Mexico in December

[03ozwhip]

Keep the hate to yourselves, this is where I'm going lol for anyone that has been recently, where were you and what was the experience like?

I stayed at the grand sirenis Maya riviera a couple years ago and while the hotel was decent, I didn't like the beach, it was very rocky and from what I heard, all around playa the beaches are rocky, don't want it.

So I'm looking for a place with a nice beach, hotel has to be decent but not 5 star, where have you guys seen the better beaches?

[G-ZUS]

Pureto Vallarta

[cet]

I was just north of Playa in March. I hadn't been down in 4 years and the biggest difference was how expensive it is down there now. It's not necessarily a cheap vacation any more. The service and quality of food at the resort I was at had gone way down too. Beach was good but still had some issues with seaweed.

[MPowered]

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Pureto Vallarta

PV beaches are ok. Some sewage seepage around the bay. Nuevo Beaches are wider, calmer and nicer for swimming. Agreed PV and Mexico in general have gone up 15-20% in the last year alone. Still find 40 peso cervezas but not at the nicer restaurants. watch for some local bar tab manipulations as well. Sometimes the totals don't always add up to the individual items. Saying all that I still like Mexico.

[ExtraSlow]

Use the internet to see pics of beaches before booking if that matters to you. Love Mexico.

[03ozwhip]

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Use the internet to see pics of beaches before booking if that matters to you. Love Mexico.

Ya you know how that is though. The pics of the beach I was at looks amazing, it is not lol

[danno]

i'm staying away from the east side of mexico, due to the bad beaches i've seen in the last 3-5 times we've been there. also the slightly longer flight vs going to PV. We go to PV once to twice a year and enjoy it for the most part but found it to be over crowded at the pool in recent years but that's probably are
fault for trying to keep the budget low. The food has IMO has gotten better in recent years, but i'm not a foody so i don't really care. Overall the price to get to mexico hasn't really changed in the last 5 years but it's getting difficult to find the deals that were once easy to find. I've been trying to convice the wife to do a air bnb or vrbo but she hasn't been to open to it.

[My_name_is_Rob]

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Puerto Vallarta

I agree with this. But it's probably better for living than for just holidaying. Although, if you are at one of the resorts close to town it's easy enough to walk everywhere.

[ExtraSlow]

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Ya you know how that is though. The pics of the beach I was at looks amazing, it is not lol

Use Google street view for better or more realistic pictures.

[redline]

Stay right in cancun , it blows away anything on the pacific.

Next would be huatulco,

[BavarianBeast]

I was trying to find out what the gym looked like for the hotel…Zoomed in on the first picture and couldn’t stop laughing…

https://alltrabyplaya.com/playa-del-...men-activities

[JRSC00LUDE]

Hahaha awesome

[94boosted]

We've gone to both Mayan Riviera and PV dozens of times, along with a couple other destinations in Mexico, and keep going back to PV for the following reasons:

- Nicer, bigger beaches, with less seaweed.
- Easier to find ocean view rooms, the Mayan resorts tend to be these long skinny things set back from the beach, there's very few ocean (sea) view rooms available compared with PV.
- Flight is 45mins shorter and perhaps even more importantly, most of the resorts tend to be within 30mins of the airport, unlike the 1-3hr long bus ride that's needed to get to the Mayan resorts from Cancun airport. Might not sound like much, but with two young kids cutting 2hrs of travel time each way is huge.

We're going for two weeks this December, one week in a resort and one week in an airbnb condo. First time trying the condo thing in Mexico. A couple years ago we stayed at the Riu Vallarta, it was actually quite nice, I believe they reno'd it during Covid. Probably my favorite reasonably priced resort thus far in PV. Unfortunately, it was booked the dates we wanted to go this year.

[88CRX]

We're doing Cabo this winter for a week, second time there. Loved it last time. Avoid the marina.

Huatulco is really nice too. Not touristy at all.

[cyra1ax]

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I was trying to find out what the gym looked like for the hotel…Zoomed in on the first picture and couldn’t stop laughing…

https://alltrabyplaya.com/playa-del-...men-activities

I was here a year ago...gym is pretty small. Weight equipment was fine, the treadmills and stuff were pretty old and worn out though.
Didn't think food was good, basically just ate at the resort for breakfast and went elsewhere for dinner. Best thing was the pizza place beside the main pool. Skip the steak restaurant.
Best drinks bar was the one in the upstairs pool-shared with the sushi restaurant.
Can't remember how much it was, I think I paid $25 or something for access to the sauna and cold plunge for the entire stay.

[03ozwhip]

So december were going toHotel hyatt ziva riviera cancun, which I guess used to be a secrets resort at one point up until 4 or 5 years ago.

I heard the beach isn't great after I booked it which I was really pissed off about, but im stuck with it at this point I think lol

I'll reserve the right to judge when im there and I'll let everyone know. Price was about 5400 for 3 of us after picking our seats and a car from the airport to hotel which is only about 25 minutes.

[JordanLotoski]

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Pureto Vallarta

I do PV like 3-4 times a year and stay here...I am there in Decemeber as well

Air bnb > All inclusives

https://www.airbnb.ca/s/homes?c=.pi0..._page_id=27964

[The_Penguin]

I don't mind P.V. but prefer Cancun/Cabo, all personal preference really. Mrs. Penguin dislikes P.V.
The beaches are hit-and-miss with Cancun, and sometimes the seaweed is horrendous. It is best to check on social media to see how things are before final booking.

[The_Penguin]

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So december were going toHotel hyatt ziva riviera cancun,

We were at Ziva in 2018, and enjoyed it. Beaches were better than some years, but we were mainly at the pools due to a picky grandson.