Mayan Riviera?

Question

We are thinking of going to Mayan Riviera. Just wanted to get any feedback about past experiences, safety, culture or anything else. We are thinking about staying at the Barcel Maya Colonial and Tropical Beach.

Answer 1

It's a great area, there's lots to see and do.

Safety shouldn't be a problem, crime is very low in this area. But still, take precautions. Leave most/all of your bling at home. Don't drink 15 tequilas and decide to see if you can swim to the reef and back, those kind of things.

For culture, in the tourist areas of Playa del Carmen, most people you encounter are going to speak some amount of English and there's going to be some things that are familiar to you like McDonalds, Sam's club and that sort of thing. But you are going to see Mexican/Mayan things too, Mariachi bands in the restaurants. Women in typical Mayan dresses.

Outside of the tourist areas you will find lots of Mayan culture. Mayan will be the first language of many of the people in the area, including some of those that work in your resort. You will see traditional Mayan houses (oval, or rectangular with rounded corners with a thatched roof). There are many Mayan ruins in the area, you should see at least one of those. Tulum is the closest, it has a great beach and there is also Mayan dancers and a market with handy-crafts. Tulum is generally very busy, other sites with in driving distance are Coba, Ek Balam, Chichen Itza, (very impressive popular but its a very big site so you don't get the feeling that it's crowded), Muyil and many other smaller ones.

Also, lots of great snorkeling/diving both in the Caribbean or in cenotes.

I'm not familiar with the resorts you mentioned but you may be able to find a review of them here:

http://www.debbiescaribbeanresortreviews...