The 10 Absolutely MUST SEE Playa Del Carmen Hot Spots
1.The beach. Playa del Carmen’s top attraction is the beach! With its miles of soft white sand, crystal blue water and wonderful sunny weather all year long, we all want to relax on a comfortable sun bed sipping a cold corona or pia colada. Playa’s beach clubs come in all tastes, upbeat, sophisticated or relaxed�
Playa's beach starts at the Cozumel Ferry docks. From here you may walk South to Playacar Beach. This is a private golf course and hotel development, it’s nice but you won’t find any facilities unless you are staying at one of the all inclusive resorts. Going North of the Ferry dock the best action on the beach begins. The entire beach in Playa is open to the public but this is where you will find beach clubs with a fantastic offer of drinks, food and music. They all charge a small fee for sun beds and shades and have beautiful lounge or tropical settings designed for serious relaxing and enjoying the beach.
The names of the beaches running north from Calle 14 are
� Playa Tukan Beach
� Mamitas Beach
� Shangri-La Beach
� Zubul Beach
� Coco Beach
Playa del Carmen beach is great for all. Either couples or families will find then perfect spot for a fun day under the sun.
The sand is great for playing and building endless castles and the ocean is calm and perfect for a family dip.
Honeymooners will find beautiful places to enjoy the beach, be it lounge, jazzy or tropical sound.
2. The 5a avenida. The 5th avenue, or �Quinta� as locals call it, is the meeting place of Playa del Carmen. A 2 mile long pedestrian avenue full of shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, tempting ice cream parlors, mariachi, live rock, jazz or reggae music, crafts and luxury boutiques, this is the place to come and sit for a beer or coffee and watch people from all walks of life go by.
The �Quinta� starts South Playa del Carmen at the Ferry station. This is the original spot where you would find small craft shops for people who came to cross to Cozumel island and bought some souvenirs on the way. Today you can find many silver stores as well a t-shirt boutiques, Mexican arts and crafts, large �sombreros to bring back home, as well as a charming open air shopping center called �Paseo del Carmen� with a great choice of restaurants, fast food and brand boutiques with good prices.
Keep walking North and the shops will become a bit larger and more international. You’ll find a mix of well known brands such as Converse, Roxi, Mc Donalds, Starbucks and Haagen Das, and original bohemian clothes, beautiful beach wear and bathing suites, designer jewelry and many more. Shopping on the Quinta is a great experience!
As for restaurants you name it! There is excellent dinning in Byblos, a long time French restaurant favorite of locals and tourist alike, as Well as the Di Vino for a good wine bar, or a more relaxed Tequila Barrel for beers, margaritas and a great crowd. As you keep walking you will find more and more options for great places to stop for a beer, an ice cream or a delicious meal.
3. Calle Corazn, in Playa del Carmen
Calle corazn. This little street is one of the most charming spots of Playa. It is at the heart of the Quinta, juts pass 10th street. Large and beautiful tropical trees with lush foliage welcome you and provide shade and coolness, as well as an enchanting atmosphere. You’ll find wonderful little shops as well as several delicious restaurants.
One of our favorites is an Asian arts and crafts shop that sells beautifully carved wood sculptures, exotic clothing, draperies, luscious bedding and cushions, necklaces and rings, even small and large pieces of furniture! You’ll have fun choosing the perfect gift to bring back home. The is also a curious specialty shop with Mexican crafts with a Frida Khalo theme; they have great re-usable shopping bags and refrigerator magnets, as well as a rich collection of �papier-mch� statuettes. On the left you’ll find 2 or 3 designer boutiques with fine natural fiber clothing, swimming suites and hats, great for the beach! Joh Grey's pub and restaurant is a fantastic choice for dinner or drinks, and at the end of the little street you’ll find the Hot Baking Company, a favorite among Playa's locals for great fruits juices, freshly baked muffins and bread, tempting eggs and sandwiches for breakfast or lunch, very good prices too.
4. Xcaret eco-park, 15 mns South of Playa del Carmen.
Taxi, bus or rented car. Parking available.
Xcaret is a majestic park by the sea that features unique activities, where you have fun while discovering the natural and cultural richness of Mexico. Among its great treasures, in Xcaret you can find underground rivers, a Butterfly Pavilion, a beach, inlets and Xcaret’s one of a kind celebration �Xcaret Mexico Espectacular�. At Xcaret you can enjoy the most amazing water activities such as swimming with dolphins, Snuba, Sea Trek and snorkeling.
One of the beauties of Quintana Roo jungles are its underground rivers and lagoons set amidst dense vegetation. They offer a delight to the eyes and a welcome opportunity to take a dip and refresh while contemplating tropical birds and native flowers. Among its multiples treasures, Xcaret has a beautiful lagoon that you may explore and enjoy with the whole family. Gently floating under the shimering light and the exotic sounds of birds is an unforgettable experience. The passageways, caves and coves are the perfect place to start an unforgettable exploration of the Lagoon’s crystal clear waters, multicolored fish and tropical environment. Hop up and take a rest or full siesta on one of the hammocks that hung along the banks, you’ll wake up relaxed and energyzed!
Paradise River, one of Xcaret's most recent attractions, is the perfect option for the people who want to experience the rivers and lagoons but prefer not to get wet. This was great news for grandma! We took place on one of the specially made rafts and glided comfortably through the rivers amazed at the beauty of the lush foliage and exotic plants and birds. It was awesome to see the deer, howling monkeys, macaws and iguanas from our boat, and feel the magic energy and scents of the jungle.
The Park offers many more wonderful experiences such as Mayan Ruins, replicas of Mayan villages, beaches, more water activities and even a wine cellar to taste the bounties of mexican food and wine.
This incredible journet ends with a spectacular night show with 260 artists in a celebration of the best traditions, history and mysticism of Mexico. As they describe it, �this wonderful tour around contemporary Mexico represents the essence and diversity of Mexico’s people, who dream, play, laugh, cry, dance and sing to the rhythm of Mexico’s history. Feel Mexico under your skin!�
5. Rio Secreto, 3 miles South of Playa del Carmen on the Cancun-Tulum Highway.
Bus, taxi, car, parking available.
Rio secreto. This �Secret River� is the most beautiful underground river in Quintana Roo. And could very well be one of the great wonders of the world. This is a guided visit to a stunning underground river with thousands of dramatic stalactites and stalagmites. It’s like stepping back in time to witness something mysterious and truly spectacular.
The discovery of Ro Secreto, previously known as Pool Tunich, has brought much excitement to Quintana Roo. This system of caves, formed over centuries by an underground river, is located only a few miles from Playa del Carmen. It is by far the longest partially flooded cave in the Yucatan Peninsula, but what makes Ro Secreto even more special is the fact that it is semi-sunken. Most caves found in the Yucatan are underwater, and if you want to explore them, you must receive specialized training in cave diving. That requires lots of practice and study, as well as a hefty investment in diver certification and dive gear. Ro Secreto has more than 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of semi-sunken cave mapped out with 15 natural outlets located in different areas. There’s nothing else like it!
Imagine finding a hole in the ground and lowering yourself into the unknown where you uncover a breathtaking underground world untouched for thousands of years. That is truly how this underground river system was first discovered. Before 2007, almost no one had entered Ro Secreto except for the man who first found it. Since then, Ro Secreto has become a protected nature reserve where you can safely explore the Yucatan Peninsula’s most awe-inspiring underground universe.
Keep in mind, this exotic and fragile geological formation requires an incredible amount of eco-awareness and sensitivity. We limit the size of tour groups to minimize impact on the cave. This will ensure that many generations get to see our planet’s natural history carved in mineral substances.
A journey through Ro Secreto is surreal, mystical and memorable. Whether you’re an adventurer, world traveler, or simply a curious soul, we welcome you to experience one of the most intriguing natural attractions in the Riviera Maya.
6. Snorkel in underground river or �cenotes�.
There are many excellent companies that offer snorkeling tours in the jungle. We love this one from Ana and James, the Yucatreck's Cenote to Sea Tour:
�The Cenotes
The Yucatan peninsula is riddled with caves and underwater rivers. In fact, there are no above-ground rivers on the peninsula at all. In some places, the roof of the cave has collapsed and forms an entrance into a cave system. This is called a cenote. They can be very different in appearance; some are just a hole in the ground, some are like round lagoons in the jungle and some are elaborate caves, partially filled with water. On this tour, we visit five awesome cenotes, each different and unique in its own way, and we’ll snorkel in the ocean too.
The morning
This is our first visit is to a truly amazing location deep in the jungle. Here we will take a short walk to a huge dry cenote, where you can take the stairs down for your descent, or even make an optional zipline descent! From the bottom of the cenote, we will enter a huge underground cave, partially filled with about a meter or 3 feet of crystal clear fresh water. Inside, we will follow a wooden boardwalk as it meanders through the awesome columns, stalagmites and stalactites for almost 100 meters or 300 feet, till we arrive at the other end then exit out of another dry cenote!
We’ll then follow another short path to nearby Cenote Caracol, an entrance to an underground river in the depths of the jungle. The staircase arrives at a wooden platform where we’ll don our life vests and snorkel gear. The cenote is lit up by various underwater lights. Once in the water, you may just want to swim or snorkel, but for those really interested in an adventure, your guide will take you through a lit passage, totally accessible with mask and snorkel, that heads out of the cenote on one side, meanders around for 50 meters or 150 feet, then returns back to the same cenote through another opening into the cave�we feel pretty confident in saying that this will be one of the most spectacular snorkel experiences of your life! Our guide, who is also a trained scuba dive instructor, is equipped with a strong cave light, which will enhance your experience, as you’ll get a better look at stalactites, stalagmites and other mind-blowing geological formations.
By this point, you will have worked up a hunger. After our experience in Cenote Caracol, we will have a meal fit for jungle explorers! The Mayan staff of the jungle retreat will prepare hand-made tortilla bread with grilled, BBQ meats like chicken, beef and sausage, served with fruit and salad. Remember drinks and beers are also included.
The afternoon
Our next stop is the unique Cenote Manatee and the beach of Tankah Bay, where one of the many underground river systems of the area flows from a �ojo de agua� or a � water eye� into the sea. Here we will chill out on the beach and get to snorkel in the ocean bay, with some good examples of Caribbean reef and marine life, as well as in Cenote Manatee. This cenote is very different from the jungle cave we visited in the morning. Cenote Manatee is surrounded by mangrove, which is a popular habitat for all kinds of birds � egrets, herons, pelicans, humming birds and various sea birds. The cenote itself is connected to the ocean by a large tunnel, which means that you often see species there that normally don’t live in a cenote, like turtles and crabs.�
7. La Cueva del Chango restaurant.
In Playa del Carmen, 38th street North between the 5th Av. And the sea.
You cannot leave playa without eating breakfast at la �Cueva del chango�, the �Monkey’s cave�. This fantastic little restaurant is an icon of Playa del Carmen. Nested in a patch of jungle a minutes from the beach, it is a wonderfully creative mix of art, nature and culinary experience.
A few years ago some friends invited us to the �best place for breakfast in Playa del Carmen�. We were pleasantly surprised by the originality and the good food. The place was mostly hand built with the idea of using mostly natural materials and reproducing the atmosphere of a cave in the jungle. The result is like stepping into little paradise of lush vegetation, trees everywhere, organic volumes and materials, tables scattered here and there under a beautiful ceiling with crystal bottles used as small colorful windows. There is even a small river with fish and little turtles that crosses the whole place!
Here and there wood sculptures of monkeys, snakes and other animals add fun details to the eyes. The result is a charming and surprising place that keeps the original Playa del Carmen attitude of relaxation and love for nature.
And the food is delicious. On the menu you’ll find mostly Mexican dishes the way they should be. The sauces or �salsas� are hand made on a mortar and the beans are brought in little ceramic plates to enjoy with corn tortillas and cream. For breakfast we recommend the delicious home made �empanadas� filled with Chaya, a local plant that tastes a bit like spinach and has many nutritional benefits, cheese, mushrooms, potatoes and poblano chili or ham. There are also heavenly chilaquiles or eggs of your choice. You absolutely must order a tall glass of fresh juice; they offer many delicious fruits combinations for a refreshing start.
Near the restaurant is one of our favorite shops called Hamacarte. The owner, Maya, has an amazing variety of hammocks in many colors and shapes. This is perfect to bring back home to hang on the patio and keep dreaming about your wonderful days in Mexico.
The �Cueva del Chango� is only half a block from the beach so bring your swimming suits for a quick dip and a relaxing siesta after a good breakfast�
8. Tulum, 50 mn driv South of Playa del Carmen on Cancu-Tulum Highway.
Tulum: less than one hour drive from Playa is the magnificent archeological site called Tulum. Look for the �zona arqueologica� sign and turn left.
The sight of the old stone buildings against the deep blue of the Caribbean ocean is one of the most beautiful in the world. The magic of the place will capture your spirit.
This is the most important archeological site on Mexico’s Caribbean coast. At some point during their glorious history, around 900 AD, the Mayan Civilization began to decline. The reasons are yet uncertain, there is still great mystery surrounding the history of this exceptional Civilization. At that time small rival cities started to appear, such as Tulum. It was built as a small fortress with wall on the main land and High Ocean cliffs protecting on the ocean side. Tulum's main’s purpose was to be a commercial trading port for the whole Mayan world, from the coasts of Mexico down to Belize and Venezuela. It reached its height of importance in the 1400s. The city was occupied at the time of the Spanish conquest, and survived for 70 years after the Spanish arrived.
Although Tulum may not be as important as Chichen Itz, Coba or Uxmal from an archeological point of view, it is one of the most impressive sights because of its unique setting on the Caribbean coast and the only Mayan Ruin where you can swim on the beach at the end of your visit!
Another great point for visiting Tulum is that it is a small site, so the visit can be covered within an hour; you can have a good share of culture and beauty, and then enjoy the beach. There is an impressive stair that runs down to the beach just near the �El Castillo� ruin. This a wonderful spot for pictures with the ocean as a background, and then go down for a refreshing swim on the most beautiful blue water of the world!
There are also several good beach clubs near by where you can have lunch and spend the rest of the day relaxing.
The town of Tulum has some interesting shopping but nothing different from whet you can find in Playa del Carmen.
Another good option after the ruins is visiting the grand Cenote, on the way to Coba. We truly recommend this place. Bring swimming suites and snorkel gear, at least some goggles that you may buy at Walmart or Sams on the way out of Playa.
Tulum is a very popular tourist destination so it’s a good idea to get there early to avoid the bus groups and cruise boats who start arriving around 10:00 AM. You may catch a bus from Playa or bring your own car in order to continue the exploration after the visit to the ruins. There is parking for a minimal fee.
There are plenty or refreshment and food services at the entrance of the park.
We like to hire a guide, this adds a lot to the understanding of the place and guides are usually very friendly and eager to answer all your questions.
9. Zip line through the jungle.
Who says you have to walk through the jungle when you can zip line over it? Admire the lush foliage and beautiful plants on an exhilarating trip with the wind on your face. Take the whole family and dare to jump! Have fun in all security and be kid for the day. Your children will be delighted!
Here is a choice of several good companies that offer the jungle zip-lines experience:
Selvatica: Night Flight Adventure.
Imagine the feeling you’ll have tonight as the jungle surrounds you in her �shroud of darkness�. The sounds of the night greet you as you make your way to the top of the jungle canopy and get ready to fly under the stars and moon. Each of the 12 legs of the zip line brings a new sensation. Next you’ll make your way through the paths by the flames of the Mayan torches� your final destination waits. As if by magic the jungle has transformed her into a dining experience that tempts the senses. You will enjoy the three course dinner under the moon and feel as-one with nature as you marvel at the starry night and sounds from deep in the wilds.
Alltournative: Coba Maya Encounter Expedition
Your encounter with the Maya culture starts with a 1,500 year-old historical journey to the ancestral city of Cob, an archaeological site hidden deep inside the rain forest of south-eastern Yucatan Peninsula. Climbing the Nohoch Muul temple (the tallest pyramid of the state), you will be able admire the pristine beauty and immeasurable vastness of the surrounding sub-tropical rain forest. Your Maya Encounter journey then leads you to an authentic Maya village, a self-suffic
