Playing Around In Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
Mamitas Beach in Playa del Carmen
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
A Mayan temple and ruins at Coba just south of Playa del Carmen
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
The Mayan ruins at Tulum
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
The pool and courtyard at Hotel Riviera Carib Maya in Playa del Carmen
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
One of the freshwater cenotes that dot the landscape of the Yucatan Peninsula
Even before the usual dreary December gloom of southwestern Pennsylvania weather set in, I decided to make my escape to a sunnier locale. When Southwest offered $149 airfare each way to Cancun, Mexico, we jumped on the deal and boarded the quick 3 ½ hour flight (via Ft. Lauderdale) across the border and into a tropical climate.
Rather than stay at one of the giant all-inclusive resorts in Cancun as we had done before, we wanted to explore the Riviera Maya south of Cancun and sample everything Playa del Carmen’s famous Quinta Avenida had to offer. Playa began as a small fishing town but started to grow popular with tourists after passenger ferry service started to Cozumel, an island a few miles offshore. Development has taken off along the coast here now with condos, hotels and eco-theme parks sprouting up everywhere you look.
After much research, we narrowed our list to a few boutique hotels not far off Quinta Avenida, which translates to Fifth Avenue, and finally decided on the Hotel Riviera Carib Maya. It provided the perfect location just a single tree-lined block from busy Fifth Avenue and only two blocks farther to Mamitas Beach. The staff was extremely friendly, the accommodations charming, quiet and clean and our king room wound up being two bedrooms with king beds and a huge bathroom complete with jacuzzi tub and shower.
The price? A whopping $65 per night including continental breakfast. If you’re looking for a luxury, highrise resort, this isn’t it. Instead, it was lovely, cozy, safe, convenient and a bargain.
The front desk gave us beach towels each day plus coupons for the Mamitas Beach Club. There, we paid $22 and had a beach umbrella, two lounge chairs and $16 credit at the bar and restaurant. With cervezas only $2, that was enough for our waiter to bring us a few of them plus a tasty lunch of poke bowls filled with fresh tuna, veggies and quinoa.
The beach is beautiful with powdery sand and warm, clear, turquoise water. Keep in mind that all beaches in Mexico are open to the public. Resorts and beach clubs set up their chairs and umbrellas in certain areas, but you can also take your own towel and chair along the waterline to whatever beach you wish.
As for Fifth Avenue, imagine a more subdued Bourbon Street crossed with a shopping. It stretches 40 blocks north to south and is a pedestrian only walkway full of nearly everything you can imagine eating, drinking or buying. You’ll see breakdancing teenagers, hear Mariachi bands serenading the crowds and just enjoy a laid back, quiet evening stroll while window shopping.
We sampled many Mayan specialties such as lime soup with chicken and shrimp. Delectable Mexican fare abounds like tacos pastor on warm corn tortillas with fresh guacamole made right in front of you. There were so many varieties of fresh salsa that I lost count. Had enough tacos already? No problem ¬- next door they’re rolling out handmade pasta or whipping up feathery crepes.
The good news is that you can walk enough around this pedestrian friendly city and its beautiful beaches to burn off everything you eat and drink. That is, if you can resist the creamy gelato shops that are on every block. And we haven’t even gotten to the tequila tastings yet.
Every block on Fifth Avenue has a tequila shop and you’re welcome to taste as many different types as possible. From blanco (white) to extra anejo (aged), the taste just gets smoother with increasing amber color.
Don’t look for a worm at the bottom of the bottle, though. A worm or even scorpion is a marketing technique used in some brands of mezcal.
Basically, all tequila is mezcal (made from fermented agave plants). However, only tequila is made from the blue agave and only in the state of Jalisco. Tequila is everywhere here, but the trick is to find the handmade, small batch stuff that’s smooth enough to sip.
Once you’ve eaten, drunk and sunburned enough, it’s time to go exploring. This area is fantastic fun for outdoor adventurists, nature lovers and history buffs alike. You’ll find excursions and tours galore online, at your hotel front desk or from tour companies as you walk along Fifth Avenue.
We did a one-day jaunt to the Mayan ruins at Tulum about a half hour drive south of Playa. They’re much smaller in scale than the famed Chitzan Itza and sit perched on a hillside overlooking the Caribbean Sea. After a walk around the grounds, climb down the stairs to the beach and look up at the ruins while taking a refreshing dip.
Later came a delicious lunch before exploring the Mayan ruins at nearby Coba. These are lesser known and less excavated than other ruin sites but equally as impressive. We scaled the 130 steps to the top of the tallest Mayan temple in Mexico (albeit in the pouring rain). If you want to make the trek, act quickly as the government will soon close off the steps to climbers to keep them from crumbling.
One of the best parts of this excursion was a cool dip and snorkeling in a cenote, one of the thousands of limestone sinkholes filled with fresh water that dot the countryside here. These underwater rivers run for miles beneath the Yucatan weaving in and out of caves lined with stalagtites.
I got to experience some amazing scuba diving in the Chak Mool and Tajma Ha cenotes later in the week and it’s a thrill not to be missed. Speaking of thrilling, I also jumped at the chance to dive with bull sharks which migrate to the warm, deep water offshore here each fall.
Take a cue from the bull sharks and you’ll absolutely enjoy spending a bit of your winter months playing around in Playa del Carmen.