Travel Guide: Living in Playa del Carmen

A few people have reached out asking about our short term (~3 month move to Playa Del Carmen) so I’m sharing all the details of how we made that happen and some key things to know if you’re considering a move.

Before you continue, I should say this isn’t the “cheapest” way to do Playa Del Carmen and there are several articles written about that. It’s not the most lux way to do Playa either. I generally try to balance comfort + convenience with cost.

THE WHY: Since we first started dating, Andy and I have always talked about wanting to live abroad. It came up over and over and since we were both working from home due to the pandemic, we decided to take the opportunity.

We researched and considered several places and decided on Playa del Carmen for several reasons:

warm weather
EST time zone (better for working hours)
cost
safety
infrastructure + reliable wifi

THE HOW: Two things were top of mind for us when planning – traveling safely and finding a long term place to stay so we can really settle in.

Traveling safely:

First and foremost, determine what you’re comfortable with. We were okay with traveling on a trusted airline (see next bullet point), as long as we could have own space at our destination and were not in close quarters with anyone else regularly. We specifically chose somewhere in MX because most restaurants and activities are outdoors and spread out. All employees are wearing masks and every restaurant takes your temperature and requires you to use hand sanitizer before entering.
Book on a trusted airline that has covid restrictions in place. Delta and JetBlue have been our go-to airlines. They both block middle seats on flights and mandate that masks be worn the entire duration of the flight.
Book a private transfer from the airport instead of taking public transit where you might find yourself in close quarters with strangers. We used USA Transfers. It was incredibly convenient and clean (they even disinfected our luggage before putting it in the van). It’s $60 one way or $90 round trip and you get a van with A/C to yourself for the 45-60 min ride from the airport to PDC. Their website is really easy to use and they are waiting for you as soon as you come out of the airport. Highly, highly recommend.

Finding a long term stay:

We used Airbnb to book our first 6 week leg of the trip.
Negotiate. Andy is the king of negotiating with sellers on Airbnb and usually saves us several hundred dollars. Most properties have significant discounts on stays over 28 days.
We wanted to be close to the city center because it’s safe, walkable, and steps away from the beach. I recommend staying somewhere just off the main street (Avenida Quinta). We’re a 2 min walk to Avenida Quinta and 5 min walk to the beach #adream.
Look for a place with key things you’ll need. We wanted a washer/dryer in unit, a kitchen with cooking utensils, enough space for two workspaces and a pool. A gym was our “nice to have” and we lucked out with a rooftop gym – it’s small but it works.

And because I put everything into spreadsheets, you can check out this google doc for an exhaustive list of RESTAURANT + ACTIVITY RECOMMENDATIONS or this Google Maps link to my saved places. The google doc is much more exhaustive than the Google Maps list.

If the spreadsheet is too much (lol) here are the highlights:

RESTAURANTS

Trujillos: This place is super vibey! Great music, food and drinks in an outdoor jungle like space. We had Shazam on deck the whole time.
La Perla: Famous for their large mezcal menu and live music.
Las Hijas de la Tostada: Biggest ceviche menu and every single one we tried was so good.
Rockas Jamaican: Andy said this was top 2 Jamaican spots, only second to his mom’s cooking. Get the brown stew chicken, escovitch fish, and kale salad. And plantains, always.
Las Hijas de Tostada: This is THE place for ceviche. They have so many different kinds and they’re all great!
Chez Celine: French bakery with delicious homemade breads and pastries.
Bio Natural: If you’re looking for a healthy smoothie or vegan/vegetarian meal, this place is great. They also have a health food store with vitamins, protein powders, and supplements that you may not be able to find at the grocery store.
Bio Organicos: Similar to Bio Natural – great health food store and restaurant.
Catch at the Thompson Hotel: The restaurant is on the roof of the Thompson Hotel with insane views. It’s on the pricier side, but if you’re craving sushi with a vibe, this is your place.

ACTIVITIES

Visit the island of Holbox (dedicated post coming soon!)
Chichen Itza (dedicated post HERE)
Ride jet skis: There is a jet ski stand right near Martina’s beach club. Alejandro will hook you up. We negotiated with a couple places and the lowest rate we found was $65 USD/30 min.
Aloha Fusion Beach bar: We love this place. It’s a beach bar right on the beach with food, hookah, views and awesome live music.
INTI Beach club: Highly recommend this spot! It’s further down the beach (right next door to Aloha Fusion), but we had a blast here. Many of the beach bars are blasting music and the food is meh, but INTI is great vibes + was one of our best meals. There’s a DJ playing chill, funky tunes and you can get a 25 or 60 min massage while there. We tried the fish tacos, shrimp tacos, three different ceviches, and two fish dishes and they were all delicious.
Aloha Paddle Club: Surfing, stand up paddle boarding and yoga on a paddle board. They also do sunrise + sunset sessions.

GROCERY SHOPPING

We learned the best grocery stores through trial and error. After trying a few we recommend:

Mega Soriano: This grocery store has everything you need including: deli, meats, chicken, seafood, produce, liquor, bakery, and home goods.
Walmart: For anything you can’t find at Mega Soriano. It has all the typical things you’ll find in a Walmart.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW

You can get just about anything in PDC so don’t worry about packing every single thing.
Most places accept US dollars, pesos, and credit card. Do not exchange dollars for pesos at the airport because the exchange rate is terrible. Credit card gets you a better rate overall, so we pay with credit card when possible. Otherwise we get US dollars from the ATM and exchange it at a place with a good exchange rate. There are several all over the city.
There’s the MX equivalent of Citi Bike which is so easy to use and great for getting around.
There are so many food options and lots of health food restaurants and grocery stores (there’s even a GNC).
The weather is beautiful, but typical tropical weather and can randomly rain in the middle of the day. It usually doesn’t last more than a few minutes, but it can come down hard at times. I’d recommend packing a light windbreaker. There are lightweight foldable ones. I packed mine that I purchased many years ago and it’s come in handy.
I would bring your own skincare if there are specific products you can’t live without. There is a Sephora here but it has limited selection.
I made fun of Andy for buying portable chargers, but they came in handy when we lost power due to a hurricane one evening (this is a rare occurrence overall). He recommends this small one for charging phones and this larger one for charging phones and larger devices like laptops.
All you need is lots of light clothes, swimsuits, and some fun evening looks if you want to get a little dressed up some evenings