Skip to Content

Why This Beach Town Is One Of The Most Popular Destinations For Americans This Winter

Share The Article

Last Updated


With winter knocking on our doors and days getting unbearably colder in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s only natural to ponder where to jet off for a sunny break.

Chances are, however, you’ve already picked the Mexican Caribbean as your next destination, as it is the ideal year-end destination: it boasts warm weather, paradisaical white-sand beaches, and luxurious resorts, and then, there is the wide availability of nonstop flights.

Aerial View Of The Caribbean Sea In The Mexican Caribbean, Mexico, Latin America

This makes the sunny coast easy to get to, and the increased room capacity and exciting new developments on the tourism front make it even more popular to visit, but if you’re still unsure where to base yourself to relax and bask in the Mexican sun, we have just the perfect beach town:

Playa Del Carmen Keeps Surging In Popularity

Between the chaotic traffic scenes of Cancun and the controversial rave parties of Tulum, the small beach town of Playa Del Carmen is a great alternative for tourists seeking more laid-back vibes and a more peaceful environment.

portal maya sculpture playa del carmen

The mostly flat townscape is cut through by the landmark Quinta Avenida, a pedestrianized street full of shops, night venues and traditional restaurants, that is often teeming with tourists day and night and bounded by a long municipal beach.

The beach at Playa Del Carmen is one of the most beautiful in the whole Mayan Riviera, with its landmark Mayan Gates serving as a portal for visitors as they step on the soft, warm sands and a row of palms distributed along the pristine shoreline.

The sea itself is turquoise-blue, and Playa Del Carmen is a well-known hotspot for water-based activities, whether it’s open-water swimming or stand-up paddle-boarding: numerous activity providers operate on the beach, and with their commercial stalls lining the boardwalk, it’s not hard to spot them.

woman sitting on a tropical beach in Playa Del Carmen, Riviera Maya, Mexico

Playa Del Carmen Is Incredibly Safe

Additionally, the town is one of the safest in the whole of the Mexican Caribbean, with very few, if any, incidents involving tourists recorded in the last few months, and now that more police are being deployed, you will have even fewer reasons to worry about security.

As reported by The Cancun Sun, additional patrols will complement Playa’s zero-tolerance approach towards crime, with more police stations, vehicles, and state-of-the-art technology being introduced to ensure the town becomes unattractive to petty criminals.

The fact that not only Playa del Carmen but the wider Mayan Riviera has so few reports of crime affecting visitors when it is extremely touristy is a noteworthy feat in itself: nearly every single other Latin American destination that is a tourist hotspot also struggles with rampant crime.

Crowded Beach In Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Some classic examples?

Cartagena, a beautiful colonial, but crime-ridden coastal metropolis in the Caribbean provinces of Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s number one destination, and ironically, one of its most dangerous cities.

On the other hand, tourists are seldom impacted by violence walking the heavily-policed streets of Playa Del Carmen, and especially within resort zones, safety risks are essentially nonexistent.

The world-class hospitality and the impressive amenities are yet more reasons why the average American loves Playa del Carmen, and you will too:

boats rest in the calm blue waters of one of Mexico's top tourist destinations - Playa Del Carmen

Nowhere in Latin America will you find the same high quality services, well-trained staff with perfect English, and fantastical world of entertainment as you will within a Playa Del Carmen all-inclusive resort complex.

There are as many as 43 options listed on Booking.com, with overnight rates starting from only $107 per night at the adults-only Ocean Maya Royale, and going as high as $616 at the ultra-glamorous Hotel Xcaret Arte.

city playa del carmen, mexican caribbean, mexico

This winter, Playa Del Carmen authorities are expecting a further popularity boom, amid the launch of the Maya Train this December.

Having its own station, the town will be linked by rail to every other major tourist city on the Mayan Coast, making it much easier for tourists landing in Cancun, the main entry point into the Mexican Caribbean, to reach their favorite resort.

Read More:

Top 5 Travel Insurance Plans Starting At $10 Per Week

How To Easily Earn Points For Free Travel

↓ Join Our Community ↓

The Travel Off Path Community FB group has all the latest reopening news, conversations, and Q&A’s happening daily! 

Travel-off-Path-group-1-1
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LATEST POSTS

Enter your email address to subscribe to Travel Off Path’s latest breaking travel news, straight to your inbox.

This article originally appeared on TravelOffPath.com