Things to do in Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen had about three thousand residents in 1990. The census thirty years later counted more than three hundred thousand. Almost the whole town was built inside that gap.

Fifth Avenue and the beach

The layout is simple. Quinta Avenida runs parallel to the sea, pedestrian and about three kilometres long. Everything else is numbered streets crossing it.

• Quinta Avenida. Bars, shops and restaurants end to end, busiest near the ferry pier.
• The ferry pier. Boats to Cozumel go more than twenty times a day and take about forty-five minutes.
• Playacar. The gated resort strip south of the pier, with a golf course and quieter sand.
• Punta Esmeralda. The north end, where fresh water surfaces on the beach and locals swim.

What is reached from here

Playa del Carmen is a base more than a destination. It sits halfway down the coast. The ruins to the west and the cenotes inland are both inside a morning's drive.

• Chichén Itzá. Roughly two hundred kilometres west, sold as a long day with lunch and a cenote stop.
• Tulum and Cobá. Down the 307: the cliff ruins, then the tall jungle pyramid inland.
• Cenote runs. Lagoons, caverns and underground rivers, most of them a short drive off the highway.
• Jungle parks. Quad tracks and zip lines built around cenotes in the scrub behind the coast.

Practical

• Weather. Hot and humid all year, with the wet half and the storm risk both falling between June and November.
• Sargassum. The weedy months run from spring into autumn and peak around midsummer. Central beaches get cleared first.
• Airports. Cancún is about an hour north by shuttle. Tulum's airport, open since December 2023, is a similar drive south.
• The ferry. Buy at the pier rather than from street sellers. Crossings run late enough for a day trip without an overnight.
• Getting about. The town is walkable end to end. Colectivo vans on Calle 2 reach Tulum for a couple of dollars.
• Prices. Fifth Avenue charges roughly double what the same plate costs one block inland.
• Tipping. A propina is often added to the bill already. Check before leaving a second one.
• Cenotes. Take cash for the gate, and rinse off sunscreen before getting in.