Advice on Cancun - What area to stay in?

I've been wanting to take a vacation in Cancun for a while now and we're
seriously considering it for a week in May. We went to an all-inclusive
resort in the Dominican Republic and it was fantastic. We had a great time!
So we're looking at some AI resorts in Cancun. But our first decision is
what area to stay in. I've been reading up on the web but I'm still not
sure about the areas:

- Cancun pennisula itself - I read that this is pretty wild, maybe too wild
and crowded for us I'm not sure. I know it's resorts squeezed next to each
other and stuff. The city is not far away, as well as Chitzen Iza (I've
been there once while on vacation in Cozumel and I really enjoyed it, I'd
like my wife to see it as well.)

- Playa del Carmen - From what I've read this is a fast growing city south
of Cancun. My question here is : Is there enough to do in the city or would
be travel to Cancun? We like to eat, shop, and just walk around and take
pictures.

- Even further south than Playa del Carmen - Some of the nicest AI resorts
are here, but it's far from any city.

Is it worth going into Cancun several times or is once enough for a 1 week
trip?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Michael

Consider the Club Med... It's at the end of the "strip" and not at all
crowded... rather spread out actually. It's within easy reach of the
downtown "nightlife", but far enough away to not be influenced by the
"party and drink" atmosphere around all the nightclubs. The CM also
runs a GREAT excursion to Chitzen Itza. (Check my review and description
of the excursion at http://www.hammocktree.org/ms/cancun02/Cancun02.html ).
We've been to the Cancun Club Med 3 times and haven't bothered to go
into the downtown area yet; just not our cup of tea.
Mike

Michael wrote:

I've been wanting to take a vacation in Cancun for a while now and we're
seriously considering it for a week in May. We went to an all-inclusive
resort in the Dominican Republic and it was fantastic. We had a great time!
So we're looking at some AI resorts in Cancun. But our first decision is
what area to stay in. I've been reading up on the web but I'm still not
sure about the areas:

- Cancun pennisula itself - I read that this is pretty wild, maybe too wild
and crowded for us I'm not sure. I know it's resorts squeezed next to each
other and stuff. The city is not far away, as well as Chitzen Iza (I've
been there once while on vacation in Cozumel and I really enjoyed it, I'd
like my wife to see it as well.)

- Playa del Carmen - From what I've read this is a fast growing city south
of Cancun. My question here is : Is there enough to do in the city or would
be travel to Cancun? We like to eat, shop, and just walk around and take
pictures.

- Even further south than Playa del Carmen - Some of the nicest AI resorts
are here, but it's far from any city.

Is it worth going into Cancun several times or is once enough for a 1 week
trip?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Michael

Micheal, Cancun is like Miami Beach, except that it's in Mexico. That could
be good or bad, depending on your outlook. There are some really nice places
Cancun, but I found that it's expensive, crowded, and not very relaxing if
you leave your hotel.

Playa del Carmen is the anti-Cancun. Lots of great little hotels. Not as
many people with their hand out. Smaller, but plenty of nightlife, awesome
restaurants, or whatever you're looking for.

I think that most of the AI's are just south of town, in an area called
Playacar. When looking on the travel sites, check to make sure that the
resort is in Playacar.

Drew
Waco, TX
http://www.io.com/~dru/DrewsWebPage01.htm
Info on Playa del Carmen

Michael,

My choice would be Playa del Carmen or Playacar. Cancun is too
developed and so Americanized it's like visiting a theme park in Orlando.

I've been to Playa del Carmen. There is an A. I. resort on the north
end of town, El Gran Porto Real. The best rooms are in the North wing,
facing south on one of the upper floors. They are the Deluxe Jr. Suite
rooms and each comes with a balcony or terrace, plus a huge bathroom
with a shower that is unbelievably large. There are several pools, one
is on the rooftop. There is a snack bar/drink bar convenient to both
beach and main pool. There is a buffet, plus two specialty restaurants.
It's a 5 to 10 minute stroll to 5th Avenue the main tourist zone. You
can look at it at: http://www.realresorts.com.mx/

Playacar has many resorts. Everyone has a favorite. Some are rather old
and have been through many different owner's hands. Some are relatively
new. One I have been to and would not reccomend is Occidental Allegro
Playacar. Service is spotty. Food has too much salt in it. It is a
time share and if you aren't careful you'll find yourself enticed into a
90 minute hard sell presentation. It should be noted that Playacar is
approximately 5 minutes by taxi from 5th Avenue in Playa del Carmen.
This is about $5.00 usd.

Just north of Playa del Carmen is Puerto Morelos. It is in an earlier
stage of development than Playa but has plenty of good restaurants,
places to shop and terrific beaches. I think there may be only one or
two AI resorts there. But there are several villas that come with their
own housekeeping, cook, "go for" service, pool, private sun deck. I
haven't stayed in any. It's a beautiful little seaside town. Even if
you don't stay there, you might want to visit it for a while.

--
________
To email me, Edit "xt" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once!"
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

Consider the Club Med... It's at the end of the "strip" and not at all
crowded... rather spread out actually. It's within easy reach of the
downtown "nightlife", but far enough away to not be influenced by the
"party and drink" atmosphere around all the nightclubs. The CM also
runs a GREAT excursion to Chitzen Itza. (Check my review and description
of the excursion at
http://www.hammocktree.org/ms/cancun02/Cancun02.html ).
We've been to the Cancun Club Med 3 times and haven't bothered to go
into the downtown area yet; just not our cup of tea.

Unfortunately Club Med is much more expensive than the other AI resorts. So
we haven't considered it. Once we checked and it was about twice as much as
the other 4 & 5 star resorts..

Michael

Since this is your first time in Cancun, I would recommend that you make it
real simple and just stay in what you refer to as the "peninsula". It's more
commonly known as "Zona Hotelera" or hotel zone and as the name implies,
this area is several miles long and has rows and rows of hotels. You'll have
many choices in terms of AIs. You will have to choose whether you want to be
in the Mediteranenan side, where the waters are clear and turquoise but can
be rough, or the Gulf of Mexico side, where the waters a bit calmer but not
as pretty. Keep in ming that no locals live in this area and the only
locals you will see are probably those working in the hotels. South of this
hotel zone is the airport and north of the zone in the town proper or
downtown Cancun. In downtown, you will see the locals and how they live if
you want to get a flavor of the town. Mind you, some people never leave the
hotel zone and they are happy with that because most people speak English,
the signs are in English, you have the usual complement of KFC, BurgerKing
MickeyD's and the like. The almighty dollar is accepted everywhere and there
are public buses that go up and down the hotel zone for about a quarter or
maybe more nowadays.

As for the crowds, if you go there during Spring Break, then it will be
packed. You will see a lot teens below drinking age getting totally wasted
and even heaving in the public buses. Doesn't really bother me but I'm not
quite sure what you would think. These shenanigans usually happen at night
since they usually have one or 2 discos with so-called "ladies night" on a
rotatting basis where women get in for free with unlimited free drinks and
the men get fleeced at least $20 to be where the girls are.

At the same time you can also check out Playa del Carmen and other areas to
possibly see if you would want to stay there on your return, if ever. I
caution that PlayaCar is not what it used to be 10 years ago when I first
started coming to Cancun. It's about as commercialized as the Hotel Zone,
the only difference being that in PlayaCar, some locals actually live in the
town and it's the launch area for the ferry to Cozumel.

Plus, you definitely need to see Chichen-Itza and perhaps visit a "cenote"
or two.

Hope this helps.


"Michael" wrote in message
...
I've been wanting to take a vacation in Cancun for a while now and we're
seriously considering it for a week in May. We went to an all-inclusive
resort in the Dominican Republic and it was fantastic. We had a great
time!
So we're looking at some AI resorts in Cancun. But our first decision is
what area to stay in. I've been reading up on the web but I'm still not
sure about the areas:

- Cancun pennisula itself - I read that this is pretty wild, maybe too
wild
and crowded for us I'm not sure. I know it's resorts squeezed next to
each
other and stuff. The city is not far away, as well as Chitzen Iza (I've
been there once while on vacation in Cozumel and I really enjoyed it, I'd
like my wife to see it as well.)

- Playa del Carmen - From what I've read this is a fast growing city south
of Cancun. My question here is : Is there enough to do in the city or
would
be travel to Cancun? We like to eat, shop, and just walk around and take
pictures.

- Even further south than Playa del Carmen - Some of the nicest AI resorts
are here, but it's far from any city.

Is it worth going into Cancun several times or is once enough for a 1 week
trip?

Thanks for any advice you may have.

Michael

Hmmm, not to argue with you, but that would be unusual... We've generally
found the Club Meds to be the same or less than the better AIs.. Seeing that
Club Med is currently advertising some specials (7 days/nights at Cancun for
$630 (land only)), I'd think it would be difficult to beat that. Oh, one
other thing; if you do go during "Spring Break" times, the Club is far enough
from the main part of the strip that there is very little impact to the
club itself.
Mike

Michael wrote:
Consider the Club Med... It's at the end of the "strip" and not at all
crowded... rather spread out actually. It's within easy reach of the
downtown "nightlife", but far enough away to not be influenced by the
"party and drink" atmosphere around all the nightclubs. The CM also
runs a GREAT excursion to Chitzen Itza. (Check my review and description
of the excursion at

http://www.hammocktree.org/ms/cancun02/Cancun02.html ).

We've been to the Cancun Club Med 3 times and haven't bothered to go
into the downtown area yet; just not our cup of tea.


Unfortunately Club Med is much more expensive than the other AI resorts. So
we haven't considered it. Once we checked and it was about twice as much as
the other 4 & 5 star resorts..

Michael

On Tue, 23 Mar 2004 23:06:04 +0100, "Michael"
wrote:

I've been wanting to take a vacation in Cancun for a while now and we're
seriously considering it for a week in May.
There's a few new or renovated AIs described in our Cancun Forum

http://mycaribbean.info/forums/index.php?act=SF&f=34

Maybe something there will be useful information.




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