Playa del Carmen : One way ticket to Paradise

The Caribbean coastline along Mexican Yucatán Peninsula is home to some of the best beaches in the world known as Riviera Maya.

It is the purest, the softest, the whitest sand washed ashore by warm turquoise waters of the ocean that makes that miles and miles long coastline so special and puts its famous beach resorts on a bucket list of every respectable beach lover. For who hasn’t dreamt of beach jewels like sophisticated Playa del Carmen, laid-back Puerto Morelos, bohemian Tulum, or the most famous of them all, hyped Cancun (officially not part of Riviera Maya)?

The beaches of Riviera Maya have been my home for the past few weeks. Except for Tulum, I visited them all. Sadly (for me), it is also the missed Tulum that (supposedly) offers the best beaches of entire Riviera Maya as well as a lifestyle I might have enjoyed the most. (Oh well, next time?)

Beach life at La Playa

Of all places I visited so far, I like Playa del Carmen, a.k.a. Playa, the most.

Once a small village, the Playa is undergoing today rapid development to house the ever-increasing number of visitors. But for now, it still is small enough to be cozy and walkable with a perfect mix of beach vibe, laid-back lifestyle, well-balanced public/private social life in a lovely environment – right in the city center.

The City Center

The city center is divided into two parts:

the downtown area (and beach) popular with visitors, a rectangle shaped area between the beach, street 1, Avenida 35, and street 35-40 North. If your accommodation is within this rectangle (and even adjacent blocks) you can easily walk everywhere you like including both bus terminals and ferry terminal which, btw, are conveniently right in the center of town.
Playacar, the residential area (and beach) popular with locals and expats starting at Street 1 (ferry terminal) and continuing South along the beach away from downtown. (More about Playacar below.)

The hottest place in town and Playa del Carmen’s most famous hangout is Avenida 5 (Fifth Avenue).

Avenida 5 is a 1.5-mile long pedestrian street where most of the activities take place. This is where restaurants, bars, nightclubs, art galleries, (tourist) boutiques, souvenir shops, vendors, and even a couple of malls are located. Fifth Avenue is an urban ‘boardwalk, the place “to be”, to meet up and hang out, especially in the evening.

Not only social life of tourists but also the economy of the city revolves around Avenida 5 making the street (not surprisingly) the most expensive street in town. Only a few steps away, on Avenida 10, the prices drop considerably… and the food tastes the same. I tasted.

Note: the numbering of Avenues in Playa del Carmen is not continuous but increases by five. Avenida 5 is next to the beach, then comes Avenida 10, followed by Avenida 15, then comes Avenida 20 and so on. Thus, Avenida 20 (for example) is not 20 streets away from the beach but only 4.

The City Feel

The city itself is cozy yet sophisticated and European chick niche oriented. Its nightlife is long and vibrant and Western-style supermarkets plentiful. Boutiques, just as Seminyak boutiques in Bali, offer unique yet high fashion clothing.

Many buildings are undergoing total refurbishing and both interiors and exteriors are tastefully painted in a rainbow of colors contributing to the city’s charm and beauty (besides all the fantastic colors).

On almost every corner of Avenida 5, there are four policemen/women with loaded machine guns patrolling the area. Not sure how secure other parts of the city are but the downtown area is pretty secure at all hours.

…and then, of course, there is Frida. Everywhere. On the street, in restaurants, in souvenir shops, and in art galleries.

After all these years, Fridamania still keeps a firm hold on Mexico.

The beaches

Divided by ferry terminal, there are two distinctive beach areas in Playa del Carmen’s center which I call; downtown beach and Playacar beach. But if you continue walking, in any direction, new beach names (and beaches) will be popping up… one after another.

The ‘downtown beach’ is a crowdy and vivacious place full of sunbathers, beach games, onlookers and people in general as well as restaurants, bars, happy hours and very happy holidaymakers. Beach launchers are included in cocktail prices.

In the evening (just before sunset) many visitors gather on the main square, next to ferry terminal, to watch performances of Maya acrobats and dancers wearing colorful outfits, the same outfits their ancestors wore, and to take advantage of unique photo opportunities with indigenous people of Mexico. Visitors’ interaction is always welcome as are any questions they may have regarding Maya tribes and their life in today’s Mexico. According to locals, there are still many Maya tribes, only 1.5 hours from Playa del Carmen, living exactly the same way as they always have. And they don’t even speak Spanish.

The contrast between downtown and Playacar beaches couldn’t be more diverse. While the narrow downtown beach is a social hub perfect for parties, families, friends’ gatherings, and ‘fun in the sun’ where people, sun beds, music, as well as food and drinks, are part of the scene, the much wider and much longer Playacar beach is more secluded thus solitude perfect for long walks and romance is part of that scene.

Depending on your mood of the day you can pick “the beach of the day” to match the two.

Playacar Beach

There are not many people on Playacar beaches and no restaurants/bars/vendors either. Not a single one. The all-inclusive hotels along the way have their own bars (where you are not welcome) and the guests are hardly visible as the beach is wide and hotels are far in.

Playacar beach is not only much wider from the downtown beach but also much, much, much longer. There are no interruptions or ‘roadblocks’ along the way, e.g. rocks or no beach. I walked for at least an hour before turning back but could have easily walked much further should I chose to do so. One hour further? Two? More? I don’t know, but the beach continued all the way up to the horizon and beyond.

Living in Playacar

Playacar is an upscale, secure gated community in Playa del Carmen housing all-inclusive beach hotels, private villas, and condominiums built around a golf course. For locals and expats, this is the most desirable place to live. For tourists like myself, not so much. I absolutely hated living there.

Playacar is huge. Bigger than downtown. But unlike downtown, there are no restaurants, bars, shops, supermarkets, service of any sort. With an exception of cars passing by, bikes almost crashing into you, other pedestrians and paddles, there is nothing along the neverending boring road you must take each time you have a desire to get to/from your accommodation. Nada. It takes at least an hour and a half to round the area. And as it is gated area it takes half of that time to get out of there if you happen to live at the wrong end – too far from the gate.Then it takes additional 10-30 minutes to get to/from the beach, restaurants, ATM, grocery shops, social life or wherever else you need to go. In short, it may take up to an hour to get anywhere at all. And then up to an hour to get back.

What a waste of energy, time and money

Wherever I needed to go, whatever I needed to do I had to reach the gate first. It took 30 minutes and then, after a few hours of walking in town, another 30 agonizing minutes to get back. As only “rich people” live there the taxi drivers took upon themselves to breaking the local laws by overcharging 3-4 times for a ride to/from Playacar.

So, not only getting out (or in) of there takes the unacceptably long time it also costs a lot of money.

The fun doesn’t end there. The community, at least the residential part, suffers from water shortages. Apparently, the all-inclusive hotels waste so much water that there is hardly any left for residents thus the water is being rationed. Few buckets a day. Hardly enough for a family to shower and definitely not enough to start a washing machine.

As the hotels pay big money for the water the city officials don’t care (dare?) to solve the problem.

Living in a condominium is not fun either. All apartments face inwards, towards staircases and small courtyards leaving the residents with either no privacy or no daylight. In addition, the walls are paper thin… and the kids love playing just outside your window until late at night.

There is no doubt in my mind Playacar is a great place to live if you are a motorized resident of Playa del Carmen and live in a villa. But as a tourist, you must either stay very close to the gate or have a bike to get to/from the gate reasonably quick otherwise enjoying an isolated life of this upscale secure community might be all you’ll be enjoying.

Summa summarum

Once I moved out of Playacar my miserable time turned instantly into fun time. Even my two minute walks to supermarket felt like a fun treat so I used to go there few times a day, just because I could. Of course, it wasn’t only the supermarket I was enjoying. The whole town was right at my door, and I wasn’t shy to take advantage of it.

Even though the town still has got a vibe of an easy-going small community there is no denying it is becoming increasingly touristy. Not in an alarming way. Not yet, but I am afraid it is only a matter of time before Playa del Carmen becomes another Cancun.

Could Playa del Carmen be my retirement paradise? Definitely… but for a few months only.