Restaurant

El Fogón

Dinner • 3 People • $60 USD

Tacos el Fogón, easily the best restaurant on this trip. This trip was not a food tour, like some of my other trips. However, El Fogón was among the better restaurants. Most were just okay, bordering mediocrity. Fogón was great, a bit expensive but Playa del Carmen is expensive. Dinner for three people was about $60 USD. Papaya Slice was also pretty good.

Conclusion & other options

I’m not going to paint with a broad brush and say all food in Playa del Carmen is mediocre, that would be irresponsible. I’ll be back in Playa del Carmen with food on the list of things to do and report back my thoughts on the food. There’s two Michelin starred restaurants in Playa del Carmen, that’s a start.

Xcaret & Tulum

Tulum is great but a bit complicated if you want to fly the drone and comply with regulations, which you should always aim to comply. Tulum is located inside a national park and there’s a lot of Guardia Nacional present. It’s beautiful but a bit crowded. Always have a reservation to get into the park or you will be denied entry.

Snorkeling in Cozumel

Outside of Xpu-Ha, the first beach, Cozumel was among my favorite destinations in Playa del Carmen. You must take the ferry but there are a lot of options in Playa del Carmen and they’re cheap. I recommend the Xcaret Ferry, it was $35 USD, per-person, round trip.

Snorkeling in Cozumel is surreal for someone that hasn’t been to a beach like Playa del Carmen. The water is very clear, unlike any other place I have been to. Tours take about 4 to 5 hours, depending on the one you buy. Mine took 4 hours and time moved fast.

Short trip before the start of a new job

Most of my trips are planned and that is something I want to change; I’d like to take more trips that are shorter like this one. The only reason this trip happened is because I had resigned my position at the Naval Postgraduate School and had a two-week hiatus before the start of the new job. I’ve been meaning to get out of the cities with recent trips and Playa del Carmen accomplished that. This photo-set was shorter than most. However, I fully expect it to become a larger collection as I see myself going down more often and documenting the Riviera Maya more thoroughly.