For our last week in México we are taking a vacation at the Hilton Adults Only All Inclusive Resort in Playa Del Carmen. Stephanie still had several hundred thousand Hilton points collected over the years while traveling for business. Previously we used about half of her points at a Hilton resort in Puerto Vallarta. Now we are using the rest.
Our trip from Mérida Paseo to Playa del Carmen Alterna was on ADO’s Platino bus service, which is basically first class. Each row is three seats across, not four. Each seat has an individual foot rest, tray table, entertainment screen, and cup holder, along with acres of leg room.
Surprisingly our bus to Playa Del Carmen left the station eight minutes early, presumably because all ticketed passengers were already on board. Don’t arrive at the bus station at the last minute assuming you’ll be able to buy a ticket.
If you have a choice between a regular ADO bus, which is quite nice, or Platino service, choose Platino. It’s great. Or just pick whichever journey works best for your schedule and go with it, knowing that you’ll be on a good bus either way.
After arriving in Playa Del Carmen we exited the bus station, took a wrong turn, and promptly walked the wrong way for about twenty minutes. Our ten minute walk to the resort ended up taking more than thirty minutes. Not a great start.
At least we saw most of the tourist strip, learning very quickly that we had no real interest in venturing outside the resort. Overpriced restaurants, bars, and touristy beach shops are not on the list of things to do. So we really can’t say much about Playa Del Carmen in general. We did not go out and about while here.
The Hilton Adults Only All Inclusive Resort is a basic resort, nice but nothing special. Here are our quick grades and evaluations:
Premises: A-. The buildings and grounds are up to date and well kept. The green space is really nice. If there is a negative it is that the shape of the property is long and narrow, leading to cramped and crowded spaces around the pools. Admittedly this is just nitpicking.
Our room is huge with a king bed, large bathroom, closet, and balcony … and a jacuzzi tub for two. We’d rather have a nice couch and table instead of the jacuzzi.
Pools: B-. The two pools were colder than we expected, but then again it is February. The large main pool is loud, crowded, and packed tight with rows of lounge chairs and cabanas. We avoided it in favor of the quiet relaxation pool.
There is no outdoor hot tub.
Beach: C+. Unfortunately the beach is quite narrow, both in width and depth. This makes it feel cramped and crowded like the pool, particularly since chairs and cabanas take up most of the space.
The Hilton is adjacent to a pier and public beach access, exacerbating the beach traffic. Really the beach is just too crowded. Walking away from the Hilton didn’t help.
Food: B-. On the plus side, there are a lot of options. Unfortunately the restaurants are hit and miss. Kalmata and Rincón Mexicano are hits; Pelicanos and Maria Petrona area definite misses. The buffet is meh.
To top it off, Aromas Café has, without question, the worst donuts I have ever tried in my life. By far. The donuts are an F. The coffee itself is fine, as is the ice cream.
Beer: B-. There are two primary beer options. First, cold Tecate Light in a can. Definite A. Unfortunately the bars will run out of it each night. Second, luke-warm Dos Equis on draft. It’s barely drinkable. Even Stephanie gave up on it. Clearly a D.
Room service will deliver beers to your room. Two cans at a time. Two. Room service for beer is an F.
Two of the three pool side bars close at 6:00 PM. We’re grading this a C only because the one pool side bar that stays open at night is at the smaller relaxation pool outside our building.
Maybe the bars stay open later in the summer?
Entertainment: C. During the day there are yoga and exercise classes, Spanish lessons, and a pool side DJ thumping out really loud electronic dance music so the 50 somethings can pretend to be 18. On Friday there was a “foam party” at the main pool. Seriously. We walked by the main pool a few times during our stay, reaffirming our lack of desire to spend any time there.
A popular t-shirt at the resort reads: “I don’t know how to act my age. I’ve never been this old before.” That about sums it up for a lot of the folks here.
If you want a quiet adult atmosphere, with a full bar but no DJs or drunk idiots, go to the relaxation pool at the Chichén building. By sheer luck that is where we are staying, probably because Stephanie specifically asked for a room in a quiet area.
At night you’ll find a band singing random, mostly mediocre songs from the 1950s to the present in the main lobby. It is hard to tell if the band is any good or not because the lobby has perhaps the worst acoustics ever.
Over the course of an hour we heard the band sing Elvis, Neil Diamond, Cheap Trick, Journey, Guns N’ Roses, Madonna, and something that Stephanie attributed to Miley Cyrus. Perhaps the most popular song of the night was a medley of Dancing Queen, I Will Survive, and Funkytown.
Regrettably the Southern trinity of Freebird, You Never Even Called Me By My Name, and Family Tradition was not played. Not a one.
There are also random dance shows and the occasional karaoke night.
Wifi: B. Good enough, but can be weak and slow at times during the day.
Excursions: N/A. Most of the excursions are to Mayan ruins and cenotes. As mentioned previously in one of our Mérida posts (here), we skipped them.
Employees: A+. Everyone was exceptionally nice and very helpful.
After a week at the relaxation pool at the Hilton, our time in México is up. After double checking the directions, we are walking back to the ADO Playa del Carmen Alterna station and taking a bus to the Cancun Airport for our return flight to Memphis.
It is a one hour ride to the Cancun Airport. ADO buses run from Playa Del Carmen to the Cancun airport every hour (or more), even overnight. We paid $30 for two bus tickets, which sure beats private airport transfers, costing three times as much or more.
After a few weeks in Memphis our travels continue in Europe.
Garrett and Stephanie
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