wanted to stay the night, but the rooms were all booked up by a wedding party. Now that we know the area a bit better we’ll reserve one of these fabulous rooms.
On this stretch of sand there are boutique hotels with very rustic amenities all the way up to exclusive villas.

Playa del Carmen is where the entertainment, shopping and nightlife is located. We were bummed that we didn't have a hotel reservation here. Next time we visit we will spend a few days in a hotel in this lively area. This is a long street with cobblestones so bring great walking shoes and if you go clubbing bring a bag to carry a cute pair of shoes in, don't wear them or you'll be in blister world for the rest of your trip, trust me this is a long, long street and half the fun of it is walking around from bar to bar.

Fifth avenue is the main drag full of fabulous places to hang out. I don't need to go into detail about any of them because they are all pretty much open air buildings viewable from the streets. There is everything there, high end wine bars, chocolate themed bars and even a few dive sports bars. As you wander down the street don't forget to look up because there are some second story bars. Take some time to look down hallways and explore the courtyards as these have some creative decorations as well.

Take some time to go to the beach and stroll along the sand since there are clubs along the ocean, we went to a few. Just walk along the beach and find one you like. We found one with swings hanging around the bar. We drank at a living room on the sand. They set rattan chairs and loveseats on the sand and decorated small tables with candles. There is a bar with a wooden dance floor, a DJ and colored lights projecting on the sand and makeshift sheer walls.

Make sure to visit this area if you are into the clubbing or fine dining scene. They have a magazine you can pick up which includes a large pull out map. The online website to the magazine is www.la5ta.com/Quinta/View/Flash
It's a little slow and you don't really need advance research but check it out if you need more details.