mexico travel, travel in mexico, visiting mexico, retiring in mexico, magazine about mexico
|
|
|
|
Riviera Maya The new in-place and the area that has seen the largest growth over the last decade has been the coastal mainland south of Cancun known as the Riviera Maya. This tourist region stretches as far south as Tulum - site of the most visited Mayan Archeological Zone - and incorporates such well known vacation destinations as Puerto Morelos, Puerto Aventuras, Akumal and Playa del Carmen/Playacar, its unofficial capital and booming tourist hub. It is also home to the famous adventure and eco park destinations of Xcaret, Xcacel an Xel Ha. The explosion of tourism facilities is nothing less than staggering. While still attracting fewer visitors than Cancun it must surely soon match or exceed that destination's numbers because it still has plenty of room for expansion along its nearly 100 km long coastline. Despite this boom, Playa del Carmen has managed to maintain an intimate aura. The tourists are here in their thousands all year round (Europeans and Mexicans keep it alive and jumping in the summer) but by pedestrianising the main tourist thoroughfare and allowing only small hotels to be built in Playa itself - while feeding off the large resort hotels in neighbouring, but separate, Playacar), it has kept its small-town feel where nothing looks as if it came of a planner's drawing board or is out of-scale with its surroundings. |
|
