I Had to Drag My Husband to The Best Hotel in Playa del Carmen

My husband Mark and I are in Riviera Maya, Mexico right now. I pretty much had to drag him here. He didn’t want to come because he felt like Mexico is not a safe place to be and there might be problems. He came because he wants to protect me. I came because I want to have fun with him.  I was also invited by two hotels to come and experience what they have to offer.  In the weeks leading up to the trip, I was starting to dread it, because he let me know he was coming against his will.

When we got here, in typical Mexico fashion, some timeshare scammers inside the airport tried to trick us into seeing their presentation.  I’m thinking “this is living up to Mark’s expectations”.  We quickly saw through them and headed outside.  It was such a relief to see our name on the transfer company’s signboard.  We were soon on the road to our hotel.

We are staying at Hotel Xcaret. This place so incredibly beautiful and exciting. Even though we arrived after dark, we saw immediately how much there is to do.  It’s beautiful to just walk around at night.  We stayed up later than we intended doing just that.  There are sandstone caves.  There are many amazing restaurants, bars and live entertainment.  There’s a beautiful ocean with a turtle nesting site. 

For dinner we had guacamole and Mexican crickets!  I never thought I’d have the guts to try them, but I did.  They weren’t bad.  A little salty is all.  I told the girl that made it I didn’t want the crickets mixed in, but after she left, I was wishing I had said yes. I also had a delicious steak, too, but the crickets got top billing at this meal.

In addition to everything there is to do at Hotel Xcaret, there are also several Xcaret eco parks that you can visit as well.  They’re included in what you pay to stay here.  Not only is this an all-inclusive resort, but all those parks are free for people that are staying at Hotel Xcaret to visit as well.

This resort is literally the nicest place we have ever stayed at in Mexico. When you’re at Hotel Xcaret, you have a dilemma; do I stay at the resort and enjoy kayaking in the lagoon, a delicious lunch and relax by the ocean or a snooze in a hammock?  Or, do I go to one of the eco parks and have a fun day there? 

We’re only here for three nights, so we chose to go to the main park called Xcaret. (Everything starts with an X here.  Even Xampoo, which is Mayan for shampoo).  Xcaret is really amazing! We floated down an underground river. We saw a puma, mountain lion and jaguar. We saw this amazing hillside Mayan cemetery, terraced with unique, colorful graves.  I’ve never seen anything like it. You can swim with dolphins, manatees and sharks. You can parasail or jet boat.  There is an orchid garden, a butterfly sanctuary and so much more. A buffet lunch at one of six restaurants is included, too.

After a night at Hotel Xcaret and a day at the Xcaret eco park, I went from dread to super excited about being here with Mark.  We’re both having so much fun.  I asked him if he’d like to come back someday and he said yes.  That makes me so happy!

You could literally stay here a full week and not run out of things to do.  If you’re the kind of couple that likes to alternate adventurous and relaxing days, you could easily spend 10 days to two weeks here.  That is our impression of Hotel Xcaret after just one full day.

We have two more nights here.  It’s not enough. But it’s given us a yummy taste of what Hotel Xcaret and the Xcaret parks; Xel-Ha, Xplor, Xplor Fuego, Xavage, Xoximilco, Xenses, and the Xenotes and Xichen tours are all about.