Playa del Carmen, known colloquially as 'Playa', is a

resort city A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...

located along the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

in the state of

Quintana Roo Quintana Roo ( , ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Quintana Roo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo), is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, constitute the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 11 mu ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is part of the municipality of

Solidaridad The Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organisation founded in 1969. Its main objective is facilitating the development of socially responsible, ecologically sound and profitable supply chains. It operates through eight regio ...

. As of 2020, the city's population was just over 300,000 people, a small yet thriving portion of which are foreign

expats An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

. Playa del Carmen is a popular tourist destination in Mexico's

Riviera Maya The Riviera Maya () is a tourism and resort district south of Cancun, Mexico. It straddles the coastal Federal Highway 307, along the Caribbean coastline of the state of Quintana Roo, located in the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. ...

region. Its current growth rate is set at 25% per year. According to the Guinness World Records, it one of

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

’s fastest growing communities. In 2016, the city was the tenth most popular international travel destination for U.S travelers, and over a million tourists passed through the city a year later. The main airport for Playa is the

Cancún International Airport Cancun International Airport ( es, Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancún) is located in Cancún, Quintana Roo, on the Caribbean coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It is Latin America's third and Mexico's second busiest airport, after Mexico Ci ...

, which is around 70 km away. This airport ranks tenth in terms of international passengers worldwide and is the second busiest in Mexico behind Mexico City. The area is known for its white sand beaches, blue turquoise waters, coral reefs, surrounding rainforests, and balnearios. The downtown area of the city revolves around Quinta Avenida, a busy pedestrian thoroughfare lined with many shops, clubs, and restaurants. The weather is hot year-round, with the summer and winter breaks being peak season for tourism.

Geography

Playa del Carmen is located within the Riviera Maya, which runs from south of

Cancún Cancún ( ), often Cancun in English (without the accent; or ) is a city in southeast Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat ...

Tulum Tulum (, yua, Tulu'um) is the site of a pre-Columbian Mayan walled city which served as a major port for Coba, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. The ruins are situated on cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula on the Caribb ...

and the

Sian Ka'an Sian or Siyan may refer to: __NOTOC__ People *Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name Places *Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran *Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia *Xi'an, China, formerly roman ...

biosphere reserve. Playa is a stop for several cruise ships which dock at the nearby

Calica Calica is a quarry and a port on the Quintana Roo coast of Mexico. The name is short for the full Spanish name Calizas Industriales del Carmen, "calizas" Spanish for lime or limestone (cognate to the English " calcite.") Ultramar and Transcarib ...

quarry docks, about six miles (10 km) south of the city. The

Xcaret Eco Park Xcaret Park ( es, el parque Xcaret; ) is a privately owned and operated theme park, resort and self-described ecotourism development located in the Riviera Maya, a portion of the Caribbean coastline of Mexico's state of Quintana Roo. It is part ...

, a Mexican-themed "eco-archaeological park", is a popular tourist destination located just south of the town in

Xcaret Xcaret () is a Maya civilization archaeological site located on the Caribbean coastline of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. The site was occupied by the pre-Columbian Maya and functioned as a port for navigation an ...

(pronounced "ish-kar-et").

Climate

In October 2005,

Hurricane Wilma Hurricane Wilma was an extremely intense and destructive Atlantic hurricane which was the most intense storm of its kind and the second-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the Western Hemisphere, after Hurricane Patricia in 2015. Part o ...

passed directly over Playa del Carmen, remaining in the vicinity for two days and causing significant damage and a temporary drop in tourist arrivals. Most of the damage was relatively superficial and repaired within a few weeks of the storm. Hurricane Wilma arrived from the Caribbean Sea, passing over

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán ...

before making landfall in Playa del Carmen. It then moved north along the Mexican coast, hitting

especially hard. Playa del Carmen has a

tropical savannah climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

( Aw) with June to November receiving most of the precipitation. Summers are hot and year round with warm nights. Cold temperatures are unheard of because of the tropical influence of the

Demographics

Tourism

Originally a small fishing town,

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

to Playa del Carmen began with the passenger ferry service to

, an island across the Cozumel Channel and a world-famous

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

destination. Playa del Carmen has recently undergone extremely rapid development with new luxury residential condominium buildings, restaurants, boutiques, and entertainment venues. Tourist activity in Playa del Carmen centers on Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue, which stretches from Calle 1 norte to Calle 40. A pedestrian walkway located just one or two blocks inland from the beach, Fifth Avenue is lined with hundreds of shops, bars, and restaurants. There are many small boutique hotels on and just off Fifth Avenue and on the beach.

Playacar Playacar is an upscale resort area of Playa del Carmen. Located in Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico in the Solidaridad,_Quintana_Roo, municipality of Solidaridad, it is a gated community that has grown with Playa del Carmen, j ...

is a residential and tourist development in Playa del Carmen just south of the main urban area. Most of the all-inclusive hotels, the aviary, and the golf course are located in this development. There are two phases – phase 1 is mostly residential with a few hotels and some stores, while phase 2 contains the largest all-inclusive resorts as well as the golf course and a significant number of residential properties. File:Xcaret parque temático.jpg, Park temático Xcaret File:Terminal Maritima Playa del Carmen.JPG, Tourists entering Playa del Carmen's ferry terminal File:Quinta Avenida in Playa del Carmen.JPG, Paseo del Carmen shopping center File:Kerkplayadelcarmen.jpg, Church in Playa del Carmen File:Playa_del_Carmen.jpg, Beach in Playa del Carmen File:Playa_Del_Carmen.JPG, Beach in Playa del Carmen File:Modern church in Playa del Carmen.JPG, Modern church, interior view

Sports

The city is home to

Inter Playa del Carmen Club de Fútbol Inter Playa del Carmen is a Mexican football club that plays in the Liga Premier. The club is based in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo. History Inter Playa del Carmen was founded in 1999 by an agreement between local businessmen ...

, an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club founded in 1999, which competes in the south group of the Segunda División Profesional, the third tier of Mexican football league system. The

World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba The World Wide Technology Championship is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Mexico, contested at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal golf course within the Diamante Cabo San Lucas resort. It debuted in February 2007 and was the f ...

is a

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. Th ...

golf tournament held at El Camaleón Golf Club since 2007. Since 2013, it has been a full-points tournament where the winner earns full rights for a PGA TOUR win.

2022 hotel shooting

On January 21, 2022, a tourist opened fire at the Xcaret all-inclusive hotel, killing two Canadians and wounding one other.

In popular culture

The

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

'' Peregrina'' takes place in Playa del Carmen. The '' Real Housewives of Vancouver'' featured Playa del Carmen in two episodes. ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'' was shot on location in Playa del Carmen. '' The Celebrity Mole'' was set in the Playa del Carmen area. UK reality series ''

Geordie Shore ''Geordie Shore'' is a British reality television series that was broadcast on MTV between 24 May 2011 and 22 November 2022. Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England it was the British offshoot of the American show ''Jersey Shore''. The programm ...

'' featured Playa del Carmen. It was also seen in ''

Spies in Disguise ''Spies in Disguise'' is a 2019 American computer-animated spy comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Loosely inspired by the 2009 animated short ''Pigeon: Impossible'' by Lucas Martell, the film is dire ...

''.

Notable residents

Notable residents include the following: *

Tory Burch Tory Burch (née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerf ...

Fashion designer *

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

Disc jockey *

Barry Shulman Barry Shulman (born May 8, 1946) is an American poker player who has enjoyed success in competitive poker tournaments over the past 15 years, and is the CEO of CardPlayer Magazine. Life and career Shulman was born in Seattle, Washington. He be ...

WSOP The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker pla ...

poker player *

Ana Claudia Talancón Ana Claudia Talancón (born Ana Claudia Talancón Ortiz Tirado; 1 May 1980), is a Mexican actress, TV host, and philanthropist. She first started acting in her home town, Cancún, Quintana Roo. Early life and career Talancón first started st ...

Actress * Jeff & Lauren Lowe of Tiger King

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Populated places in Quintana Roo Solidaridad (municipality) Seaside resorts in Mexico