All-Inclusive Playa del Carmen Resort

This vacation includes:

• Round-trip airfare
• Accommodations in a master one bedroom suite at the Real Playa del Carmen
• All meals, snacks, and domestic and premium alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages
• Stocked in-room mini bar
• Non-motorized water sports
• Daily organized activities and nightly entertainment
• Bicycle rental

Playa del Carmen’s lively, pedestrian-friendly Fifth Avenue is lined with restaurants and bars playing marimba music, and vendors hawking handmade goods and Cuban cigars. The Real Playa del Carmen Hotel sits in the center of the action, offering a new lobby area and bar that opens right onto the street. It’s within walking distance of a private beach club where a breakwater-protected cove creates good conditions for swimming, snorkeling, and kayaking. You can go back and forth between both properties on a complimentary shuttle that runs every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Though it's located in town, the Real Playa del Carmen has a quiet side. Hammocks hang from tree trunks throughout the property, and stone walkways are shaded by lush vegetation. Tropical landscaping surrounds three small swimming areas near thatch-roof huts. You can take a complimentary yoga class or get a massage in the spa garden.

As part of the all-inclusive package, you can dine for free at any of the hotel’s four restaurants. Maria’s specializes in Mexican-Caribbean dishes, while Albatross offers buffet cuisine and a laid-back, inviting atmosphere. There's lighter fare available at the bars onsite. After dinner, most guests funnel out to Fifth Avenue for drinking and dancing. Later, retire to your spacious master one-bedroom suite, which features a private balcony with garden views.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico: Trendy Beach Area and Diving Destination

Just across the sea from the island of Cozumel, Playa del Carmen has been called "the hippest city in all of the Yucatán Peninsula" by Lonely Planet. The laid-back beach bars and cafés have a way of converting vacationers into expats, but Playa's most compelling draw might be its cenotes—cavernous sinkholes filled with turquoise pools. The water in the cenotes is crystal clear, particularly at the lily-pad-dotted Xlacah cenote, where you can snorkel among schools of colorful fish.

To the south, you'll find preserved ruins of pre-Columbian cities. Tulum's crumbling temples are situated on a dramatic bluff over the ocean, and Coba's enormous pyramid rises between two lagoons. For a fun day trip, hop aboard the ferry to Cozumel. There are about a dozen dive shops on the island offering trips to the reefs that Jacques Cousteau declared some of the world's most beautiful.