Travel Report: Playa del Carmen, Mexico
It's like the best of Florida and the best of Mexico in one beautiful beach side location!
Playa del Carmen scores high on my travel rating scale from 1-5.
Travel Score = 4.5
Affordability= 4
Food= 4.5
Culture = 3.5
Safety = 4.5
Activities = 5
Hotel Value= 4
Transportation = 5
Playa del Carmen, located just an hour south of Cancun is a total gem. All the negative Mexican stereo types do not fit. From high end shopping and dinner shows, to side street taco stands; Playa del Carmen can work for most anyone's budget.
This small city on the beach is very affordable. A one way flight from NYC is about $165, Florida is even less. Once here Playa del Carmen can be done comfortably between $20-30 dollars a day. However many tourist from the United States come here and spend over $100 dollars a night in beachfront resorts and eat at over priced restaurants.
Negotiating a good hotel room is very important. It's easy to end up paying western prices if you're not careful. For those staying a month or longer you can really find a good deal on a room or an apartment, especially if you look on the other side of highway 307.
The hotel that I found to offer the best value was CasaEjido. I negotiated 8 nights. They gave me the king suit for four nights, which is a small luxury apartment with kitchen and living room. The last four nights I was in a single room with a private bath and AC. All this including a swimming pool was only 20 dollars a night!
From Cancun south it is heavily touristed. The tourism brings in a lot of money for Mexico; there for the government has invested in security and there is a noticeable police presence. I felt safe at all hours.
The food in Mexico is some of the best in Central and South America. With a fresh selection of meat, salsas, and spices Mexican food is internationally famous. Eating out is a great value and a lot of fun. Two steak quesadillas and a pulled pork taco cost me $3.50 at this sit down restaurant.
Super markets in Playa del Carmen are like the best of the USA and the best of Mexico. Wal-Mart has really done it right. The meat and produce sections are incredible with prices often less than half compared to the US. For example big rib eye steaks $5.99 per pound not $12.99.
Besides trying every taco stand in town, there are endless things you can do in this part of Mexico; from casinos to beaches, snorkling, diving, and great night life.
You can take a ferry to Cazumel and check out the Mayan Ruins. You can hang out in Cancun for the day. You can even go spelunking into caves connected by the world's largest underground river system.
The river makes hundreds of crystal clear natural pools for swimming all around the Yucatan Peninsula called Cenotes. I enjoyed lounging by Cenote Azul with Steemit friends @luzcypher, @mithrilweed, and @donnaincancun. It was a great steemit meet up. Here's a post on it from @luzcypher.
Culturally the Mexican population is very polite and friendly. They seem used to North Americans and make it easy for non-Spanish speakers. I'd ask something in Spanish and often they would reply in English! On a further note the city is well kept and sometimes you can find some nice street art.
What I love most about it here is that it's like first world living at third world prices. These places are few and far between. When I find them I take note. Playa del Carmen is one of my new favorite places in the world and I highly recommend a visit!
By:@world-travel-pro
Playa Del Carmen Visited: June 2017
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All Photos were taken by me.
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I was considering taking a cruise to Mexico sometime this year, but after reading this I think it might be cheaper to just fly, and take the ferry to Cozumel (one of my planned destinations) from playa del carmen instead! Thanks for posting.
Glad I could help!
Dude, come to anarchapulco in February 2018
Me and my teenage kids will be going to Playa del Carmen next month is there something you would recommend form them to do? Does Cirque du Soleil preform there?
I believe so. My friend @phortun lives there. He can surely answer this question better than I can. Tell him @world-trave-pro sent you :)
What an adventurous place....Thank you for your travel amazing pics..with great details, it feels as if we are visiting it live @world-travel-pro
Thank you! It was a lot of fun.
Good to have you back on the road again! after all your American culture shocks when you were back for a visit
We'll I haven't actually left. It just took me three weeks to find the time to report on Playa del Carmen after my culture shock episode. I'm leaving August 6th for Bangkok. But thanks for the kind words!
Sounds good, I am preparing to travel again as well, just saving up some more for now. enjoy!
Ha ha! You and I go way back Haas. Someone just commented on this page and I scrolled up, and there you are! lol
Have never considered Playa del Carmen before but you make it sound really interesting and affordable. I almost forgot to come back and up-vote because I got so carried away exploring exactly what Casa Ejido had to offer. It sounds like a really good location, a five minute walk from so many things/connections! Thanks!
Yeah it's a real good place. Many say it's expensive, but it really doesn't have to be.
That was such a fun day swimming at Cenote Azul. Maybe we'll hook up again in Thailand when you're there.
Yeah I remember you talking about that. That would be great if the timing works out!
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Thank you!
Dude, come to Puerto Vallarta next, and let's chill :D
I'm totally down. Will keep that on the Rolodex.
Really awesome presentation, hope i could also write the same way, glad to find your comments on my posts and my pleasure i check in to your profile.. good work.. keep it up..
What do you think of this idea @indiantraveller. You write some reports too. I have an account @travel-report not used yet to make a compilation of only travel reports resteemed. Promoting each-other and the reports page maybe we can get a theme going, I think it would be beneficial for the individual authors.
Just an idea. What do you think?
@world-travel-pro