Please tell me all about Mexico

[CoolShoeshine]

I’ve got a real hankering to do a family beach holiday with our 2 teens in Mexico (east coast, Cancun etc) None of us have ever been before and I’m very clueless so I’m totally open to tips and suggestions!
Some things I’d like to know a bit more about:
We’d like to be near a beautiful sandy beach and also a town with plenty of shops and restaurants for tourists that is lively but not too rowdy and most importantly feels safe - where would be a good place to base ourselves? And what airport would we arrive at? Would it be worth moving between two resorts?
We’d like to do some day trips, are there plenty of companies offering them? Mayan ruins, jungle wildlife, cenotes, water parks, Cozumel etc.
The big all inclusive resorts look wonderful but incredibly pricey- are there some slightly more basic hotels about which are still nice? Is it easy to find places to eat if you aren’t all inclusive?
Is February a good time of year to go and would 12 nights be sufficient? Any tips for getting good value flights?
Thank you for your help

I would go to Playa del Carmen or further down towards Tulum.
The riviera maya beaches are not very pleasant if you want to swim into the ocean as sea vegetation makes it more like trying to swim in a field of high grass. And because nobody swims , boats come very near the beach.

I stayed in Akumal Bay in March this year and it was gorgeous, I’ve never seen sea so blue and the snorkelling was absolutely unreal. As other posters have said though the seaweed was a bit of a problem, worse on some days than others and the staff at our hotel worked hard to clear it but it wasn’t always the picturesque coast I imagined.

Did day trips to Xel Ha and Chichen Itza which is were very enjoyable.

Weather in March was mostly really lovely and sunny with the odd shower although in Akumal it was WINDY.

Just back from
Riveria maya and first time ever can say absolutely hated it.

Sargassium - state of emergency declared whilst there. Beaches unusable. Sea like a swamp.

Our resort was meant to be 5* AI
And bollocks was it
We both got ill but I got so ill needed resort docs and injections in my arse

Only cost $725 dollars tho

Couldn't eat or drink for 5days

Hygiene extremely questionable. Loads of people got ill in resort.

Sundress were shite and broken.
Bali beds sheets weren't changed while we stayed - I know because we got same one daily and we laid in our own sand /cream/filth.

Just put complaint in to tui so I'll see where I get ( but at 5k plus £250 tips it was an expensive mistake)
I won't go back to Mexico.

Staff/people were lovely. Only redeeming feature.

If i hadn't sat on a plane for 10 long hours I wouldn't have guessed i was in mexico! Nothing outstanding about the place food average and beach/sea totally unusable due to the awful seaweed!

Which hotel were you at Hellenbackagain?

Eldorado seaside suites and spa.

Currently at the Iberostar Paraiso Beach on the Riviera Maya coast and it's stunning. Was worried about the sargassum but it's not been a problem so far and they clean the beaches daily.

This was from earlier today...

We just got back from riviera maya and loved it! We stayed in the Azul Fives all inclusive - great beach, lovely pools, fab food. Went into Playa Del Carmen a couple of times for drinks/dinner. Did lots of excursions and day trips to Tulum, snorkelling, Coba, Xcaret, etc. Seaweed is a problem but there were always people out clearing it so it didn’t affect us at all.

We're booked to go to Playa Del Carmen next Easter with TUI, staying at the Riu Tequila - it's not directly on the beach but the Riu Yucatan and Playacar are and you can use those hotels too. All 3 get great reviews on Trip Advisor and half closed Facebook pages

We've paid £1600 each for 2 weeks flying from Gatwick. Can't wait!

Hope you find somewhere amazing!

*have

I'm here now and it's fabulous!

Please choose your trips wisely. There's an odd attitude to eco tourism here, with sea turtles well protected but many other sea creatures eg dolphins kept in captivity for paying guests pleasure.

It's perfectly possible to boycott these places (Xel ha, Xcaret etc ) and find trips that allow you to instead appreciate these magnificent creatures in the wild.

We are with teens and the wildlife has been the highlight - raccoons, coatis, agoutis, iguanas (everywhere!!), sea turtles, whale sharks, dolphins, and hoping to see crocodile and manatee today!

In answer to your other q it is v easy to get collectivos along the highway - they run very regularly from Tulum up to Playa del Carmen. We got one the other day with the kids and it was cheap, safe, reliable and air conditioned!

So to the pp who said you can't get around unless on an organised tour - have you tried setting foot outside your hotel?! It's dead easy.

Ooh whale sharks sound fab. Was that a boat trip?

And if so was it £££?

Also, what's a collectivo?

We went in July a few years ago, stayed at the Karisma Seaside Suites near Tulum. Wasn't impressed with the hotel at all (even though it was top rated!) but the area was lovely. Beware of the seaweed- it's seasonal as far as I am aware and we visited at its peak! I would definitely go back to Mexico, I would just do better hotel research first.

Whale shark trip about $160-180 per person. Minivan to Cancun and then speedboat for about an hour to whale shark feeding ground. Also highly recommend a tour to Sian Ka'an - again speedboats, we saw turtles, crocodiles and dolphins galore, plus snorkelled and chilled in the most stunning turquoise sea.

Collectivo is a local minivan, like a bus.

I'm considering a trip to Mexico City and Puebla. Can anyone offer any ideas on that? Thanks in advance!

Really disliked Playa del Carmen and Tulum. Bad atmosphere, hostility towards tourists. This was many years ago though.

We went to Riviera Maya in April
and it was hands down the best holiday we've ever had. Have a fabulous time OP

We've been to Riviera Maya a few times. When we've priced it up, we usually find the flights cost almost as much as an AI holiday on their own, so we generally book the AI and then just go out and about as we like to restaurants etc. Taxis are fairly cheap or there is a local bus service (though in reality theyre just a mini van) to get you about very easily.

@ilovesooty we went to Mexico City about 11 years ago now (so things might have changed) before going on to Cozumel. It’s an absolutely huge city which you only grasp when you are flying over it! I liked it - it’s built directly over the old Aztec city, some of which is being excavated. The Spanish used really heavy dark stone & as the Aztec built their city on a swamp, many of the older Spanish buildings are slowly sinking. The Zocolo (biggest square, where the Cathdral and government buildings are) is impressive and various of the bars have rooftops that give you a great view over it. The Palace in the square has a series of Diego Rivera (Frida Kahlo’s over half) murals on the history of Mexico which are great. It’s a funny place, at points I felt like I was in a Spanish city but just with very different looking people. I liked the Zona Rosa (the bohemian/LGBT friendly area) for a wander and a shop. The National Museum of Anthropology was really interesting with lots of exhibits from the Aztec and Mayan era’s - very bloodthirsty cultures! I’m glad we went and didn’t just sit on loungers for 2 weeks but my DH would have been happier in the loungers - he thought it was dirty, very polluted and smelt of fried street food (which to be honest it did, if Mexico City had a smell it would be fatty corn oil!). It felt pretty safe walking around in the daytime in the centre of the city but we did drive through some very very dodgy neighbourhoods I wouldn’t want to go into day or night.

Hope some of this helps - to sum up, worth a couple of days!