Riviera Maya Mexico Suggestions

[Brycare]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to plan a family holiday for March next year (two adults and two kids aged 7 & 9).
Have been toying with a few places but the Riviera Maya in Mexico is the frontrunner at the moment.
We would have either 10 or 11 nights (flights will dictate whether it's 10 or 11 nights & in both cases the forst day is essentially gone as we would arrive in the evening).
We will be splitting the stay between Playa del Carmen (7 nights) and Isla Mujeres (3 or 4 nights).
We won't be staying in an All-Inclusive resort, but instead in hotels that have pools, and will be eating off-site mainly.
We'll spend a good chunk of time relaxing in the hotel (kids chilling in the pool, wife in the shade reading a book, me a mixture of both :-)).

We will probably do one of the XCaret parks while we're there and possibly one of the Mayan ruins.

I guess the question I have is - are there any other non-water based recommendations that anyone has for the area?
Myself and the kids love the water, but my OH cannot swim and even setting foot in the water is a challenge for her.
Hence why she is more happy on a sun lounger in the shade out by the pool area :-)
Plus we like to mix it up a bit, to break up the pool/beach time.

So, just wondering is there anything in particular ye would recommend doing in the area?
Our only other non-European holiday was in Dubai (i know some on here hate the place) and it was ideal being able to see the fountain show at the mall, visit the miracle gardens, do a dsert safari, see the mosque in Abu Dhabi etc. All activities that didn't take up a full day (my kids probably have a 3 hour limit before they're done with "day trips"haha).
Any suggestions would be muich appreciated.

Thank you

I love the Riviera Maya, great choice OP!

Recommended activities:

• Go to Coba Maya and hire bikes to cycle around the ruins. You can hire a "driver" to pedal you around if you're not feeling energetic or can't ride a bike. The guides who congregate just after the entrance are worthwhile too. It's all surprisingly cheap.
• If your OH doesn't mind boats, go on a tour of the Sian Kaan biosphere. It's gorgeous and we saw giant green turtles, dolphins, manatees and crocodiles.
• Go on a taco tour, where a guide takes you to the places locals love. We did one in Tulum and it was excellent but take hand wipes!
• Chichen Itza is amazing. You can get an audio tour or hire a guide to make the most of it. The light show is good fun too. You could combine it with visiting Valladolid, an Spanish colonial town. The bee tour there is good for a couple of hours' entertainment.
• Zip lining through the jungle. There are several activity providers and some will let you combine it with ATVs.

Avoid:

• Xplor. It's my favourite of the Xcaret parks but lots of the activities are water focused. Xcaret has swimming options but they're easy to avoid.
• Any of the cenotes unless they're specifically advertised as dry cenotes. They connect to underground river systems and all my cenote trips have involved wading and swimming.

Watch out for Spring Break dates

My relative loved Holbox, he enjoyed mooching around and eating somewhere different every night.

Chicken Itza is a must-do day trip. Look for one that uses small minibuses and will take you directly to the ruins as early in the morning as you can bear. That way you avoid the worst of both the crowds and hopefully also the lunchtime heat.

We used a trip provider called Yucatreks. Our trip was about 15 years ago so take my recommendation with a pinch of salt, but current reviews remain very good.

The tour included a stop in Valladolid for lunch - the guide bought a selection of dishes for us all from Street food type places in a covered market type place, which was a highlight of the holiday for us. There was also a stop at a stunning cenote where you could swim in an underground cave if you wanted to. So refreshing!

All the above!
Coba on the bikes is magical.
Chichen Itza is fab BUT really, really busy. If you go do a private tour and get there early.
Ek Balam, they are still uncovering, so you get to see what the other ruins looked like enclosed in jungle and just how amazing these ruins were to be found, it really is wonderful, we went last year and were the only ones there!
Also Tulum and beach, you can snorkel to find turtles and its really chill there.

Chichen was really empty when I went.

Oh this was my favourite holiday ever. But I’m no help because everything I would have mentioned has been said. I’m very jealous. I want to do it all again.

So many great things to do in Yucatan…

PDC is a good centre for getting around, lots of choices for hotels and places to eat. Also good transport links. Definitely better outside AI resorts.

Cenotes! I love them. Some may be a challenge for water haters but Nicte-ha is probably the easiest/still also pretty for a water hater. You can usually find tour operators to take you to a few in a day, or combined with Akumal, or some ruins etc.

Mayan Ruins - Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Ek Balam and Tulum all v interesting. Calakmul is a long way, good if you are interested but the others are easier with children in tow!

Akumal for turtles and a beach.
Puerto Morelos is you want a quiet stop.

Sian Ka’an wildlife reserve.

Bacalar lake - absolutely stunning - boat rides and swimming, with nice beach/lakeside places too.

Holbox and Isla Mujeres both beautiful.

Merida and Valladolid for lovely old colonial cities.

If anyone dives/wants to learn to dive, then Cozumel is fantastic. Highly recommend Cozumel Dive School.

ADO coaches are an easy, pleasant and reliable way to get around between cities/towns.

XSenses was our favourite of the X Parks and no swimming required. It's just weird and wonderful.

We really enjoyed PdC at night, and evenings at CocoBongo and Joya.

My best holiday ever. Loved Coba, preferred it to Tulum but Tulum was still nice. All the different cenotes. We went to Xcaret and loved that. Didn’t do the others.

i hired a car and drove everywhere, organised trips were expensive! Like £80 a person for Coba I think and this was before covid. Car hire was cheap, driving only moderately scary. Don’t speed, the police apparently will fine you massively.

Controversial but I wasn’t a fan of riviera maya. Tbf we went out of season so it was silly hot & humid, with all the seaweed making the beach inaccessible, but I didn’t think there was much to do/ see beyond the cenotes- everything was so prohibitively expensive too … it appeared to me just like a giant motorway with large resorts dotted along it. No real soul. A bit manufactured. And a very long way to go/ bad jet lag for not a lot of return imo. Plus the locals / hotel staff appeared really fed up & not all that warm. But I imagine in peak season with less stifling conditions it would be ‘nice’. Prefered America for such a long haul trip.

Another vote for Coba! The Xenses park may be less watery too !!