All-inclusive Resort in Mexico

I totally recommend Playa del Carmen. It's about an hour south of Cancun, not "spring breaky" like Cancun, but a more mature, layed back atmosphere. Great shopping downtown and you feel safe walking around. There are LOTS of great all-inclusive resorts. We got married at the Barcelo Resort, just south of there in Puerto Adventuras (I believe that was the name of the town). There were 4 (I think) resorts all connected and you could eat/swim at any of them. I totally recommend the place, all 25 of our guests LOVED it and it was very family friendly.

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Not to knock your travel plans, but if it were me and my family, I would start looking to other countries for a holiday. Mexico is so unstable right now. Here is a link from the State Department. I would definitely do my homework before making any reservations.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4755.html

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My name is N. Cox and I am a Travel Agent in Flower Mound. I send lots of families to Mexico every year. I have 7 kids and 12 grandkids so I have a good idea about what works. I like the Rivera Maya. I also like the Dreams in Cancun with the Dolphin Arena. I like Beaches in Jamaica because of the kids programs. I also think for the best all round fun you can't beat a cruise and with Galveston in our backyard it is easy to do.
I will be happy to help you plan and book your vacation. There is no charge for to help you.
Thank You
N. Cox
www.facebook.com/weallneedvacations

We've stayed in Cancun. It is very touristy. Not bad, just very busy. Two years in a row we stayed in Riviera Maya. A bit removed from most everything we wanted to do. We felt a bit trapped. Just because with 2 teenagers we wanted to rent a fishing tour, parasail, see xcaret, the ruins etc. You have to have a car for everything. We also wanted to be in the heart of authentic restaurants, stores, activities etc. The absolute best was this year(in July) at Playa Del Carmen. In fact we are heading back in December. It has everything!!!! The atmosphere, all the shops you could possibly want or need. You can walk to almost everything.

We went to Cancun this past May and Riviera Maya in October with our young children. (In October, the boys were 3-1/2 and almost 2). We didn't leave the resort at all to go into town on either trip, so I can't really comment on how touristy one is versus the other.

We stayed at Moon Palace in Cancun, which is about 10mins away from the airport and an excellent resort. Reservations aren't required for any of the restaurants, so you can show up whenever you want and there aren't restrictions as to how many times you can go to the "nicer" restaurants.

In October, we stayed at Iberostar Paraiso Maya, which had a nicer beach but overall was not as nice as Moon Palace. (To be fair, I didn't realize Moon Palace is a luxury resort.) Smoking was allowed in outdoor public spaces (pool, beach), but I don't know if that's common or because Iberostar is based in Spain. It does have a lazy river, wave pool and playground onsite.

We staid at the Iberostar Tucan this past summer and LOVED it! It is in Playa Del Carmen, outside of Cancun. There were 5 families in all (kids from 5 thru 15), and everyone had a great time. Playa Del Carmen was a short cab ride away, so we went out there two nights also. The food was good, not great, but everything else was wonderful!
Have a great trip!

I LOVE Playa and have been several times. I prefer it to Cancun - even if you don't plan on really leaving the resort. The Iberostar resorts are very family friendly and are also all-inclusive. I believe all their resorts have kids programs as well as special pool areas for the kids. Good luck and have a great trip!

My family stayed at a RIU property in the Riviera Maya and loved it. My immediate family has stayed in Cancun. They are both "touristy." Personally, I preferred the beach more in Cancun because the Riviera Maya has a sharp drop-off. If there are lots of children, I think the Riviera Maya is better because it is easier to keep track of everyone as most of the resorts are isolated along the coast. Cancun, however, offers a lot more variety in restaurants or nightlife. So, it kind of depends on what you want to do during the vacation. More important than the actual location is the resort ammenities - look for a good variety of food/restaurants and activities. Have fun,
C.

I highly suggest Grand Palladium Colonial or Kantenah for families, we've stayed twice. We've also been to Dreams Tulum and Iberostar (can't remember the name but is just north of Playa that has 5 IB hotels sharing the same beach) and they were OK, but the GP property is the winner.

Sightseeing with kids: visit Tulum or Coba ruins, zipline and Xel-ha.

Dreams in Cancun was wonderful.

I would agree with the comment about Cancun and that's exactly why we avoided Cancun and went to Riviera Maya, Tulum to be exact. We stayed at Dreams Resort (all inclusive) in Tulum. It's about 45 minute ride from Cancun Int'nl airport and past Playa Del Carmen. It's a beautiful resort and there are so many restaurants and bars to pick from and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. IMO, Riviera Maya feels much more beautiful and natural than Cancun.

We did Cozumel - easy direct flight from DFW and not at all touristy. It was wonderful, we'll definitely go back!

Playa Del Carmen is a great place to vacation. It is south of Cancun and not as touristy. They have some all inclusive hotels there. We stopped there when we were on a cruise and loved the place. Beautiful beaches and lots of quaint little shops.

we went to Xcaret a few years ago and it was GREAT...if you have kids it would be wonderful. There is a resort attatched to Xcaret, I can't think of who runs it, but if you search the park, the resorrt will come up. It was all inclusive had 4 restaraunts to choose from besides the buffet stuff, you get a free day at the park, which was very fun, they have tons of kids stuff to do and we would certainly go back. That being said, i would also maybe give pause to going to mexico right now...Costa Rica may be an option (close, quick direct flight, and lots of All-Inclusives)...however they jsut had a bunch of flooding...??

I agree with not staying in Cancun. Absolutely too tourist filled for me! We have gone to the Mexican Riviera quite a few times and love it. My grandparents have traveled all over the world and said there are few beaches that compare to it! Our favorite place to stay is the Barcelo. The food is good, the drinks are excellent, the staff is quite good, and there are tons of activities. I know they have expanded since I was last there, so I don't know if it is still as quiet as it once was, but I highly recommend it! Have fun!

Cozumel is my favorite

My husband and I honeymooned in both places. And we would go back to the Riviera Maya in a heartbeat! It was so beautiful and quiet. When we were just walking down the street in Cancun, we couldn't get 4 steps without someone bugging us.."come look in my store", see my pretty necklaces". And we were just walking to dinner! But I would strongly suggest the Riviera Maya and doing the ATV ride while you are there. Way to beautiful to miss! Happy vacation!

We LOVED the El Dorado Royale (http://www.eldoradosparesorts.com/) But it is an 18 years and up place, no kids. It is in Riviera Maya.

My husband & I went July 2010 (30th anniversary), although it has changed from when we went on our 15th Anniversary, it was still nice...however it was overcast & rained off & on the whole time we were there practically. Tourist, are going to be pretty much anywhere unless you go in Sept or Oct (when school season starts) we were relentlessly "dogged" by sales people to "listen" to their presentation. My husband speaks Spanish & he just kept telling them "not interested & to let us just enjoy our time there"...he sometimes had to get in their face and they backed off, but other than that. we enjoyed the hotel & restaurants (and the diff people we met in the restaurants) and the beach is incredible, despite the weather.
They have a bus system that will take you from your hotel to downtown Cancun or restaurants that are not what we are used to (trying to be nice here), but for one week, it wasn't that bad, "we roughed it" lol.
Personally I would NOT do all-inclusive...only because you will get sick of the hotel food or just not like it at all & there is no way we could drink THAT much for the extra price they charge you. Your better off with a nice hotel & airfare w/transfers from the Airport to the hotel. And take some money with you to eat at diff places...good luck & enjoy where ever you go!