Playa Del Carmen

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The beach, Playa Del Carmen

Introducing Playa Del Carmen

Playa del Carmen, now the third-largest city in Quintana Roo – its population more than doubled over the past five years – is the hippest city in all of the Yucatán Peninsula. Sitting coolly on the lee side of Cozumel, the town’s beaches are jammed with super-fit Europeans ­– they let Americans in, too, if they meet the weight requirements! The waters aren’t as clear as those of Cancún or Cozumel, and the beach sands aren’t quite as champagne-powder-perfect as they are further north, but still Playa (as it’s locally known) grows and grows.

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With daily cruise ship visitors, Playa is starting to feel like a mass-tourism destination, but it retains its European chic, and one need just head two blocks west of haughty-taughty 5 Av to catch glimpses of real Mexico.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009

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Thorn Tree forum discussion

Recent posts

  1. RobertSDF avatar
    RE: Well there goes the zNeighborhhood

    by RobertSDF 14 September 2011

    Another incident in the Playa area yesterday afternoon. The mayor of Playa del Carmen was traveling back to Playa and just south of the…
  2. theymademedoit avatar
    Re: Which resort to get to best sites?

    by theymademedoit 14 September 2011

    Thanks for this. Both places look really cool and exactly what we want. I looked on google maps and the distance between the places all…
  3. theymademedoit avatar
    Which resort to get to best sites?

    by theymademedoit 14 September 2011

    Hi, My girlfriend and I are planning a 2 week trip from the UK to Mexico in July/August 2012. We have never been before and would like…

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