My husband and I enjoy taking a week trip twice a year to enjoy some much-needed time together and time off work. For this winter’s trip, we looked at the flight loads and decided to fly into Cancun with our final destination being Playa del Carmen. The weather looked lovely, and we thought it would be just the reset we needed before returning to the chaos of daily life.

The loads looked promising, so we decided to go ahead and book a couple of nights at an all-inclusive resort(a day or two before we left). We also booked our airport transfer shuttle. We selected the Hilton Playa del Carmen because I had Hilton points to use and a Cancun $150 money-back offer on my credit card. (see my post about travel credit cards!) In addition, for booking directly with Hilton I earned 40,000 Hilton points!

Check-in at the Hilton Playa del Carmen

Our shuttle took about thirty minutes when we arrived at the airport, and it was a 45-minute drive to the resort. We had a personable driver who let me practice my poor Spanish in conversation. The resort was impressive, and we were greeted by a host who took us to the gold member concierge for check-in. We received our wristbands and set off to see our room. 

The Room

Upon entering our room, we saw a cute cubby for room service drop-offs. We also had a mini bar and coffee station at the entry. We had a double sink outside the bathroom with a full closet and safe. Our room came furnished with a king-size bed and a large jacuzzi tub. We also had a couch, a breakfast nook, and a porch overlooking the pool and ocean with a hammock. It was paradise! 

Food

Hungry, we sought out our first meal. We ordered some tacos and drinks at one of the many resort restaurants. We had brought money to tip staff around the resort, which I would recommend. Our service was fantastic! It was an interesting thing to order anything that we desired and leave without having to pay.

Resort

There was an abundance of things to do at the resort. It had two pools. One was more shady and quiet and provided a relaxing space. The other was the more “fun” pool, with activities throughout the day. There was a beautiful beach with comfortable beach chairs to lounge in. The chairs even had sunshades. There were several bars scattered throughout the property with tasty, but albeit weak, drinks. My personal favorites were the dirty monkey and strawberry mojito. 

Activities

The resort staff had many scheduled activities for guests to enjoy. I attended a round of Mexican bingo, dynamic stretching, and salsa dance lessons on my own when Bryan had unfortunately come down with a stomach bug. Together, we enjoyed a group Bachata lesson. The resort also had entertaining shows in the evening. I went to most of them, but Bryan was only able to go once. I was mesmerized by the Masquerade night show. The shows had talented dancers, who also were skilled in aerial acrobatics. It was both impressive and artistic. There were numerous pool parties during the day, which were fun to watch. 

Things to Do in Playa del Carmen

We enjoyed lounging in various places around the resort; near pools, the ocean, on the porch, and in the lobby. There were so many beautiful places to enjoy the lovely weather. We also walked along Fifth Avenue several times to see part of Playa del Carmen. I figured out how to use a local ATM to withdraw some cash at a better exchange rate for souvenirs. I purchased a teal ceramic cat, and Bryan chose a painted wood armadillo, which we haggled to get the price down. It was a lively area, and there were many things to see. We did run into a scammer who tried to convince us he was our waiter at one of the resorts restaurants to lure us in to his shop. Seeming suspiciously charming, we pulled away and continued walking. We later found out this is a common scam that merchants run on tourists and that they can see what hotel you are staying in by looking at your all-inclusive wrist band. On one of our walks, we ventured off Fifth to the nearby beach, where we saw a group of pelicans. 

More Food

While not a culturally immersive dining experience, the food at the resort was incredible. We tried every restaurant while we were there. There was a coffee shop with numerous coffee drinks, ice cream, and pastries. There was also a giant food buffet with a different assortment depending on the time of day. We enjoyed the upscale Asian restaurant, Asiana. I ordered okonomiyaki and ramen, which were both delicious. We typically ordered an appetizer, entree, and dessert at each dinner restaurant.

There was a tasty Mediterranean restaurant with an impressive buffet selection, as well as a traditional menu. We enjoyed the traditional Mexican restaurant, where I ordered a wonderfully flavored fish dish. There was also a Caribbean restaurant, a poolside food stand, and a sports bar. We even did room service a couple of times. The food was both bountiful and delicious. There were many athletic classes, a gym, and a rooftop tennis court for those wanting to balance out the overindulgence.

We had intended to try a couple of different resorts with an employee deal, but with Bryan being sick, we booked the rest of our stay at the Hilton. Under the unfortunate circumstances, and my gold status probably did not hurt, the concierge was very gracious and let us keep our ocean-view room despite having booked a cheaper room for the remainder of our stay. We were glad to have spent the whole trip at this resort, as we throughly enjoyed it. I liked the adults-only element and the location in Playa del Carmen.

Tour/Excursion

In addition to our lovely time at the resort, we took a tour that we booked with a third party service to Tulum, Coba, and a cenote. We were lucky with this tour because we got to each destination right before the giant tour buses. It made it a much more enjoyable experience. Tulum was beautiful. The ruins were beautifully lit with the early morning sun and overlooked the glistening teal-blue ocean. We saw a few iguanas sunning on the bluff. Coba was a much more rustic experience. You could get around with either a bike rental or a bike taxi rental. We chose the bike taxi, which was a unique experience. There were many ruins around the area, with the largest being extremely impressive. In Coba, we saw a monkey in the woods! Our guide was wonderful and informed us interesting historical facts about each place.

The cenote was picturesque and had a climbing rope, rope swing, and cliff-jumping spot. We did not cliff jump, but I did manage to climb up onto the rope swing, which I was proud to have accomplished. There were bats under the cave walls and small fish in the water. The only drawbacks to the tour we selected were that we were given an excessive spiel about the over-priced gift shop at the cenote and that the provided lunch was not very good. I also did not like the bathroom situations in Coba and at the cenote. (The toilets did not have seats.) Our guide was great and very informative about the ruins and Mayan culture. It was a wonderful day trip, and we still made it back to the resort in time for one of the delicious dinners at the resort.

Wrap-Up

Playa del Carmen was a relaxing and enjoyable trip. I would return for a long weekend reset, but maybe not an entire week. It was very convenient to have everything you could need in one place, but the drawback is that it is a less culturally-immersive experience. That said, it reduces the stresses of planning and navigating a new place. Unfortunately, our trip was yet again plagued by sickness. It would have been a much nicer reset if we both had been healthy the whole time. I had some stomach upset upon return that I attribute to swallowing some sea water on a swim. Therefore, I would recommend proactively taking some Cipro, and possibly some probiotics, on a trip to Mexico to avoid any unnecessary stomach upset! I know I will be doing that next time. I look forward to returning to Playa del Carmen and its beautiful weather for another relaxing stay!

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