Hellobee Boards

I loooove Playa Del Carmen. We went on a long trip to that area and stayed at a resort in Tulum, a botique hotel in Playa and a oceanfront hotel in Cancun. It depends if you want to do all inclusive or just pick out the hotel and find food on your own, both has it's perks. We are headed to Now Jade Riveria to shoot a wedding/our 8 year anniversary in October. It's between Cancun and Playa. We got a smokin deal through bookit.com Usually I would not stay in a self contained resort the whole time, but since I have my camera gear/am expecting I'd rather just do it the safest and easiest way possible.

@illumina: no advice for Cancun, but Playacar has lots of family friendly resorts and smaller hotels (or condos, if you'd rather) and you can easily walk into Playa del Carmen, which is also family friendly. We've been going to Playa del Carmen every year since 2009 - we love it there!

@illumina: maybe 45 mins to an hour, depending on traffic? Definitely hire a private transfer (about $110 round trip) so you don't have to make any stops along the way. We've always used USA Transfers.

Playa del Carmen is just as much of a party zone as Cancun inmy opinion. I would go to Coco Tulum, in Tulum, about 2 hours from Cancun by ADO bus directly from the airport. Soooo much nicer than Cancun or Playa, Coco is a beautiful kid friendly hotel

@illumina: We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called the Villa del Palmar in Cancun. http://www.villapalmarcancun.com

We got an amazing deal off Living Social (and go through ebates for 6% cash back), so I would check there to see if there are any cancun deals, and do some research/read reviews online to see if the place is any good. Have fun!! Cancun was way more amazing than I ever expected because I had it in my mind that it was going to be party central, but my experience was far from the typical MTV spring break stuff they normally portray it as.

Eta: wow, I'm looking at the site, and even their regular prices don't seem too bad - their 2 bedroom suite is $266/night - http://www.villapalmarcancun.com/Two-Bedroom-Suite-Villa-Palmar-Cancun.html... and this is the all-inclusive price too, so that means all meals are covered. We didn't pay any meals out of pocket while we were there!

You can read my review and see more pics here - http://www.hellobee.com/2013/06/21/destination-cancun-mexico/

We stayed at the RIU Cancun when I graduated from college. It was all-inclusive and very nice with multiple pools and nice rooms. I didn't have a LO then, but I remember every day they did some kid/family games and activities at one of the pools. My favorite part was the fresh guacamole they had all the time. Mmmm, so good!