My husband and I traveled to Mexico for a quick tropical getaway, and it was a much needed mini vacation! We stayed at the Paradisus Playa del Carmen for 4 nights, and had a wonderful experience! We have stayed at a few Paradisus resorts (you can check out my Los Cabos and Grand Cana reviews) but this was our first time in Playa del Carmen! I also have a full outfit recap of our trip in case you missed it.

Since we are members in the Circle by Melia membership program, we receive some extra special benefits staying at their resorts which I’ll mention below. We were actually there during their 2nd annual Member’s Fest which is a week full of special events, activities, dinners, and theme parties for Circle Members. It was a blast! Keep on reading for all the details and a full review of the resort.

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Location / Transportation:

The resort is a little over 45 minutes from the Cancun airport, and transportation was super easy! We had a driver arranged through our membership, but there are tons of taxis and shuttle services that you can use for transportation to the resort. It was basically the same getting back to the airport – we had a ride arranged through our concierge, but the resort lobby will schedule a taxi or van for you.

Adult-Only & Family Sides:

The Paradisus Playa del Carmen has an adults-only side (La Perla) and a family side. The two sides are separated, but easily walking distance to each other. I think it’s great to have the option for both, especially if you’re traveling with a group where some people are bringing kids and others aren’t. Our room was on the family side, but we spent pretty much all of our time on the adults-only side. We wish that we had booked a room over there, but now we know for next time!

The family side is by far the most kid-friendly resort I have ever been to! There was a pirate ship with slides in the middle of the main pool, a kid’s water park area, several kid zones as well as kid focused activities. Basically a kid’s paradise!

The adult-only side is where you’ll find the spa as well as several restaurants, shops, bars, pools, and beach areas that are kid free. It was definitely a calmer (and quieter) atmosphere so I’d recommend staying here if you aren’t bringing kids.

Room:

We stayed in a reserve junior suite swim up suite, and it was incredibly nice!! The room was clean and SUPER spacious – it was more like an apartment. We had a kitchen area with stocked mini fridge and Nespresso maker, 6 person dining table, and living room area with two sofas and a big TV. The king size bed was super comfortable, and the bathroom was massive! We had a ton of closet space, three sinks, two shower heads in the shower, and a big jacuzzi bathtub!

The room also had a large patio with another jacuzzi tub, table, chairs, and stairs that went directly down to the pool where there were two lounge seats in the water. My only complaint is that our view was of the pirate ship in the main pool which made it kind of feel like we were staying at a kid’s park.

Grounds:

This resort is huge! Everything is within walking distance, but bring some comfortable shoes to walk in! It took me a couple days to figure out my way around haha. Between the two sides there are several pools and beach areas, with plenty of chairs or cabanas to choose from. I’d recommend snagging one early if you want a good spot – especially on the beach, the cabanas get taken early. We really enjoyed the Reserve pool and beach area. The grounds were really beautiful with tons of flowers and greenery! You’ll see some fun animals too, like iguanas and coatis running around 🙂

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Food & Drink:

This resort is an all inclusive, and I was really impressed with the food! There were tons of restaurants to choose from. Like most all inclusives, there’s a mix of buffet style restaurants and sit down restaurants. Since we were only there for a few days, we stuck with the sit down restaurants.

Breakfast: Our favorite spot was La Palapa which was in the adults-only side. The eggs benedict was amazing! Olio was our favorite on the family side. We also ordered room service breakfast one day which was really nice! You can have it set up on the patio.

Lunch: I also loved La Palapa for lunch, and we really enjoyed the Sunrise Grill for a super casual lunch by the pool – their fish tacos were delicious, and my husband liked the burger.

Dinner: Since we were there during Member’s Fest, two of our dinners were special events, and the other two we ate at the resort’s restaurants. We loved Mole which was a Mexican restaurant, and Bana which had sushi and curry dishes. I tried a bunch of the sushi dishes and they were really good!!

One thing we noticed about the restaurants is that there wasn’t a huge selection of options on the menus – a few appetizers, a few entrees, and a couple desserts. I think it’s why the food was so good though, quality over quantity.

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There were several bars and the drink selection was pretty good – plenty of beer, wine, and liquor options to choose from. My husband liked that they had different kinds of Dos Equis! We also had access to an upgraded wine list at dinner with our Circle Membership which was nice.

Activities & Amenities:

There were full lists of activities going on each day and different lists for kids, teenagers, and adults. They had spin classes, pilates, beach volleyball, aqua gym, salsa classes, pool games, and more! There was always something going on or something to do! You do have to sign up for some of the classes, so make sure to ask about that if you are interested!

There are also tons of excursions you can go on – I’ve heard that the underwater caves (called cenotes) are really cool to visit. It’s on our list for next time!

If you are a golfer, there is a golf course about a mile from the resort! My husband played in the Member’s Fest tournament one day, and he said the course was beautiful.

While he golfed, I booked a massage at the Yhi Spa! They offer a huge variety of services – I did a 50 minute relaxing massage and it was wonderful. You can also hang out in their sauna or steam room.

The resort also has a really nice gym, although we didn’t make it there during this trip 🙂

Pools:

I touched on this earlier, but there are TONS of pools (and a kid’s water park/pool) at this resort. The main pool on the family side is huge with a pirate ship and slides in the middle. There is a swim up bar, music, and lots of kids running around swimming/playing! The main pool on the adult side was also big, with a much calmer atmosphere haha. We spent most of our pool time at the Reserve pool (on the adult side) which was close to the beach, so we could go back and forth. It seemed like most everyone hung out at one of those 3 pools, probably because of the pool bars 🙂

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Beach:

The beach is just a short walk from the resort, and there are three beach access paths. You’ll feel like you are walking through a jungle haha – it’s a really pretty walk! The beach was really nice, and there is a pretty long stretch of beach to walk down and find a place to sit. Apparently the beach is hit or miss when it comes to seaweed – we must have gotten lucky because there wasn’t much at all on the beach when we were there. The water was really pretty, and calm too! Great for swimming.

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As far as seats go, there are sections blocked off for Reserve guests, and for adults-only. There were only a handful of chairs and cabanas in the adults-only beach section, and they were always taken by the time we got there. If you want a good spot, I’d get out there early to grab it.

There were lots of beach activities you could do! Kayaking, sailing, snorkeling, etc!

Reserve Upgrade:

This is an optional upgrade that most Paradisus resorts offer – it looks like it’s called a “Nikté experience” on their website now, so maybe it has a new name? You get a few things with the upgrade:

• Concierge to handle anything you need during your visit: reservations for dinner, spa, excursions, golf, arranging transportation or any special requests.
• Priority check in at a reserve lounge (vs. the main lobby) as well as access to the lounge where they have coffee, drinks and snacks available
• Access to Reserve only restaurants
• Priority reservations

I personally think it is worth upgrading – we really enjoyed the benefits! But either way you will have a great experience.

Overall we had an amazing time and I would definitely recommend this resort if you’re looking for a great all-inclusive in Mexico! I hope this post was helpful, and as always – feel free to leave any questions in the comments below!

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