Anyone been there for hols?
Been lots of places but never Mexico, wife and I are looking at small hotels near the beach, not All Inclusives!! ( My liver can't take those anymore........)
One place we have found is a hotel called Playa maya. Anyone been to that hotel?
Any advice appreciated!!
Cheers,
Simon.

Hi Simon,
I have been to Mexico and I loved it ! I have been lots of countries but Mexico is one of my favorite.
I have never stayed at Playa Maya but visited Playa Del Carmen. For me it was too "touristy" but it depends what you are looking for. I would prefer to do backpacking so my opinion could be different than the others. But PDC is definitely better choice than Cancun !!
You can find reviews about the hotel here:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Peninsula.html

Have a nice holiday !! and don`t forget to visit some of the "must see" places in Mexico !!

Not on the beach, but these are my favourite hotels in Mexico:

http://www.thehaciendas.net/thehacie...haciendas.html

i have been to playa del carmen - it has a very nice beach and the hotels are smaller rather than the giant hotels. There is a big blue bus with butterflies on it that takes you from cancun to playa del carmen very easily. I stayed in an amazing hostel back from the main touristy bit so cant comment on your hotel but there seemed to be lots of more independently owned hotels that looked nice.

The main road close to the beach is very touristy and very americanized - nothing but macdonalds, kfc, tacky souvenir shops etc but you can find a lot of nice places with a little exploration and i felt very safe (single female traveller)

The beach is really nice - beautiful white sand and there seemed to be relatively few people on it when i was there. At night, the place comes alive and there are lots of small bars (and a few big ones) along the beach. When I went, there was a good mixture of people there (old and young). It isnt as much of a party capital as cancun.

It is very easy to travel by bus to other places from playa eg. tulum, and i went on a bus trip to Merida and visited chichen itza from there.

I was there for work a few years back and it didnt strike me as somewhere I would rush back to with the family for a vacation but I heard they spent a shedload of money tidying the place up a bit and the beach is excellent

This was my experience. May I add that the second largest barrier reef in the World is off the Mayan Coast which makes for good swimming, snorkelling, and diving. You can also get the ferry to Cozumel if you wish from Playa.

Most of the hotels are stretched out along the beach north and south of Playa so you may need to get a taxi or bus into town. There is a new bus station in town which is a major hub and allows you to get just about anywhere in Mexico. Most buses are modern and air conditioned. The standard of the hotels is as good, if not better, than anywhere you will find. Watch when you go though as the area is prone to hurricanes. If you get homesick, there is a also a large Wal-Mart in Playa.

Playa is not really the place for small hotels on the beach, most of the major chains are here but you will find something back from the beach. You may be better off looking at somewhere such as Tulum, 45 minutes south of Playa. Some of the smaller "boutique" hotels tend to be pricy though. The Playa Maya generally gets good reviews so I am sure it is fine.

Here is the best site I have found for the area. Scroll down and click on "Aerial Tour" and you can pan up and down the coast. Quite spectacular.

http://locogringo.com/

Thanks everyone for your informative replies.
Truly appreciated, hoping to go thers this summer!!

Summer ? You need to go in winter - when you go from -30 to +30 degrees !

Have stayed at a couple of all-inclusive resorts in that area. Last one was at an Iberostar which I recommend.

You did see this story? http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2011/...e-embassy.html

That's one fcked up country.

Or this one:-

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-col...an-family.html

Mexico is not a safe place and, IMO, should be avoided.

The out-of-control and escalating drug war issues and murders across the whole country would not have me rushing to book a holiday.

I'll let you all know when I get back..........

fyi theres a whole interwebsite on teh internets for this dail y history of canadian tragedies:

http://www.mexicovacationawareness.com/victims.html

How about "I'll let you know when or IF I get back".