Playa Del Carmen is a highly touristic place. However it is quite lively with many restaurants, shopping, bars, nightlife and enterainment. On the adventurous side you have many scuba diving sites on the reefs/cenotes, parasailing, skydiving, adventure parks and much more.
To get to Playa Del Carmen you need to fly into Cancun then find a shuttle over. Flying in the early evening I used eTransfers and purchased urchased on line for $60 to get to my Airbnb quickly. They will great you in front of Margaritaville upon eixiting the airport. A cheaper way to get there is to buy an ADO bus ticket for about $10. I used Busbud to purchase in english. The ADO buses are also close to Margaritaville.
The Kaab South Beach is one block from one end of Quinta Avenida where the Playa Del Paseo shopping mall is located. It’s also 3 blocks from the Cozumel ferry dock.
The next day I hung out by the rooftop pool with a grand view of Playa Del Carmen. You can see a lot of activity from this roof. The white tent structures in the background is the shopping mall.
Quinta Avenida is a pedestrian brick paved street that is over a mile long.
At one end is the shopping mall. Walking through the mall onto the pedestrian street you can see the welcoming mermaids arch by the beach. There’s still some Sargassum seaweed issues at the beach but its not so bad on this end of Playa.
I walked down Quinta Avenida dodging so many vendors trying to get you into their shops or sell you some tickets for adventures.
Along the avenue I turn down Calle 2 nte to get to a beach bar called Vestige. It seemed like a nice place to hang out with a couple margaritas and some guacamole. Behind the bar there is a hostel and what appears to be a small ruin. In Playa Del Carmen there are several tiny ruins sites that are not well known.
More shopping malls close to the other end of the Avenida. I spot interesting decorative sculptures of dung beetles. Going back up the Avenue when early evening arrives more street performers show up.
In all I find Playa Del Carmen a good central location which is a little cheaper than Cancun or Tulum to venture out and explore the area.
