Forget what you know about Cancun. Forget about when you were young and had one of your first beach vacations in Cancun where you partied until 5 AM every night in college. Treat yourself to Playa Del Carmen along the Riviera Maya. This is truly one of my favorite places for so many reasons. I’ll start off with the fact that it is beautiful along the coast of the Riviera Maya. The water is a very pretty see through blue color all down the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The resorts in Playa Del Carmen are the best in the world as far as “bang for your buck” in my opinion.

The resorts are top notch down the main strip, and most of them are all inclusive with the majority of them having top shelf liquor and quality restaurants to eat from at the resorts where you aren’t stuck with the same buffet food for every meal.

Go into town and visit Playa’s downtown area. It isn’t as packed and jammed as Cancun, but it has a lot of nice shops and restaurants to get a much idea of what the local food tastes like which is packed full of flavor out in Mexico. When you venture away from the resorts, make sure to get a good local restaurant to really treat yourself to authentic Mexican food unlike ninety percent of what you will find in the states.

The excursions in and around Playa Del Carmen are countless. You have a ton of natural adventure parks like Xel Ha, Xcaret, and many other smaller parks that have cenotes that are beautiful. There are dozens and dozens of cenotes (underwater caves) all over the Riviera Maya area. If you are an experienced diver, boy you are in for a treat. I still haven’t gotten to dive through a lot of the cenotes that I’ve taken pictures of, but I’m really excited to on my next trip. Cozumel is right around the way on a fairy and it has the second biggest coral reef area in the entire world that is only second to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Isla Mujeres is very close as well, and it has probably the most beautiful water along the Riviera Maya. It looks like swimming pool water almost like what you’ll experience in Bora Bora. It is a very small island where you can rent houses and many other places to stay for a night or a few if you’d like. The island doesn’t have a ton of activities, but you can always take the fairy back to the mainland and shop or explore the area outside of the island.

Playa Del Carmen is really a treat. It doesn’t ever get old. When you consider what it costs to not only visit here, but to experience so many fun and amazing excursions, this is a five star vacation no matter what you decide to do.