In May 2007, Michael and I enjoyed a fantastic 9-day vacation in Cancun, Cozumel and the Mayan Riviera. We stayed 3 nights at 3 different Palace Resorts hotels including the Cancun Palace, the Cozumel Palace and the Xpu-Ha Palace. Since this was a working vacation for Sunseekers Vacations, we also visited the Sun Palace, Moon Palace, Playacar Palace and the Aventura Palace. Towards the end of our trip we went on a tour with Alltournative where we went to a Mayan village to zip line over a lake and rappel down a rock face, we swam in a cenote, and we visited the ruins at Coba where we climbed Nohoch Mul. Below is a complete trip report outlining what we did each day including which restaurants were our favorites, tips for traveling, cost for taxis and buses, shopping recommendations and more!

Cancun Palace   •   Cozumel Palace   •   Xpu-Ha Palace Resort

Our Favorite Things!

May 4 - Cancun Palace

Our vacation began on May 4th with our stay at the beautifully renovated Cancun Palace Resort on the hotel zone in Cancun, Mexico.

We arrived at the Cancun Airport at about 5:00 pm and were at the resort and in our room by 6:30. We had no trouble getting from the airport to the hotel using Chaza Travel, however they were a little hard to find at the airport. When you exit the airport through the front doors, turn to your right and look for white vans with Chaza Travel or Palace Resorts on the side. When you arrive there, show them your hotel confirmation or transportation voucher. Do not give them your hotel confirmation as you will need it to check in at the hotel. There are many porters near the doors at the front of the airport who will grab your luggage and take you to Chaza Travel. This is safe and may be worthwhile if you are unsure of where to go, however be aware that they will expect a tip from you for taking your luggage.

When we arrived at the Cancun Palace Resort, we checked in and were greeted by a member of guest services. We scheduled a time for the next day to meet with her to review our all-inclusive package and the tours that were available to us. When we checked in, we were given a room with a beautiful ocean view. We had requested a room on an upper floor with an ocean view and a king-size bed. There were no rooms available that met all of our requests so they asked if we would take a room with two double beds. We accepted and had an absolutely amazing view of the resort and the Caribbean from our room.

That evening we had supper at Frida, the Mexican restaurant. This restaurant is open air and is close to the pool area so it had a beautiful view and a refreshing breeze. There was a Mariachi band playing throughout the restaurant, both at individual tables and for everyone. The Mariachi band along with the excellent service, delicious food (they make the best tortilla soup and beef tenderloin), the ocean view, and the best margarita I’ve ever tasted, made this our favorite meal of the trip!!

View Cancun Palace Pictures!

May 5 - Cancun Palace

This was our first full day in Mexico and also our hottest day as it got up to 86°F (30°C). We spent the day relaxing and exploring the Cancun Palace.

We enjoyed a late breakfast at El Mercado where they serve an International breakfast with a number of Mexican specialties. After breakfast we relaxed on the beach and swam in the ocean. There were a number of vendors walking along the beach renting boogie boards and jet skis or selling items like jewelry, clothes and even conch shells and starfish. We played in the large crashing waves and relaxed in the lounge chairs on the beach in front of the Cancun Palace. We also enjoyed a drink at the really cool swing bar along the beach. Remember that the beaches in Cancun are all public, so you can enjoy a long walk along the beach.

We also spent some time exploring the newly remodeled Cancun Palace. I had been to the Cancun Palace before it was renovated and can say that it has substantially improved. Everything has been updated. The rooms are much more luxurious, all of the rooms have balconies and double Jacuzzis, the pool area is larger and nicer, there are more restaurants, the Kids’ Club is much bigger with more activities, a water park, and teens’ activities. They are also adding a spa which will provide guests with more spa services in luxurious facilities and an amphitheatre to provide better entertainment facilities. With all of these changes, the Cancun Palace has retained its fun and active atmosphere and still targets younger couples, honeymooners, families and groups.

In the afternoon we ventured down the hotel zone to some of the malls and shops. We took the bus from the Cancun Palace to the Kukulcan Plaza. Taking the bus on the hotel zone is very cheap and easy. It costs about $1 for 2 people and when you get on you can just tell the driver where you want to get off and he will call it out when you get there. All you really need to know is which direction you are heading in. We didn’t do much shopping in the malls since we found the prices to be higher than the hotel gift shop. From the Kukulcan Plaza we walked to La Isla Shopping Center where you can swim with the dolphins. This shopping center is larger than the Kukulcan Plaza and has more variety. There are many designer shops in both malls. While we did not make it there, we were told to shop at Mercado 28 for the widest variety of items and the cheapest prices in Cancun. Mercado 28 is in Cancun City and is the last stop for busses from the hotel zone.

In the evening, back at the Cancun Palace we had dinner at The Steak where I enjoyed the best Filet Mignon I’ve ever had. We had top-quality service and the view was beautiful!

View Cancun Palace Pictures!

May 6 - Cancun Palace

Today was another beautiful day in Cancun at 84°F (30°C). We spent the day exploring two of the other nearby Palace Resorts, the Sun Palace and Moon Palace.

We took the bus to the nearby Sun Palace first and enjoyed breakfast in Café Bistro. After breakfast we just spent a few hours exploring the hotel and enjoying the beach and pools. The style of the Sun Palace (rooms, pools, restaurants, etc) is very similar to the Cancun Palace and Playacar Palace; however the Sun Palace is now couples only and adults only. This makes the Sun Palace a quieter hotel that caters to honeymooners, older couples and groups of couples traveling together. We loved the beach at the Sun Palace! It is very wide giving you lots of room to relax and lay in the sand and the waves are a little calmer than at the Cancun Palace.

View Sun Palace Pictures!

From the Sun Palace we took a taxi to the Moon Palace Resort ($20 one-way – taxi prices are posted in the lobby of each resort). The Moon Palace is a great resort for families and groups because it is so large that it offers a variety of activities to please everyone. They have a very cool new kids’ waterpark and we loved the swing bar. We also appreciated that there is also a huge variety of restaurants including grills, Mexican, fresh seafood, sushi and more.

View Moon Palace Pictures!

After returning to the Cancun Palace, we swam in the pool and sat at the swim-up bar (our favorite!) where we made a number of new friends. We had a delicious selection of sushi for dinner that evening at Miyako.

May 7 - Cozumel Palace

On May 7th we moved from the Cancun Palace to the Cozumel Palace. We took a taxi from the Cancun Palace to Playa del Carmen ($60) where we walked to the ferry dock which is just off 5th Ave. The ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel runs hourly both ways and costs $18 per person round trip. Our first ferry ride was not very fun; it was a fairly rough ride and we both felt a little queasy. For the rest of our ferry rides we sat on the top of the boat where there is less movement. From the Cozumel ferry dock we took a taxi to the Cozumel Palace ($5) because we had luggage but it is within walking distance.

As soon as we arrived at the Cozumel Palace, we knew that we would also love this resort. Our room was very luxurious and it had the most beautiful view of the Caribbean (rooms at all of the Palace Resorts are very similar). We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the pool area, restaurants, sandy lounge area, snorkel area, and the rest of the resort. That evening we had a fantastic Italian dinner at La Turquesa and after dinner we moved outside for the evening entertainment.

The theme for tonight’s entertainment was Mexican Fiesta! It began with dancers performing a number of traditional Mexican dances and was followed with a full a remarkable performance by a full Mariachi band. The entertainment at the Cozumel Palace was the best that we had seen during our stay. We especially loved the Mariachi band!

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May 8 - Cozumel Palace

Today was a very active day. We ate breakfast at La Turquesa and relaxed in the beachy area at Cozumel Palace. This hotel does not have a beach because it is located in an area where you can snorkel right in front of the resort. Instead they have two large sandy areas with lounge chairs where you can relax just as if you were on the beach. We also snorkeled right in front of the resort. The snorkeling is one reason why I love this hotel so much! There are 3 spots where you can get into the water and the snorkeling area is large so it is never crowded. The hotel provides snorkeling equipment.

In the afternoon we went to Playa Mia Grand Beach Park which is a free tour that the hotel offers. The free shuttle leaves at 9 and returns at 4 but we chose to take a taxi ($13 one-way). There are tons of activities offered here including swimming, snorkeling to see an underwater Mayan City, a water trampoline, climbing wall, an aquatic iceberg that you climb and slide down, kayaks, hobiecats, paddleboats, inflatable tubes, and floating mats. They also offer activities for a fee like parasailing and jet skis. Meals and beverages are also not included.

In the evening, we walked to Corpus Christi Catholic Church for the evening mass. This is a beautiful large church located about 5 blocks from the Cozumel Palace. We returned to the hotel to order room service and we watched the really cool fire dancers show from our balcony.

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May 9 - Cozumel Palace

On Wednesday we took the ferry across to Playa del Carmen. We walked from the ferry dock to the Playacar Palace and spent some time exploring there. The service at the Playacar was excellent and we spent most of our time in the pool and at the swim-up bar. From the Playacar we took a taxi to the Aventura Spa Palace ($14 one-way) for a few hours. Because it is a larger resort, there are tons of activities at the Aventura. You can swim in the lagoon or the pools, kayak, snorkel, walk along the beach, wall climb, rollerblade, spa and more. They have fun pool activities all day and there are 8 restaurants to choose from! These are both very beautiful resorts and we really loved that the Aventura was adults only.

View Playacar Palace Pictures!   •   View Aventura Spa Palace Pictures!

In the evening, we returned to Playa del Carmen for dinner and shopping. We went to the Yaxche Mayan Restaurant on 8th Street and had an excellent meal. We spent the rest of the evening shopping and bought sombreros, jewelry, maracas, alcohol and other souvenirs. We found Playa del Carmen to have the best shopping because there is a wide selection and the prices are cheaper than Cancun. It is still important to shop around and barter. You may want to check out the larger stores because they have marked prices (no bartering) but they often have the cheapest prices so you will know how much to spend in the smaller shops.

View Cozumel Palace Pictures!

May 10 - Xpu-Ha Palace Resort

Today we moved to the Xpu-Ha Palace from the Cozumel Palace. We walked to the ferry dock with our luggage and caught the ferry for the last time across to Playa del Carmen. We were a little sad to leave Cozumel because we loved the island so much. We loved the snorkeling, the small town atmosphere around the hotel, and that everything was within walking distance. We left our luggage at the Playacar Palace for a few hours while we finished up some of our shopping on 5th Ave. Then we took a taxi from the Playacar Palace to the Xpu-Ha Palace ($16).

When we arrived at the Xpu-Ha Palace we knew that this was a great place to spend our last 3 days. It was peaceful and very different from the other two resorts we had stayed at. Because the Xpu-Ha is set within an eco-park, the huts are surrounded by jungle and there are animal sanctuaries scattered throughout the resort. Our room at the Xpu-Ha Palace was also very nice; it has all of the 5-star amenities and a large beautiful balcony with a hammock, seating area and lounge chairs. Rooms are located in really cool huts and there are two rooms in each building; one on top and one on the bottom.

We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant where we met our favorite server, Izamael! The food was fantastic here as well and we really loved the Mayan Coffee. We spent the rest of the evening exploring the pool area, the beach, and the animals. We also booked our complimentary massage, manicure and pedicure for Saturday.

View Xpu-Ha Palace Pictures!

May 11 - Mayan Encounter Tour

On May 11th we went on the Mayan Encounter tour that we booked through Alltournative, a local tour company. This tour company and tour was recommended to us by a friend so we read about it online and booked it while we were in Playa del Carmen. Please note that this is not one of the free tours offered by Palace Resorts. The Mayan Encounter tour took us to a Mayan Village where we did a zip-line and rappel, had lunch and participated in a ceremony, then to Coba and finally to a swim in a cenote.

Our Alltournative tour guide picked us up at about 8:30 at the Xpu-Ha Palace where we set off for the day. We were part of a group of six people plus our tour guide, Frankie, and our driver. We drove about 40 minutes from Xpu-Ha to the Mayan Village of Punta Laguna where we began our tour. Along the way, our guide explained things about the villages along the road, the schools, the Mayan people, and more. When we arrived in Punta Laguna we walked down to the lake and canoed across to where they do the zip-line and rappel. Then we hiked up the hill to the point where they did the zip-line.

The zip-line was very cool! On the way across you go through trees and over the lake. There was even a crocodile in the water looking up at us! You are harnessed into the line too so there is no way you can fall. After the zip-line we hiked back up the hill to do the rappel. The rappel is also fun. We were harnessed in to a rope line that you control to lower yourself down. There is someone else holding your line at the top in case you need help but this again is very safe.

After the zip-line and rappel we had a fantastic Mayan lunch in Punta Laguna. The food was homemade and very good. After lunch we participated in a traditional Mayan purification ceremony with the community’s leader and ‘priest.’ The ceremony was very spiritual and like nothing I have ever experienced.

From Punta Laguna we drove to the town of Coba where we toured the ancient Mayan ruins. We had a certified archaeological guide for part of the tour and then we had free time to explore the rest of the ruins site and bike (or walk) to Nohoch Mul (the pyramid). Our guide explained the history of the site, the location, how it was excavated and that there is still lots left to be excavated. I loved Coba because we were able to climb Nohoch Mul. People are no longer permitted to climb the pyramid at Chichen Itza so Coba is the only ruin site in the Yucatan where you can climb to the top of the pyramid. Nohoch Mul is very tall, taller than Chichen Itza, and the steps are steep. I found the climb to the top to be a bit of a challenge because it is hot and we had little breeze. There is a rope to help you climb if you need it. Climbing down was actually harder than climbing up because you have to look down and the steps are uneven and narrow. The view from the top of Nohoch Mul at Coba definitely made the climb worthwhile!

We absolutely loved the Mayan Encounter tour with Alltournative for a number of reasons. We loved that it allowed us to do a number of different things in one day. We appreciated that we were in a small group because you can ask the guide questions, hear what they are saying, and you get to know some of the people in your group. We appreciated that this tour brought us into a Mayan village where the Mayan heritage was being preserved. Alltournative works with Mayan people in villages to bring small groups of tourists to their town each day if they will preserve their heritage and work to make the tours successful. The people of the village staff all of the activities at the village, as well they make and sell small souvenirs and take pictures that you can purchase.

Later in the day, back at Xpu-Ha we took the shuttle to the nearby Club Tulum. This property is now closed for renovations and I expect it to be absolutely beautiful when it re-opens. This property is very large and boasts a long beautiful beach, the one thing that the nearby Xpu-Ha is lacking.

View Coba Pictures!

May 12 - Xpu-Ha Palace Resort

Today was our last day at the resort. We booked our complimentary manicure, pedicure and massage for today. We were able to get a couples massage so we were both in the same room, and then we had our manicures and pedicures after. We loved these treatments! The staff are very professional and they do everything to make sure you are relaxed and enjoying yourself.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the pool, at the swim up bar and playing volleyball in the pool. Before dinner we walked through the nursery and botanical garden, both of which were really cool. The botanical garden has two natural cenotes with fish and turtles inside that you can feed. We had our last meal at Mariachi, the Mexican restaurant and then we went to the lobby for Karaoke night.

May 13 - Xpu-Ha Palace Resort

We flew out on May 13th and we were very sad to leave! Chaza picked us up from the Xpu-Ha at 9:30 and we drove for a little more than an hour to the airport. Our flight didn’t depart from Cancun airport until 1:40 so we thought that we would get there too early, but we arrived before 11 and the airline checked us in right away. Because Cancun airport is so busy, they ask travelers to be there 3 hours in advance to allow time for long line ups. We did not have to wait too long, but we were glad to get there on time and to have a little bit of extra time. Everything at the airport was stress-free and simple.

View Xpu-Ha Palace Pictures!