Playa Del Carmen, Mexico
Having a birthday in February usually means indoor activities (ex. painting party last year…) or ice skating and spiked cocoa. Anything to forget that we’re in the depth of Winter with no end in sight.
Needless to say after dreaming up this warm weather birthday idea I didn’t turn back. Annie had been to Playa Del Carmen before and loved it, so not having been to Mexico myself, I was sold.
After months of researching and planning, I found the perfect house for seven of my closest friends and I to spend a week in paradise!
I’d say we had a fairly pleasant flight experience. No delays or unfortunate circumstances. The worst part was customs etc. but when is that ever fun.
Only having planned a six night trip, we were so ready to get to our place and relax party! The others met with us at the Cancun airport and we headed 40 minutes south to Playa. I booked this transfer service, they were great considering we missed the pickup time by an hour, and had cervezas in a cooler waiting for us!
Day 1:
I was blown away when we arrived at the house, by far the coolest AirBnB I’ve ever stayed. It was three stories with a rooftop view of the ocean, more “lounge areas” then I could count, a treehouse overlooking the grotto, and incredible decor and furnishings throughout. We were in a secluded neighborhood about a three minute walk to the ocean and 20 minutes to the main strip downtown. That night we took a LONG walk to a restaurant our host recommend (Los Aguachiles). It was well worth it. After we got back it was time for a night time dip in the pool. It was here we discovered the owners parrot had escaped her cage. She seemed frightened so we kept her company until the owner picked her up the next day. I’m not sure what her actual name was, but we called her Deandra.
Day 2:
We went on a quest to find the perfect stretch of beach, and that happened to be the beach in front of the house. Pristine sand, lack of tourists, and non-rocky/seaweedy water. That afternoon we ate the best tacos of the trip at El Fagon (Tacos Pastor…amazing).
Day 3:
On my actual birthday we swam most of the day, and then went to a rooftop bar downtown at the Thompson Hotel . Once we were up there I felt like we were in a different city! – very posh. It was dark so I don’t have any photos myself, but this one is from the website:
The food was incredible. I had sushi, lobster mac n’ cheese and a watermelon drink of some sort but our table was filled with goodies like octopus, soft pretzel, and I can’t remember the rest because I fell into food coma heaven. Apparently I was asked what I wanted to do the rest of my birthday and I said I wanted to go to sleep. Typical.
Day 4:
More laying around and exploring and eating good food. Turtles in Akumal. French fires on the beach. Me downing pina coladas at an alarming rate.
Day 5:
We went on an excursion to Isla Mujeras via catamaran this day. I’ll spare you the details but will say don’t book any excursions in advance, they rarely turn out to be what you expect. You’re better off finding something while you’re there, or avoiding the tourist traps all together. Although the catamaran experience wasn’t the best, the island itself was really beautiful and we had fun exploring.
Day 6:
Our last full day we headed back to Cancun and stayed the final night in a hostel. It was a great hostel and I would stay here again. We were craving anything but a taco this night after a week of mexican food, so Italian was the final decision. We walked to a place nearby and boy were we surprised at how good it was. Amazing service, wine, food and dessert. We ate like kings and queens and it was the perfect ending to our week.
The flight back was fairly depressing, leaving paradise is hard. I’m so glad I got to experience Mexico with my friends and I’m already looking forward to next time.
#cancun #playa #playadelcarmen #akumal #Mexico #hostel #thompsonhotelfeatured