Top 5 Recommendations for Mayan Riviera / Yucatan

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:57:11 GMT

Having just returned from a trip to Mexico, below were my top 5 experiences of the trip.

Snorkeling a Cenote - a cenote is an underground freshwater stream. I saw this translated as sink-hole and grotto, but those words don't do this justice. These are unbelieveably beautiful caves both above and below water with amazing rock formations and (to my surprise) fish. We went to Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park which provided a guide to two cenotes and snorkeling equipment.
5th Ave in Playa Del Carmen - This pedestrian-only street includes some nice shopping and restaurant and stretches for more than two miles. It's great in the late afternoon and was like a cleaned-up, mature version of Burbon Street.
Tulum - Mexico's most popular tourist site was sure popular, but totally worth the heat and the crowds on the afternoon we visited. Though climbing to the top of the main mound is off-limits, everything else was surprisingly open to the public; including a beach below.
John Gray's Kitchen Restaurant in Puerto Morales - a former Ritz-Carlton chef has set-up his own restaurant in this small town between Cancun and Playa. The food was unreal; easily comparable to the best restaurants in Seattle. We enjoyed drinks, goat cheese flatbread (translated as "pizza"), swordfish, duck, and a decadent chocolate dessert; and all for under $100 (before tip.)
Relaxing under a palapa (cabana) by the beach - whether it was a the off the beaten path, public Playa Soliman or the beach at the hotel where we were staying, it was great (for this red-head) to sit in the shade by the beach relaxing, sometimes reading, and taking a dip in the ocean to cool-off.

I decided to limit to a "top 5" but below are some runner-up activities that we also took-in

Xel-Ha - I've been to some pretty big water parks before, but this was amazing. An all-inclusive (including food and drink) water park has been built-up around an inlet. My favorite parts were the natural lazy river and the rope swing. H liked the "Cliff of Courage" and the included margaritas. We arrived in the morning so we could take advantage of the full day (and enjoy three meals) and we were successful in both including the aforementioned plus some canoe'ing and some resting in the provided hammocks.
Oscar y Lalo's restaurant - from what I could tell, this restaurant's former location was at the Soliman beach, but it had now moved to the side of the highway. The roof was still palapas and the fish was still very good (according to H.) I enjoyed the chicken quesadillas and the enchiladas de mole.
Valladolid - this is the smaller but closer of two former colonial towns (the other is Merida.) H was impressed by two of the oldest churches in the western hemisphere. I really liked the town square / park where we sat and enjoyed some "pan cubano" (literally Cuban bread but was like pound cake) from a local bakery.
Wave jumping in the ocean - when I was a kid, we used to go to the local beach on Lake Michigan and me and my friends would wade out almost until we couldn't stand and then jump as the waves came by. In Washington state, there either aren't such waves in Puget Sound or the weather is too cold in places like Ocean Shores. It was a great treat to go wave jumping; although I should have been more careful to use waterproof sunscreen. :)

Three of the bigger locations we decided to skip were Cancun, Chichen Itza, and Cozumel. Hopefully we'll get to those on a future trip. Mexico was great, but I'm also glad to be back home and thankful to friends and co-workers who kept everything in the air this past week. Cheers--
--Rob

Rob Dolin's space: Travel

Top 5 Recommendations for Mayan Riviera / Yucatan