We went to Riviera Maya last year and had an awesome time. I am not a fan of touristy areas and therefore made an effort to stay away from Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. However, we did stay at Grand Palladium, an all inclusive resort about 1.5 hour south of Cancun in Puerto Aventuras, and it was GREAT!!

You’re likely to find great deals from Travel Zoo or Cheap Carribean. We spent $675(including tax)which included flight AND 4 nights of all inclusive stay.

We were there last September, and the area was still not much developed with the exceptions of a few all inclusive resorts along the road. I highly recommend staying at Tulum Dreams in the Tulum area which is very secluded. There were so much to do around the area that we didn’t even get to jump in our resort pool! Some of the activities include snorkeling(many different areas), Cenotes, checking out local towns/beaches and visiting Mayan ruins. Be sure to also spend a day at Xel Ha, an ecological water park.

It was a wonderful experience overall, and I very much look forward to visiting again. Hopefully, they have not put up any Starbucks on the Riviera Maya strip….yet.

Another thing to note about Maya Riviera is that even though it’s only 1 hour from Cancun, it really is A LOT less crowded/touristy. There are many good options of smaller independent resorts. You will also find tons of good restaurants in Playa del Carmen (mid way between Cancun and Maya Riviera).

You will find pretty good snorkeling in the area. Two spots I recommend, in additional to Xel Ha, are the Yal-Ku lagoon and Akumal. The reef beds are not as abundant and healthy as ones you see in Hawaii, and you will not see as many different species of fish. However, there are huge schools of fish that hang out in the area. If you are lucky enough to run into them, it will surely make your trip to swim with them. In any case, these two places together are definitely interesting enough to keep you occupied for one day.

I’ve also been down to Riviera Maya and enjoyed it. We stayed at the Barcelo Maya which is another all-inclusive. It was nice, they had tons of activites and it was close to Playa del Carmen. You could either take the resort shuttle or catch the local bus to get there. I only bothered to do it once, though, because my type of Mexican vacation involves spending as much time as possible laying on the beach relaxing.