Playa del Carmen Travel Reviews

I visited Playa del Carmen in October 2009 for a 9 day trip with 3 friends (all guys).  We were celebrating my birthday so the first 4 nights we splurged a little and stayed at an expensive hotel and then later moved to more affordable accommodation.   Being the low season (September thru mid November) the town was not too crowded and we saw a couple days of rain (but overall October is a great time to visit).  Playa is very much a party town, trendy, and en vogue with lots for pretty people from all over the world. 

Not surprising most activities in Playa revolve around the beach and the water.   There is a huge beach scene with a little bit of everything for everybody.   If you want to check out some of the trendy beach scenes go to the north end of the beach and hang at Kool and Mamitas (they’re right next to each other) - this is where the cool locals go.   Further north up the beach you find Cannibal Royal which just opened and will probably be one of the hottest beach clubs in Playa del Carmen.   South of the Pier things are a little more tame, but depending on the day anything can happen.

Scuba Diving in Playa del Carmen

I did an open water dive with Cyan-Ha on my birthday which was decent, but a bit over priced. Cyan-Ha is located right on the beach next to the Shangri-la hotel.  The diving in Playa is mediocre so if you’re serious about diving you’re going to want to take the morning ferry to Cozumel where the diving is world class.

We also did a cenote dive with Dive Mike, which if you have never done this before I highly recommend it.  I also highly recommend letting Dive Mike take care of the details for you.   Dive Mike also does open water dives which are about half the price of Cyan-ha – so I recommend with sticking with Dive Mike.

There are several Lux options in Playa (most of which are north of the Pier.  We stayed at the Shangri-la Caribe, which runs about $180 US a night, and includes breakfast and dinner.  If you choose the Shangri-la set your expectation low for the food and you’ll be fine.  They have a great location with cool cabanas.  This seems more like a couples scene, but me and a handful of my buddies had a great time.   The Shangri la Caribe has a friendly staff, excellent security, and cool beach.  I recommend it if it fits your budget.

If you’re working on a tighter budget I highly recommend the Hotel Pelicano inn.  Hotel Pelicano is located South of the pier, on the beach at calle 8.  I paid $45 US per night and the hotel was clean, rooms were big and the staff friendly.  They have an open-air dining room and beach bar.  You get beach chairs, umbrellas, etc.  It’s by no means lux, but the value is very high for what you pay.  If you want to be right on the beach and close to the nightlife with out breaking the bank I highly recommend this hotel.  See a video of the Hotel Pelicano Inn and hopefully it helps you understand if it ‘s right for you or not.

There are a handful of budget options in Playa.  You can easily get away with budget trip to playa and still have a great time.  So if you don’t have a lot of money to spare, and still want to visit a cool destination check out some of these options:

Hostel Rio Playa

Posoda la Paduana

Hostel el Palomar

Fogon

Avenida Constituyenies (entre Av. 25 y Av. 30)

This is a local spot off the regular tourist’s radar.   When we ate there we were the only gringos.  Excellent tacos and traditional Mexican food.

Diablita Cha Cha Cha

Hip, trendy, open air restaurant / lounge located on calle 12 just up from the beach.

La Tortuga’s hotel restaurant

Av 10 at calle 14

Excellent food and a great place to go for a special occasion or just a nice meal.

Buenos Aries

Calle 6 y 10 ave

Excellent Argentinean steakhouse

Café Press – cool café, great coffee and breakfast.  Located on Calle 2, just up from the beach.

Nightlife in Playa del Carmen is a lot of fun.  If you want to do it right I recommend starting late.  Eat dinner around 11:00 at a place like Diablita Cha Cha Cha.

Then grab an drink at Deseo or the rooftop lounge at Hotel Basico

Then you might want to check out one of the beach lounges like Sensi located on the beach at calle 10.

Another great local bar is Ambassade located on calle 10 at 5th ave.

Around 3:00 AM head to Santanera or Dubai located on 12^th street.