Playacar in Mexico - Everything you need to know about A Family Holiday to the Playacar area
Updated: May 8, 2025
We visited Playacar in February 2022 as a family of 4. We did extensive research before we travelled as we don't really like super touristy places. Here's everything we learned and experienced about the beautiful Playacar area.
We hope that it helps you in your decision to travel and seek out the best beautiful beaches in Playacar on your next holiday in Mexico.
Playacar beach in Mexico - powder soft white sands and clear blue seas are what you will find in Playacar
The best things about Playacar in Mexico for familiy
Playacar is quieter than PDC (Playa del Carmen) less touristy
There are way less social media influencers than in Tulum posing on the beach
There are FREE mayan ruins to visit nearby - walking distance - (you don't have to pay entry unlike Tulum)
It's super close to the ferry pier for trips to Cozumel
It's close to a shopping mall 5th Ave
It's gated and safe
Theres some super gorgeous mega quiet beaches only 10 mins walk away from the busier strip.
Playacar in Mexico is a quieter area of the very popular tourist destination - Playa del Carmen. On the Riviera Maya. Or the Mexican Riviera / Mayan Riviera. It's a beautiful place and not in your face touristy that we think Playa del Carmen is. Playacar is on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, just south of Playa del Carmen.
Playacar area itself is a very nice gated residential community. Made up of 2 phases: Phase 1 and Phase 2. In Phase 1 there is one entrance and exit through big white bollards that are security manned. Phase 2 is much larger with around 4 or 5 entrances at different points around the community. Playacar has a mix of all inclusive hotels at the higher end, catering for the luxury market, gold clubs and residential condo's / houses each varied in style that make up the lovely homes of the people that live there. It also has access to 2 ruin sites which is nice to see culture on what is mainly a beachy holiday. It feels very safe to walk around Playacar and we thoroughly recommend taking a walk out of the resort along the main road (which isn't busy btw) where you'll find access to the Playacar Mayan Ruins signposted and 5th Av shopping centre.
Playacar beach itself is very very beautiful. It's typical Caribbean white sands, all shades of blue seas and beautiful palm tree's. The beach is also wide so plenty of room in front of each hotel to house the hotel sun beds but still have a large sandy space free of people/beds / things.
Even with a storm coming in Playacar beach in Mexico is so so naturally beautiful.
The main strip of the Playacar beach runs behind the beachfront hotels that are set back from the main road - and when heading away from the pier end of the beach (where the ferries run to other islands - handy for day trips to Cozumel).
Tip: You'll find the most magical much quieter beach if you carry on along the Playacar Beach away from the hotels.
If you continue right, along the wide stretch of Playacar beach past the hotels, you will find these extraordinarily beautiful beaches that are really very quiet even in busy peak holiday season. This is where we spent most of our days as we enjoy quiet days, by ourselves, where we walk back to our resort, a little more life and music and all inclusive drinks of course. If you like nature, then this place might be perfect for you.
Just look at the crystal clear blue sea.
There are many luxury 4-5* all inclusive hotels to chose from in the area. We stayed at Wyndam Viva Resort in Playacar Mexico, booked via booking.com which was perfect for what we needed as a family of 4 and wanted. We don't like in your face touristy places and this felt like a nice mix of different people, different nationalities and nice families. We did stay in February, before school holidays, which may be different. Check out our review of our stay there.
For food in the Playacar area, there are good restaurants, but as we were all inclusive, we didn't venture out to these.
Overall we really loved our holiday to Playacar in Mexico and we definitely plan to re-visit Mexico on our full time world adventure. As we won't be staying in hotels during this time, it's going to be nice to explore the areas in a little bit more independence, trying the local restaurants etc. We can't wait to blog about these soon!
When we return to Mexico we plan to stay in residential houses. We also plan to stay in:
Tulum
at Hotel Xcaret
Travel to Isla Majura
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