Thinking of a vacation or moving to Playa Del Carmen Mexico? We wanted to give you lots of helpful information. We are always discovering new places and writing about living here and vacationing here. Our passion for traveling and our desire to help people find great things moves us to keep adding more to this website. We like providing insider information that will make for the best vacation or life in Playa Del Carmen.
Where in Mexico is Playa Del Carmen?
Playa Del Carmen is in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. When looking at a map, this is the right side across the gulf from Florida.
Playa Del Carmen is in the Riviera Maya. This is a stretch of coast that is home to some of the best beaches in Mexico. To the north is Cancun. This is where you most likely will arrive. Cancun Airport is the main arrival point for people visiting the area. Playa Del Carmen is about 45 minutes south of Cancun and Cancun Airport (see our article on ground transportation from the Cancun Airport to Playa Del Carmen and the surrounding area).
Tulum is to our south. Tulum is about 40 minutes away down the 307 Highway.
There is so much to access from Playa Del Carmen! There are Mayan ruins, colonial cities and all the Riviera Maya beaches! We are in a great location to explore.
What is Playa Del Carmen all about?
Many people love Playa Del Carmen because it is a seaside town. It is more European feeling than cities like Cancun. What once was a small fishing village has grown into an international city today. Playa Del Carmen is very cosmopolitan and international at the same time it can have a small town feel.
The downtown is very walkable. There is one main pedestrian street that parallels the beach called 5th Avenue. On 5th Avenue there are about 22 main blocks to shop, dine or just stroll and take it all in. There are also many restaurants and things to see on this street. You can read more about 5th Avenue in our guide here.
See also our Ultimate Shopping Guide to Playa Del Carmen here. This will give you a nice overall view of where to shop and what to expect.
Playa Del Carmen weather for your trip
You will be pleased to know that we have great weather year round here! In fact it is the main draw for most people. We have a yearly average temperature of 77 Fahrenheit.
The sea is warm year round and you can swim anytime of the year here. That is what makes it so easy to be outside all the time and really explore the Riviera Maya.
For more on weather including when it rains and what the best months are, see our guide here.
Playa Del Carmen Hotels
There are over 40,000 hotel rooms in the area! So that lets you know there are many options for you. One way to narrow it down on where to stay in Playa Del Carmen is our guide here. Many people find the map helpful.
If you are looking for a hostel, we narrowed that down in this article on the best hostels in Playa Del Carmen.
Playa Del Carmen All-inclusive Resorts
In the center of Playa Del Carmen there are just a few all-inclusive hotels. Most are outside of town because in the center you have so many restaurants and things to choose from you don’t really want to be trapped on a hotel property.
Most all inclusives in Playa Del Carmen are in the Playacar section. This is a private neighborhood on the south end of town. If you want access to 5th Avenue to go shopping and still have the comforts of the all-inclusive hotel, this area might be good for you.
Playa Del Carmen’s Best Restaurants
With so many tourists coming there are a lot of restaurants to fit your needs. There are also a lot of people from around the world that have moved here and opened restaurants. This gives a great variety to choose from! You can find everything from tacos to Italian and vegetarian to Venezuelan.
Some of our popular guides are our where to eat guide and best restaurants of Playa Del Carmen. In these two guides we talk about where we would eat and what makes a restaurant good.
We have tons of more guides to food and restaurants. You just need to search in the search box and enter anything you are looking for. Chances are we have written about it! If not, send us a message and we will.
Nightlife in Playa Del Carmen
One of the more popular things to do in Playa Del Carmen is going out. Nightlife is pretty world class if we say so ourselves. There is about a different bar or club for whatever you are looking for. There is such a variety of bars we wrote a guide to bars. Many bars and clubs open and close, so we try to keep this guide updated for you.
If you are looking to go out to a club, then see our club and nightlife guide here. You can find all the places to go out at night.
Playa Del Carmen Tours, Activities and Excursions
When you come to Playa Del Carmen you no doubt want to go on some tours or experience some activities. We have you covered with many guides for you.
If you are looking for a tour or excursion, see our very thorough guide complete with an interactive map. You can see where these tours are and read more about them. Here is our guide to tours with the map.
If you are looking for some activities in Playa Del Carmen see our guide here.
Living in Playa Del Carmen
We love helping people discover the best places to live and what it is like here. Playa Del Carmen is already home to several thousand expats from around the world. Some people live year-round and some live here a few months a year.
Mexico is growing in interest from many people around the world as a place to move to. Not only for people looking to retire but also for an increasing amount of digital nomads and people looking for a cultural experience. We wrote an article you might want to read, it is about why Mexico is such a great place to visit and live in now.
We have a lot of information under our “expats” tab on the page. Search through this and hopefully this will be helpful to you. Our living in Playa Del Carmen guide is a good place to start. This guide has lots of info to help those looking to move to the area.
Top Reasons to Move to Mexico and Playa Del Carmen
- It is beautiful! With turquoise seas and palm trees, it is like a paradise.
- Warm and welcoming people.
- Lower cost of living. As people age we all have to think about our budget. There are some things that cost a lot less in Mexico and some that are similar or slightly more than where you might live. See our article on the cost of living in Mexico here.
- Easy to get to and from. Playa Del Carmen is an easy flight from the US and Canada. This makes it easy to go and visit friends and family. It also makes it easy for people to come and visit you! Cancun Airport is very easy to get to. There are also many international and domestic flights available at reasonable cost.
- There is great accessibility to many cultural activities and destinations in the Yucatan Peninsula.
- Playa Del Carmen is a modern city in Mexico and can offer you more comforts. You are able to have modern conveniences, nice neighborhoods and still have access to the small towns and quiet life. See our guide for getaway for locals and all the places you can go.
Playa Del Carmen Real Estate
If you are thinking of moving to Playa Del Carmen, you might be looking to invest in a property. It can be a task to get to know the market. We have taken some of the work out of it for you. We have written a handy guide to real estate. Best of all we are not a real estate company and don’t try sway you in any direction. We just wrote it to be helpful.
Conclusion
We hope you get to come and visit Playa Del Carmen. We also hope with the use of our guides and articles you are able to discover the best of Playa Del Carmen. At EverythingPlayaDelCarmen.com we will be working hard here to continually cover new places and write more guides. We personally go to each restaurant and go on every tour so we can answer your questions.
If you are moving to the area or thinking of it, we hope we get a chance to meet you here! Let us know if you have questions. We love helping people get to know the area and how things work.
About The Author
You do a terrific job with these articles. We live there half time and agree almost 100% with all of your tips and advice.
What a great article. Absolutely love the beauty and people of Playa!
Hello. Thanks for all the good details here. My family is planning a well deserved trip down this winter and we are pouring over the details of what to do and see!
Ӏf y᧐u have ɑny suggestions, please share. Thɑnk уou!
We will see you soon! Cannot wait to get our feet in the sand and hit 5th Avenue for some shopping! We love Playa!
hello friends,
we are thinking of relocating to playa and have looked into it. wife works from home hubby is a musician, BUT some friends that live close by said they lived there a while and it’s dangerous and cartel country. still planning a visit but can you please give us the low down on safety issues? we appreciate inside info more than you know.
sincerely, Roland Z-
Hello
Like many places in the world there is organized crime. Call it mafia call it cartels. As Playa has grown so has an interest in the amount of money that passes through it. For tourists it is something not that visible nor something that affects them. We do have an article about tourist safety here: https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/is-playa-del-carmen-safe/ We also have a different article for residents and what to expect: https://everythingplayadelcarmen.com/playa-del-carmen-crime/
Mexico is a big country and different parts have different issues. The Yucatan Peninsula is one of the more safe places in the Mexico. The Riviera Maya is just part of it but what does make it unique is the amount of money passing through and tourists drug trade. Most that live in Playa feel pretty comfortable. Even compared to the US where there are more violent crimes and mass shootings, the type of crime in and near Playa is less threatening. There are communities like Puerto Aventuras that are gated and very Floridian feeling that will not feel like Mexico. Some people prefer to live there. There are options for everyone, the best is to come for yourself and see it and see how you feel. We don’t try to hide anything but try to give people a honest appraisal of things here.