All about the BEACH- Riviera Maya

[bumblebee_287]

Hi Ladies!

 

One of the most important aspect to picking my AI resort is quality of the beach. My fiance has never been out of the country and has as his only wedding request for the beach to "look like the ones on the Travel Channel". I have been to a few Carribean islands and Mexico a couple of times and I just want to make sure that he isn't disappointed with the beach, because I have been places where the beach wasn't all it was claimed to be online.

 

If anyone has any info. or advice about beaches at AI resorts near Cancun, Maroma, Isla Mujeres, and Playa del Carmen, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

I don't want weird seaweed, scratchy rough sand or sandbags. We would like to be able to swim in gorgeous water and snorkle close by!

 

Congrats everyone!!!

[msach1]

I highly recommend the Mezzanine in Tulum. Stayed there for New Years 2 years ago and had the time of my life. Regarding the beach, the Mezzanine was housed on the best part...absolutely pristine.

[tylersgirl]

I have been to alot of beaches: Florida, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, and Dominican Republic and even though I love Mexico and I am getting married there hands down the best beach is in Dominican Republic. We are in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in my siggy pic. The beaches were the prettiest beaches I have ever seen in my life. It was really unbelievable. The water was crystal clear and the sand was so nice. They have tons of AI's there too! Hope that helps ya!

[bcbride]

Hi there, this was one of my priorities as well when we were deciding on a resort... I have never been to Mexico so this is all from research, reviews, and other people's experiences. I heard Cancun's water is "bluer" than RM, but it could be looked at as more of a party place, and we wanted more laid back so we started looking in RM.

If we could afford it, any resort on Maroma beach would have been our choice.

Check this out: Maroma resort: photo tour, aerial images

The beach at The Royal Playa Del Carmen was appealing as well, but again too much $$$ for us/our guests. Another choice was Azul Fives by Karisma (which is near or in PDC) but I'm not sure if it is fully open now. Anyway we decided these resorts were out of our budget and we went with Ocean Turquesa. It is kid-friendly, nice beach (although it does have a little bit of seaweed at times) and more importantly (became our top priority) it was within our budget! Sorry this was so long, hope it helps! Happy planning!

[bcbride]

And yes like what Tyler's girl said, my TA said Punta Cana beaches would be her top choice too (over Mexico)

[SunBride]

In general, the beaches in the Mayan Riviera are not the best. Tulum has great beaches, although there are no all inclusives there (Dreams Tulum is near Tulum, Bahia Principe Tulum is even farther). Maroma Beach is suppose to be amazing, one of the resorts there is Secrets Maroma which is adults only. It's one of the resorts I'd LOVE to visit.

 

When I was searching for a wedding resort I was looking for a great beach but most of the resorts I was looking at did not have great beaches, i.e. Dreams Tulum, Bahia Principe Coba/Tulum/Akumal/, Grand Palladium Riviera/Colonial/Kantenah, Paradisus Rivera, Barcelo Maya Tropical/caribe/colonial/palace, Grand Occidental Xcaret, El Dorado Seaside/royale. All the beaches were rocky (to varying degrees).

 

I suggest you check out this aerial map, it will give you a very good idea of what the beaches are like (the darker spots in the ocean is the rocky/coral part)

 

Riviera Maya Map: Aerial photos, road map, Mexico

 

I agree with the others that for an amazing beach, go to Puna Cana, Dominican Republic.

[gemstone]

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding Lori.

 

Having a great beach is always nice when on vacation. Like most others comments, Dominican has had the best beaches I've seen to date; and Ouha of course:)

I recently planned my DW and if the beach was the most important and only aspect I considered, I would have chosen that the Dominican Republic.

 

Unfortunately, the other aspects that were important to us, Dominican did not meet our standards. We also wanted our guests to be at a place that offered excursions and many activities off the resort. For this, nothing compares to Riviera Maya. There is so much to see and do in this area.

As well, the food quality has always been better at the resorts we've stayed at in Riviera Maya compared to the food at the resorts we've been to in Dominican. Unfortunately many of the travelers we were with on our Dominican vacations became quite sick.

It's funny....everytime we go away, we all end up hanging out at the pool all the time anyway:) The beach in Riviera Maya and Domincan tend to be quite windy so we spend our time lounging in the pool and at the swim-up bar where it is more comfortable.

In Riviera Maya, we've been to Dreams Tulum, Grand Palladium, and NH Riviera and needed water shoes at all these locations due to the rocks.

We recently returned from our DW at Iberostar Paraiso in Riviera Maya and were quite surprised and pleased that we did not need water shoes here. It was very sandy and not rocky.

I hear Anguilla and St.Maarten have wonderful beaches too. Not sure how many AI options they have though.

 

Hope all goes well.

[SunBride]

I agree with Gemstone, although the beach was initially one of the top factors for me, in the end I gave in and went with a resort with a less good beach because of all the amenities that the mayan rivera offers and the fact that in general it's safer than the dominican.