One great advantage of being based in Playa del Carmen is its location and proximity to so many great attractions. It is one hour south of Cancun and one hour north of Tulum, and less than an hour’s ferry ride to Cozumel. Within that hour’s distance there is a plethora of options for interesting, entertaining, and educational experiences for you and your family and friends during your stay. While Google and guidebooks can give you the details about all the options, and Trip Advisor is a wonderful tool for seeing which ones are most popular and highest rated, here we will give you just a list of our favorites.
Tulum pyramids and beach club combo
The Mayan ruins at Tulum are relatively small and easy to see in about an hour. The ruins themselves are relatively unremarkable, but the view from them of the ocean is breath-taking and world class (all those posters you’ve seen aren’t lying!). This combining a visit to the ruins with another activity later in the day is highly recommended. It cannot be stressed enough that you should visit the ruins as early in the morning as you can get there, both to avoid often huge crowds and avoid the scorching sun. There is very little shade within the grounds of the ruins, so pack a hat and lots of water to drink.
There are numerous beach clubs and restaurants within striking distance of the Tulum ruins if you just want to veg out for the rest of the day. If you’re still more adventurous, we’d also recommend the Dos Ojos Cenote nearby, chartering a boat for the afternoon from Puerto Aventuras, or swimming in the Yal Ku lagoon in Akumal.
Sian Ka’an Biosphere Preserve and Muyil ruins
Sian Ka’an is an enormous protected area south of Tulum, the largest in all of Quintana Roo, mostly of wetlands, coastal forests, virgin beach, and mangrove swamps. It is chock full of nature—birds, fish, amphibians, deer and other mammals, and as the tourism infrastructure swallows up much of the coast, it is really nice to know that some part of the Mexican Caribbean will forever remain natural and untouched.
There is a local Maya organization based in Tulum that offers small group trips to visit several lagoons within the Reserve and also to float in a canal between a fresh-water lagoon in the ocean that was dug by the Mayas for their canoes! It is a unique experience and is normally combined with a visit to the small Muyil Maya ruins where you can see a temple and an example of a sac-be, a raised road or path through the jungle, what the Mayas used as roads. The morning trip ends with a traditional Maya lunch at a restaurant owned by locals.
Cobá ruins and YaxBalam Maya cultural center
Cobá was an important Maya city back in the day and is situated near a chain of lakes less than an hour northwest of Tulum. These ruins are much more extensive than Tulum and so far you can still climb to the top of the tallest tower for a heart-stopping view of the surrounding jungle (at least heart-stopping if you have a fear of heights like I do!). I the nearby village of Cobá there is a new family-owned Maya cultural center that offers a wide range of activities designed to give you a good sense of the traditional and current Maya cultures. It also acts as a sort of spa—you can have a ritual cleansing outdoor bath complete with (diluted) fresh honey poured over you, and the women there offer holistic massages that, according to traditional custom emphasize rigorous massage of the abdominal area to promote better digestion (yes, it hurts!). There is a tour of their back yard garden with examples of many plants and trees from which the Maya derive medicines and curative teas. They have numerous hives of the bees that make the organic melliponia honey (totally delicious—best honey in the world, we’re convinced), and they show you how they extract the honey. The bees are agitated by the process but they don’t have stingers genetically, so they can’t do much about the theft! At the end of the tour they offer a traditional lunch. This is a new venture and not yet heavily touristed, so we highly recommend its authenticity.
Chichen Itza ruins and Valladolid centro for shopping (recommended as overnight trip because of distance)
The enormous and impressive ruins of Chichen Itza deservedly rank as another wonder of the ancient world (they’re not really that ancient—less than 1000 years old!) and they’re totally worth visiting. The catch is that they’re located well distant from Cancun and the Riviera Maya in the neighboring state of Yucatan, and at least a 2.5-3-hour drive away. It is also an extremely popular tourist destination, with hordes of buses arriving mid-morning and crowds sweating their way through their tours throughout the rest of the day. IF you don’t mind crowds and lines (think cruise ships), then by all means arrange for the normal day trip. However, we strongly recommend making an overnight trip of it, staying in the neighboring city of Valladolid and enjoying its traditional Spanish colonial architecture and indigenous Maya culture the first day, and then getting up early the next day and arriving at Chichen Itza early the next morning before everyone else gets there. There are still shadows in the jungle and you can spend at least the first hour with the place almost to yourselves. We realize that very few people will take our advice, but oh well!
Isla Mujeres golf cart excursion (maybe a treasure hunt?)
Isla Mujeres is a wonderful little island just off the coast of Cancun and reachable in a 20-minute ferry ride (see article on Isla Mujeres). Even if you’re not staying on and having your event on the island, it’s totally worth the trip to experience its laid-back atmosphere. There are very few private cars on the island (mainly just taxis), so it’s very common for tourists to rent motorized golf carts to tour about and see the sights. The island’s North Beach is one of the more spectacular around, where you can wade out many meters into the shallow and clear water before even thinking about getting your head wet.
Golf at Mayakoba
I’m not much of a golfer, but if you are, the golf course at Mayakoba is world famous. Designed by Arnold Palmer many years ago, the course is surrounded by mangrove swamps with alligators, cenotes or sink-holes, pure jungle, and of course the lovely Caribbean Sea! All to distract you from your golf game, but birdy or bogey, we’re sure you’ll enjoy your day there!
Rio Secreto
The Rio Secreto attraction is just across the main highway from Xcaret Park (see article on theme parks) and just south of Playa del Carmen. It is a series of underground caverns that you traverse both wet and dry. Various chambers are illuminated for a thrilling effect, and it’s an unforgettable experience. There are many sinkholes or cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula, but relatively few actual cave systems accessible to the general public without being a professional spelunker, so this is definitely an attraction sure to be high on your list. It’s combinable with many other excursion activities, and is ideal for the afternoon when it may otherwise be boiling hot outside.