The main economic activity of Playa de Carmen is tourism because of the beautiful turquoise Carribean sea, the Maya culture and archealogical zones, the night life and warm friendly people. There are many activities and entertainment in this paradise called “Riviera Maya”.
One of my experiences in Playa del Carmen was with a friend from Cancún. We started our trip at the bus station “ADO” taking us about 50 minutes to get to our destination plus about another 20 minutes to find a hotel. The hotel was quite easy to find all we did was walk down 5th avenue ( the most famous avenue of Playa del Carmen where you can find all kind of shops, restaurants, bars, etc). We stopped at a lot of hotels looking for one with a reasonable price, good location and up to our satisfaction. We found a hotel called “Hacienda María Bonita” located on 10th Avenue between 12th north Street and 10 north street just a few meters from “Coco Bongo” the best disco in town. The price seemed right so we paid 75 dollars per night in a room with two double beds, a/c, tv and bathroom with shower. It was a great location as we were right next to the nightlife of Playa del Carmen and 5 minutes walk from the beach.
To begin our day we went to a beach club called “Mamitas” located at 28th north Street which is said to be the most famous in the area. We walked from our hotel on 5th Avenue to get there where we rented an enormous sun bed to relax and enjoy the view of the most colourful sea I have ever seen, the scorching hot sun and some Carribean refreshing cocktails. The music put us in the mood and the service from the waiters was excellent, we had an excellent time. After spending our morning on the beach we decided to look for a local diner to eat and relax. We found a restaurant called “La Fisheria” on Fifth Avenue between 20 north Street and 22 north street. It’s a well known seafood restaurant, we found the place clean and comfortable but unfortunatly there was no air conditioning, only fans. The price seemed a bit high but the food was so delicious it was worth it! At the end we decided to go to the “Quinta Alegria” a mall located on Fifth Avenue, it is a pretty nice new mall with stores like American Eagle, forever 21, among others. We decided to take a taxi as we were tired, we arrived in about 10 minutes and were charged around 40 pesos. Once in the mall we bought us “Ben & Jerrys” ice cream to cool off. My friend was looking for some brand new clothes so we walked through the stores until he found what he wanted. Then we returned to our hotel to rest so we could enjoy the nightlife.
Playa del Carmen 12th north Street is where all the night life happens as it is full of bars and nightclubs. We decided to go to “La Mezcalina” which is a bar where you can taste a variety of mezcal bottles, listen to excelent electronic music with live DJ and spend a good time dancing and drinking mezcal of different flavors! It is located just down 12th north street. We were about 1 hour there and decided to go to a nightclub, there were many to choose from but we decided to go to “La Santanera” which is very large and has 3 floors, it’s a pretty cool place where you spend a great time with your friends listening to electronic music. There is an outdoor area at the top of the building, an air-conditioned room in the second floor and on the first floor has a bar type restaurant. All floors with live DJ playing!
Unfortunately the next day we had to leave and could not continue to enjoy the wonderful city of Playa del Carmen. It is a beautiful place and there are many things to do and enjoy. The distances are very short, the weather is nice the people are very friendly and the beaches are beautiful. It is certainly a place I recommend to all to either relax, have fun or just to get to know this paradise.