Punta Bete

Heading south from Puerto Morelos you will get to Tres Rios. Tres Rios is an ecopark with cenotes (waterfilled caves for diving), jungle and mangroves. There are other places further south that are cheaper so we skipped that.

Eleven kilometers after Tres Rios is the turnout to Punta Bete. If I will ever visit the area again, this is where I will stay. There are cottages right at the beach at affordable prices.

Punta Bete is as secluded as it can get in the Mexican Caribbean. If you come here off-season you may actually find that you are alone at the perfect white beach. There is a little restaurant with 2 or 3 tables outside underneath palm trees at the beach. The food is excellent at rock bottom prices. If you can eat the salsa you are one tough customer. This stuff makes the Jalapenos we have in California look like candy. But beware, you may loose eyesight for a few minutes. Fortunately beer is cheap too in case you damaged your taste butts. I discovered the place by luck since it wasn’t in my travel guide. I guess that explains the emptiness.

This was just about the only beach I was willing to lie down and not have the feeling I missed something important. It is what I consider the perfect beach. Unless you own your island this is as good as it gets. You won’t find more square feet per person than here.

Playa del Carmen

A couple of kilometers south of Punta Bete lays Playa del Carmen. Playa del Carmen has one thing in common with Cancun. It is a very fast growing tourist town that started out as a fishing village. But this is where commonalties end. The development in Playa del Carmen is not so much focused on huge resorts (although you can find them here too), but much more on smaller hotels integrated into the city. It is a laid-back Caribbean town that has managed to grow faster than most cities while maintaining its old Hispanic heritage. The city is vibrant with life and driving around here is somewhat challenging. Policemen control traffic with whistles. You never quite know whom he is whistling at. Just ignore the whistles and drive looking at their postures. It will be clear whether you can drive or not. The streets are narrow and finding a parking spot (an affordable one that is) can be hard. There is a large one near the ferry and a few of larger ones spread around.

The Quinta Avida is closed to traffic. It is at the heart of the city with an unbelievable collection of restaurants, cafes, dive shops, craft shops, souvenir shops and much more. You can watch Cigars being rolled by hand in front of one store. A popular sports bar is crowded when a popular soccer event is on. Here you can find clean food that even sensitive stomachs can digest. Most restaurants offer life music. The whole area is one big party at night. Cocktail bars rival each other with deals and party atmosphere.

Just watch your belongings. Always keep your valuables close, as it is easy for pickpockets to grab your stuff in the crowd.

I prefer Playa del Carmen anytime to Cancun. The prices are not as inflated, the atmosphere is Mediterranean laid-back, the beaches are not owned by hotels and the choices of entertainment and food are more unique to the area instead of tailored towards American tourists. I can visit a Hard Rock Café anytime back home.

In Playa del Carmen you can find many small travel agencies offering you every adventure you can imagine. Trips to Mayan sites, snorkeling, skydiving, cruises, cave diving or water sports are just a small example.

Playa del Carmen has some excellent beaches far superior to Cancuns beaches. Cruise ships often visit the city.

From Playa del Carmen you can catch a ride to Cozumel.

Cruise ShipCozumel

If you are taking the ferry from Playa del Carmen you have the choice between two lines. The older (white) and newer (blue) boats that is. They both cost the same, but what we didn’t know after booking the white ferry is, that it takes much longer than the newer speedboat like ferry. What a mistake.

We finally made it though.

Cozumel is Mexico’s largest inhabited island. In fact you can spend your whole vacation here and not miss much. I will only touch very briefly on Cozumel as the island should have its own travel guide page. It offers too much for this article.

White sand beaches and magnificent coral reefs surround Cozumel. You can find world-class hotels here and some of the best beach bars.

If you arrive by ferry from Playa del Carmen, you can rent a scooter or a car in San Miguel de Cozumel. It is worth negotiating. I saved a lot by walking into the local Avis and talking the guy down 50%, although I am sure when he saw me stepping in, he gave me a price that was 300% of the normal rate. Well by American standards I got a good deal and that’s what counts. When I saw the car I had just rented I had to laugh. It was the most banged up shaken up and dented sorry little piece I had ever seen. Everything rattled but it drove nicely and I didn’t have to worry about putting a dent on it.

We spent all day at the best beach bar I had ever seen underneath straw umbrellas sipping drinks and eating really affordable lunch. We watched the sunset, as you only can on one of the islands, as the beaches on the mainland face east. At the end of the day we had an encounter with a small croc and some really large crabs crossing the road. Amazing how fast crabs can run. Cozumel offers some unique flora and fauna the best snorkeling, a national park, 5 star hotels and much more. We spent all day at the best beach bar I had ever seen underneath straw umbrellas sipping drinks and eating really affordable lunch. We watched the sunset, as you only can on one of the islands, as the beaches on the mainland face east. At the end of the day we had an encounter with a small croc and some really large crabs crossing the road. Amazing how fast crabs can run. Cozumel offers some unique flora and fauna the best snorkeling, a national park, 5 star hotels and much more.

Xcaret and Xpu-Ha, Akumal and Xel-Ha

Xcaret is not what I had in mind when traveling to Mexico. The stretch south of Playa del Carmen is a really bad example of development for tourism. Many places are now being closed off to the general public and being turned into resorts and parks with steep entrance fees.

Xcaret lays about 6km south of Playa del Carmen and is one of the parks. Sea turtles used to live in the area that has now been opened to paying customers on a grand scale. Landscaping projects have transformed the cenotes and lagoons to fit more customers and make them easier accessible. Xcaret is located on the coast on the site of an ancient settlement. Since I don’t support such environmental disasters, this is about all I can say about Xcaret.

Xpu-Ha is a wonderful white sand beach on a bay a lagoon and cenotes. A resort is now constructed and access is somewhat limited. Another great example of development, don’t you think?

Just south of Xpu-Ha is Kantenah. It is a perfect white sand beach enclosed by palms and much preferable to Xpu-Ha.

Akumal is a nice change from the development craziness in the area. Even though we have seen some signs of gentle development, I believe the place will remain as it was for a few more years until someone decides to expand into this area too.

Turtles lay their eggs on the beach every spring and hopefully will be able to do so in the future. When we arrived at Akumal for the first time, the beach was almost empty. We could get the best seats in the restaurant without having to wait and watch the fishers relax in their boats. That was December 20th. We came back December 23^rd and couldn’t believe our eyes. All of a sudden beach was swamped by tourists. The season had begun. If you can, try to come to the Caribbean off-season. You will have a much more pleasant stay. Akkumal is a major dive site with another excellent reef. You can swim to the reef from the beach.

Xel-Ha, a National Park turned into a $50 a pop entrance fee aquarium. Well, if the area wouldn’t offer so much to explore already why not. Your children will thank you, otherwise move on.

Cenotes

There are underground rivers and caverns great for diving. Freshwater mixes with Seawater. Diving can be dangerous though, but you can hire a guide.

Many of the Cenotes are worth visiting. You should ask a Travel Agent in Playa del Carmen for the diving tours if you are interested in them.

Tulum

Of all Mayan sites, Tulum may not have the most impressive architecture, but it offers the most impressive location. The main temple thrones above the gushing Caribbean Sea on a bluff overlooking the whole city. Beautiful beaches, although small, invite you to take a break from visiting ruins and take a dive into the warm turquoise waters. The contrast between the water, green jungle and ancient Mayan Temples spread a mystique like no other site.

There is a small admission fee. The site closes at dusk and you are not allowed to bring tripods or food.

Tulum was a major trade center and one of the most important ports of the empire. The town is fortified by a 4m tall stone wall with walkways on top at 3 sites and the ocean on the forth site.

At sunset, El Castillo, the main building, takes on a golden glow. This is also the time when most visitors will have left, or being forced to leave. It’s the best time for photos, as long as you can avoid the park guards and are being forced to leave as well.

Tips for Travelers

Getting around without a car

You don’t actually need to have a car to travel from Cancun to Tulum. There are small privately owned shuttles (white minivans) that travel the road frequently looking for hitchhikers to be picked up. Just signal the shuttle to stop. I am not sure how much the fare is, but most services are really affordable. The drivers are speed demons. It’s a lot of fun racing them. They have no regard for speed limits or lanes, but they seem to know all the cop-spots.

Some precautions

Although you can buy cigars in Playa del Carmen (even Cuban), do not try to bring any of them with you on a flight to the United States. Cuban cigars are illegal in the United States and they don’t take it very lightly. So please be careful.

Only drink bottled Water or Beer. Never drink tab water, as it may not be purified. This also includes ice in your drink. Outside the major resort areas I would not recommend having ice.

Only eat fruit that you peel yourself and don’t eat salads.

Tips

15% is custom but I prefer to give more, esp. when the lunch for 2 costs only $15.

Postcards

Half of our Postcards arrived on time, a few more very late and a few never. We dropped all of them off at the same time at the same post office in Playa del Carmen. Go figure.

Credits

All images and text by Andre Gunther

http://www.aguntherphotography.com