Playacar!!

[va2cun]

After about 10 trips to Cancun we decided to try something new and stayed in Playacar for a week at the Sandos Playacar Resort. We loved this area and the resort was great! We had a very nice room with a great view of the ocean and pool.

We were a little hesitant to go back to an all-inclusive because the food can become monotonous, but we had no problems with that at all. We both enjoyed all meals and the drinks were good as well. The resort provided bikes, so we biked into Playa Del Carmen once to explore and also took a $5 cab ride a couple of times to go shopping and have lunch at Senor Frogs and Carlos & Charlies (yes very touristy, but also very fun at the unbusy lunch hour!) We had planned to go to Cozumel for a day but found enough to do around the resort and in PDC and just enjoyed relaxing and happy to not go to work for a week!

Thanks you, Janie and Norb! Your reviews helped us decide on this new adventure to Playa! We loved it! [img][/img]

[janie]

Aren't you SWEET?!?!?!

I'm so glad you enjoyed yourselves ... as you know, we LOVE Playa.

We're heading back in November if you'd like to come along!

[markiem]

Once you do Playa, its hard to stay away...

Originally Posted by va2cun

After about 10 trips to Cancun we decided to try something new and stayed in Playacar for a week at the Sandos Playacar Resort. We loved this area and the resort was great! We had a very nice room with a great view of the ocean and pool.
[img][/img]

[va2cun]

We would love to tag along with you, Janie! Hope you have a fabulous time; looking forward to your review!!!

[cindyinmpls]

So, is the Sandos Playacar the old "Gala" If so, we stayed there about 6 years ago and loved it. The beach back then was expansive.
We just booked....with many going back and forths...we decided on the RIU Yucatan, which I think is a few hotels north.
We go in March and are hoping a good experience with the RIU chain.
Being Palace members and mostly going to the Cancun Palace recently, it will be good to get back to Playa.

[Laura Mapchick]

yes, the Sandos is the old Gala.

Our first trip to Cancun we stayed at El Presidente too! '81 or '82, I don't remember, they overbooked and put us in the Kin-Ha villas which were a part of the Presidente back then.

[cindyinmpls]

Really? We booked the Presidente knowing absoultley nothing about Cancun other than a brochure. It was such a new adventure. We had a ground floor room that lead directly to an expansive beach area. That was our first trip...and have gone ever since. Changing resorts as Cancun developed to the carribean side of Cancun. That was 20 years ago. We wish we had enough funds to be there more often. However, a college kid takes up $$, but money well spent (we hope)
I remember my first visit. It was truly magical.

[GCPSgirl]

Just returned from the Sandos last week. It was very good. The food was excellent for an AI.

We stayed at the Riu Tequilla in October, and liked it, but the Sandos was better almost in all areas. For the price it was an absolute steal!!!

[NormsKid]

It's good to see more folks heading south to Playa...there really is ALOT more to do down that way & it's more laid back....I love the live music in many of the restaurants up & down 5th avenue. Excellent food options at good prices & happy hour drinks every evening.

[Bama-fan]

We stayed at the Sandos last May. And we loved it so much that were going back again this May, and taking several friends with us.

[Turquoise water]

I wanted to stay at Sandos. It came down to a few hotels and I could not make up my mind a went with Iberostar Tucan. Has anyone stayed at the Tucan? I am curious about the Tucan vs Sandos.

[rodman4085]

Stayed at the Tucan in Feb 2005, for a week. Good variety of restaurants, Tucan/Quetzal are mirror images, with a great jungle running down the middle of the two.....Sandos is next hotel south, and currently has a better beach than the Tucan does, lots of erosion, beach comes, and goes....large sand "Whales" are used to try to stem the erosion.....
We stayed 2-3 buildings up from the beach, on the 3rd floor, and had a palapa/palm frond ceiling on the balcony, that faced the Sandos, and had an ok view of the ocean, also very close to the pools....
I put some pictures here, on another forum, hope they let me do this here!
Go to Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal! - Playa del Carmen & Riviera Maya Forum by In The Roo

There are 2 pics in the middle of that display that do not belong there......? Not sure how I got those inserted, as they are from the Casa Maya, in Cancun, down the road from Temptations, across the street from the giant mexican flag.....these pics show the closed Cove restauarant last Feb, and the Dolphin Discovery pier....

There is a small shopping area across the street and up the block from the hotel, you are in a planned community here, Playacar, and the Avenida Cinco is a 5 dollar cab ride away, so you can walk it and shop and eat, drink to your hearts content! Have a great trip! You will also be near the ferry dock to Coz, give that a day trip!

[Turquoise water]

Originally Posted by rodman4085

Stayed at the Tucan in Feb 2005, for a week. Good variety of restaurants, Tucan/Quetzal are mirror images, with a great jungle running down the middle of the two.....Sandos is next hotel south, and currently has a better beach than the Tucan does, lots of erosion, beach comes, and goes....large sand "Whales" are used to try to stem the erosion.....
We stayed 2-3 buildings up from the beach, on the 3rd floor, and had a palapa/palm frond ceiling on the balcony, that faced the Sandos, and had an ok view of the ocean, also very close to the pools....
I put some pictures here, on another forum, hope they let me do this here!
Go to Iberostar Tucan/Quetzal! - Playa del Carmen & Riviera Maya Forum by In The Roo

There are 2 pics in the middle of that display that do not belong there......? Not sure how I got those inserted, as they are from the Casa Maya, in Cancun, down the road from Temptations, across the street from the giant mexican flag.....these pics show the closed Cove restauarant last Feb, and the Dolphin Discovery pier....

There is a small shopping area across the street and up the block from the hotel, you are in a planned community here, Playacar, and the Avenida Cinco is a 5 dollar cab ride away, so you can walk it and shop and eat, drink to your hearts content! Have a great trip! You will also be near the ferry dock to Coz, give that a day trip!

Sounds good thanks for the pictures. We go every year for our anniversary and the superbowl. I stayed at the El Dorado Royal last trip to playa and really was not happy with the place. I was recovering from knee surgery, so that was a struggle and it did not help that we were completly exhausted and just wanted to go to our room but had to wait like 4 hours to get our room. Another thing we did not like was that it was far from the action. We are not big party people, but we like to get out of the resort and do the town, but it was a $23-$25 (US) dollar cab ride to Playa and Cancun was much more. There was zero entertainment at the Eldorado, we were very bored, we just had to get out every night and do something. We also like a restarunt on 5th street called La Parilla, the best!! If you enjoy just sitting at the bar and laying by a rocky beach, the El Dorado Royale is your place. It is a huge resort and it is beautiful but is was expensive, I am talking like 6 grand for 6 night for two of us, that was including air, but still a little pricy for what it was.

We stayed at Beach Palace last Feb and we never left other than a few diving excursions and we had a blast, Beach Palace rules!!, just funny that there is no beach. I really wanted to go back to Beach Palace, but I also wanted to try the Tucan. I am really looking forward to the Tucan, it is getting close, just a month away . I am hoping it is as good as all the reviews I have read.