Cancun / Playa Del Carmen / Cozumel (Quintana Roo, Mexico)

We’ve arrived to the Caribbean coast of Mexico.  After two months of cruising through the country, Barbie and I rolled into the tourist heartland.  We saw it all—from the sprawling mega-resorts to the ridiculous cruise ship crowds—but being the seasoned flashpackers we are, you know we still found a way to sniff out the real, authentic local joints.

Here’s is the breakdown of our time in Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel.

Cancún: Tourist Central

We flew into Cancún, and to be completely honest, neither of us had any real burning desire to visit.  But we felt like we needed to at least understand why this place is considered such a worldwide tourist mecca.

So, to get the full-blown tourist experience, we passed on our customary Airbnb and elected to stay our first four nights at a massive mega-resort right in the heart of the “Hotel Zone.”  There is a  shitload of resorts lined up one after another occupying that entire stretch of sand, along with a ton of places to eat.  Fellow travelers gave us a list of some of the higher end spots—places like Puerto Madero, Caminos, Rosa Negra, Tora, Porfirios, and La No. 20—but they all charge Western prices, so we bagged them immediately.

Paying Western prices in Mexico is a big “NO” for us.  Instead, we hunted for local food and taco joints, and believe it or not, we actually found some winners right inside the touristy Hotel Zone.

While we spent some time at our resort’s beach, we quickly wanted to get away from the tourists. We hopped on the local bus down to Playa Delfines, an excellent public beach, to just hang out with the locals.  To get an even better feel for real life in Cancún, we ventured downtown to eat a great lunch at the food stalls in Mercado 28, and checked out the weekend night festivities and performances in Parque de las Palapas while inhaling some freshly made, hot churros.

Playa del Carmen: 

After departing the Yucatán state and arriving in Playa del Carmen (PDC), we sadly had to wave goodbye to local prices and say hello to tourist traps.  We had to accept that we left behind the small towns serving up delicious $1 tacos for a super touristy town charging $10 for some mediocre tacos and quesadillas.

But like I said, after close to two months in Mexico, Barbie and I have acquired the innate ability to sniff out the best local spots without getting hosed.  Our top taco recommendations for PDC are: El Fogon, Don Sirloin (both located by the Mega Market), and Los Aguachiles.

The Ultimate Open-Flame Bird

Beyond tacos, if you want a real, authentic local eating experience in PDC, you have to hit up the grilled chicken joints where they cook over an old-school, open wood flame.  These places have exactly one thing on the menu: chicken.

We knew the second we saw that massive billow of smoke emanating from the roof from down the street that it was going to be a total feast.  “Amazing” doesn’t even begin to describe it.  To a chicken lover like me, there is nothing worse in life than a dry piece.  These chickens were grilled to perfection—not a single dry bite on the entire whole chicken we ordered.  It was off the charts and cheap as shit.  Asadero El Pollo is the absolute gem of the city.  We wanted to give another spot called Pollos Sinaloa a shot, but Asadero El Pollo was just too damn good to pass up for our second and third rounds.

Exploring the Town

Upon arriving, we returned the rental car we’d been using for our Yucatán Peninsula road trip.  PDC is a compact town and perfectly set up to simply explore on foot.  Fifth Avenue is the main drag running parallel to the beach for a couple of miles.  It’s a pedestrian strip for strolling, people-watching, shopping, eating, and it serves as a solid pub crawl in this party town.  Despite it being incredibly touristy, we actually did enjoy the action, wandering Fifth Avenue from end to end.

Now, the beaches in PDC, unlike all the other fabulous beaches we visited in Quintana Roo, are congested and a big zippo.  So, to keep ourselves occupied, we ate our asses off at the restaurants and joined a local gym called Evolve to get a good workout in every morning during our week-long stay.

Cenotes: Paradise swimming holes in the Jungle

Since the town beach wasn’t cutting it, we found a great alternative about a 20-minute drive outside of town: the cenotes.  They are all located close to each other, so you can easily visit a few in a day.

I’m going to make a bold statement here, considering we’ve visited so many spectacular underground swimming holes on this journey: Cenote Jardín de Edén is one of my absolute favorites in all of Mexico.  It is a real gem.  You could hang out in the water there all day long, and that’s precisely what we did, completely in awe of the beautiful, relaxed surroundings in the thick of nature.  If you go, check out these four cenotes:

• Cenote Jardín de Edén (The best of the bunch)
• Cenote Cristalino
• Cenote Azul
• Cenote Chikin Ha

We accepted Playa del Carmen for what it was.  It was nice to visit and wander around taking in the frenzied scene, but I just can’t see the appeal of a return visit.  One time is perfect; a second time? Nah.

Cozumel: Island Life and the Cruise Ship Monstrosity

Next up, we hopped on the ferry for the easy 20-minute ride over to the island of Cozumel.  A lot of people just day-trip here, but we elected to hunker down for a full week to really dig into the island life and live at a slower pace, similar to our time in Maui.

When we started this round-the-world journey back in 2015, one of our primary goals was locating the best undeveloped beaches on the planet.  Cozumel absolutely delivered on that front—if you head off the beaten path.

To get away from the touristy port area, we booked a beautiful Airbnb house in a local neighborhood and rented a Jeep to explore independently.  Having a vehicle gave us the flexibility to uncover hidden sandy coves and retreat far away from the paid beach clubs and cruise ship crowds.  We came prepared with our own gear—folding beach chairs, a sun umbrella, and a cooler packed with food and drinks—so we never had to rely on commercial facilities.

The best beaches are on the southern and eastern sides of the island, far away from the ferry port. A real treat on the east side is a dedicated coastline road that is completely off-limits to cars—perfect for biking, scootering, jogging, or walking.  Our favorite spots to hang out were:

• Playa San Martín: On the east side, and our main daily hangout spot.
• Playa Chen Río: Also on the east side, just south of the super popular Coconuts restaurant.
• Punta Sur Eco Park: Down on the southern tip.
• No Name Beach: On the south side, right across the street from the Rasta Bar.
• El Cielo Beach: An great spot, but I believe it’s only accessible via boat.

The Cruise Ship Cash Grab

While we loved the beaches, Barbie and I were absolutely mesmerized by the sheer influx of arriving cruise ships.  Honestly, Cozumel should be renamed CSCB: Cruise Ship Cash Grab.

It looks like a massive factory designed to pull in thousands of American tourists on a daily basis.  I can understand one massive ship coming into port, but seeing a half-dozen of these floating monstrosities lined up at once is just ridiculous.  Thousands upon thousands of people disembark daily, completely ready to get hosed down by the local tourist economy.

Driving past the port, the whole scene looks like a giant Jimmy Buffett retreat blastoff.  Imagine if Jimmy Buffett’s bar broke off during a hurricane in Key West with all the customers inside and simply floated across the Gulf to Cozumel—that perfectly characterizes the crowd getting off these boats.  They look like the exact same people who want a border wall built back home, yet here they are flocking to Mexican beaches thinking they’re still in Key West.  I actually felt bad for the local Mexicans; they’re the ones who have to worry about a caravan of loud and obnoxious Americans crossing their border.

I despise cruise ships and everything they stand for.  They’re basically floating bacteria vessels, and I will never understand why anyone would spend their precious travel time in such a contained, structured environment.

We noticed all the passengers disembarking wore colored plastic bracelets—presumably so the locals can easily identify which Americans are ripe for the squeezing:

• Red bracelets: For the rich folks the locals can easily rip off.
• White bracelets: To identify the total white trash.
• Blue bracelets: Signifying the loud and obnoxious crowd.

If they didn’t ante up for an overpriced tour, they inevitably got ripped off by a vendor hawking colored sombreros and ponchos.  They step off the boat fresh from a gluttonous, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with their stomachs hanging over their belts, awarded with 8 hours on land to drink all the beer they can handle.

The local restaurants know these people only have US dollars and have absolutely no clue what the actual exchange rate is.  They pay with American cash because they want their beer or their giant, shitty blue margarita right fucking now.  They get absolutely killed on the exchange rate, but they don’t care as long as some classic rock is blasting in the background for them to sing out of tune to. It’s one giant money grab.

 

The Big Doug & Barbie Taco Countdown

Despite the tourist crowds on the coast, Barbie and I have officially hit two full months of traveling around Mexico without skipping a single day of gorging on street-side tacos.  Surprisingly, we are still not tired of them.  In fact, we regularly eat tacos for breakfast.  Now that is hardcore.

This wraps up our road trip covering the states of Yucatán and Quintana Roo.  We are packed up and heading over to the Pacific side of Mexico next, targeting the states of Nayarit (to hunker down in Sayulita and San Pancho) and Jalisco (Puerto Vallarta).

We are seriously going to miss hanging out at all the beautiful, heavenly cenotes on this side of the country.  Check out the video below of the underground swimming holes we uncovered on this leg of the trip.  We’re sad to leave these natural wonders behind.

CENOTES – Underground Swimming Holes in Yucatán and Quintana Roo]