we're going to start with number one that you're gonna love and that is the energy while this is a beach towel it still has big city energy because of how many people are coming into here Fifth Avenue is like the main little street that everybody hangs out on and guys it doesn't matter what time of day you're on this street it is always going to be popping if there's just a certain energy that a lot of beach towns you're just not gonna find energy quite like this the second thing that you're absolutely gonna love as
a tourist is how close you are to other awesome places here in Mexico Playa Del Carmen is only about an hour to an hour and a half from a couple other big hot spots Tulum Cancun Chichen Itza if you want to see the Mayan ruins also Cozumel is just a quick ferry ride away islamujeres is an island over near Cancun you can also access that quickly here you're in a great spot if you want to treat this as a home base you're in the beach town but you have access to everything else that you would
want the third thing you'd absolutely love here in Playa del Carmen is the food this is kind of a double-edged sword because this might reappear later but specifically I want to talk about two places one is a place called alphagone guys this is the best tacos I've ever had in my life they are absolutely incredible and all at an affordable price you can get a taco for a dollar I end up eating there way too much I went to alphagone 13 times is what my credit card statement is showing it really is that good so
you have to try alphagone if you're gonna come here and the other is a street food called marcusita it's kind of like a hybrid between a waffle and a crepe it looks like they're making a crepe but it ends up at the end being kind of crunchy like a really thin waffle and it is so good so flavorful generally I get the ones with the Nutella banana strawberry but you can also get it with like cream cheese actual cheese so it doesn't have to be a sweet treat it could also be a little bit more
Savory but these things are wonderful as well and only run you a few bucks and you can find them absolutely everywhere here in Playa del Carmen now the 4 more thing that you're absolutely gonna love about Playa Del Carmen if you're one of those people who's like look the beach is great I love looking at it but man I hate sand I'm all about a pool trust me this place is for you rooftop pools here is just it's a culture it's a way of life it seems like every apartment building every hotel has a rooftop
pool and that's where most people are hanging out yes people still go down to the beach but the beach honestly isn't as nice as some of these rooftop pools that Overlook the ocean so if you're somebody who likes to kick it at the pool you're gonna love it here and the fifth thing that you're absolutely Gonna Love here about Playa Del Carmen is if you're a young person if you're somebody who is a digital Nomad or just wants to meet other Travelers this is a wonderful place to do it that Nomad scene here that expat
scene is thriving and the people are so kind you can meet them anywhere bars restaurants up at those rooftop pools you'll see them all over the place and then in even more local spots like basketball I found myself getting back into basketball I'm terrible at it I made a fool of myself and unfortunately there are a lot of people now who can verify that but I had a great time just meeting up with other Travelers playing basketball mixed in with locals it was just a lot of fun and Sarah and I are lucky to say
that we think that we've met some lifelong friends here in Playa so you're gonna absolutely love that about visiting Playa Del Carmen so unfortunately now that the fun stuff is behind us have to get real have to talk about the things that you might not love or might even hate here in Playa del Carmen and the first thing is just how touristy it is and how much that impacts the local culture this place is swarming with tourists it's almost easier to find tourists here than to find locals one of the things that comes along with
all the tourism that can kind of leave people feeling eh about Playa Del Carmen everything is very commercialized and they're catering to the tourists you'll have artifacts like Mayan masks and like little surfboards but instead of just having them truly be Mayan and like appreciating that culture they throw like logos of NFL teams I even found like a University of Iowa of all places logo slapped on one of these things like it's not necessarily a huge negative but if you're coming expecting to find that authentic culture you're not necessarily going to find that here and
that can be sad to see so the second thing that you might hate here in Playa del Carmen is a double-edged sword it's the food and I know I've already talked about alphagon and marcusitas as being some of my personal favorites but other than those a lot of our food experiences have been pretty lackluster and I think that's because there are just so many places that again are designed for tourists they know they can get away with charging more and the quality of the food just doesn't have to be that good and it can feel
like you're paying a little bit more than you should for a lot of what you get sometimes I do want to note that a lot of the times though that's with the restaurants if you're willing to venture out a little bit further than Fifth Avenue you might find some street food and typically the street food who's actually run by locals those are going to be good anywhere that the locals are eating that's where you want to eat but you can basically say that about any place so the third thing that you're gonna hate here in
Playa del Carmen is really unfortunate and it's abusing animals for money unfortunately there are a lot of exotic animals monkeys unleashes little black panthers lions leopards there's this place on Fifth Avenue that offers you to take a picture with those animals and it's very clear that the animals are drugged up all of these animals are babies and they claim that when they grow up to six months that they're shipped off to a sanctuary in Mexico City but if you call that sanctuary in Mexico City they say we have no idea what they're talking about that
does not happen we are in no way shape or form associated with them you sit on a throne of Lies I just know I don't want to be a part of it and hopefully you don't want to either oh man that sun is creeping in okay so fourth thing that you're not gonna love here in Playa del Carmen and might even hate is just the culture of what you can do with your day if you're a digital Nomad it might be a little bit different but if you hear just on vacation it's basically gonna look
like this pool drink eat repeat that's it if you're into drinking culture if that's what you want to do and if you want to just kick back at the pool you're gonna love it but just be aware there aren't as many entertainment options as other cities in Mexico like a Cancun like a Mexico City or some other popular tourist destination the fifth thing that you might not like or might even hate about Playa Del Carmen is the size it could feel too small to some people especially if you're coming from a big city or Big
Town in America it might feel like after a few days you've seen everything totally depends you have to know you and know what you like in a vacation but it's possible that this will feel too small depending on what you're looking for now I always recommend see it for yourself and make your own decisions these were just my experiences you might have different opinions but I hope this video was helpful we'll catch you guys next time
