Playa del Carmen has some truly stunning beaches. The water is so clear, warm and calm and ideal for kids . All beaches are free to everyone, but getting onto the beaches can be a challenge as many of the huge resorts dominate the beach frontage. If you can find a public access point, it’s free to go onto the beach, sit on the sand with an umbrella and swim in the water. However if you want to settle in on a beach lounge and possibly get some food and drinks, you’re better off looking into a beach club where you’ll have waitstaff bring you drinks and food with a minimal spend required.

Here is our run down on the beaches and beach clubs that we visited during our time in Playa Del Carmen from January 2025 - May 2025.

This is by no means a definitely list. We barely scratched the surface when it comes to amount of beaches and beach clubs on offer. In the downtown area there are many beach access points and areas along the beachfront to swim - Playa 88 and Playa 72 off Avenue 88 and 72 respectively - were two areas we were planning to swimming at but in an effort to save money on getting to and from the beaches, we stuck to the nearby beach which was Xcalacoco.

Playa Xcalacoco and Punta Xcalacoo Beach Club

Xcalacoco was within a 2km walk from our apartment in El Cielo residential area and is located about 15 minutes north of the downtown area by car.

The walk involved winding our way around the Ocean Riviera Paradise Resort, The Fives Resort and the Viceroy Resort but the beach access pathway led to a calm, dedicated swimming area with huge sandbags blocking a lot of the waves. It was easy enough to sit on the sand and have a swim, and we’d often walk 500m south down the beach to the Punta Xcalacoco Beach Club for lunch and a drink.

This beach club is a stand a lone club, it’s not attached to any hotel or resort. It has a deciduous menus and dinning areas under the huge palapa and beach lounges you can lay on with a minimum spend of 1200 pesos. The staff were super friendly and the food was delicious, we loved walking down to the beach to have lunch here.

The only downside is that the beach right out the front is a very rocky, the rock pools are fun to explore but you’d want to wear reef shoes.

I’d do a 7km beach walk most days, either in the morning or in the afternoon, sometimes I’d convince one of the girls to join me. I’ll truely miss walking along this beautiful stretch of beach, people-watching all the report goers and all the local families one the weekends.

Punta Esmerelda

Punta Esmerald was a short drive from our apartment in the El Cielo Residential, heading towards downtown. It’s a totally public beach with no resorts or beach clubs nearby. The main thing we loved and what makes it so great for families is the cenote that connects to the beach, creating a kind of tidal lagoon. It’s shallow and calm which is prefect for kids to splash around in.

It’s possible to also swim out in the ocean which is very calm too, but can be prone to the seaweed building up in the cove area in front of the lagoon. There are free palapas (wooden umbrellas made from palm fronds), toilets and change rooms too but it’s recommended to bring your own food as there was only a few people wondering around with icecreams and snacks. Although once we did make the trek along the beach to Playa 72 and then walked all the way down to Ave 46 to find a restaurant.

This spot is very popular with locals as well as tourists and it was so lovely watching all the families hanging out and enjoying the lagoon.

Xpu-Ha Beach

We spent the day at Xpu -Ha beach with our neighbours Kelly, Ron and Linda. It was one of Kelly and Ron’s recommended beaches and we went as a bit of a send off as they were heading back to Canada and to say thanks for all their help around the apartment complex.

We took our own chairs and shade tarp and sat in the free public section. The ocean water was amazingly warm and even with a little bit of the seaweed, it was still so nice to chat and swim. We sat on the beach together for most of the morning before heading to the La Playa Xpu-Ha Beach Club for lunch. The food was great and this beach club offer beach lounges too, in fact there was a number of beach clubs to choose from but setting up ourselves in the beach was perfect.

Xpu-Ha beach is located near Cenote Azul, just south of Puerto Adventuras, between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum.

La Buena Vida Restaurant, Akumal

La Buena Vida was recommended to us by our other lovely neighbours Janie and Dan, who happened across it on one of their days out at the nearby Golf Club. It’s more of a restaurant and the in front was rather rocky. We all came back, Janie, Dan, Linda and our family, in the week before Janie and Dan headed back to their home in Colorado.

Akumal is a small little town between Playa Del Carmen and Tulum that is known for its sea turtle population. But the beach club we visited is a little further up from the bay where the sea turtles can be found.

La Beuna Vida had such cool vibe with the tree houses, it was very relaxing and the kids loved swimming in the pool. Janie brought her snorkel and I had a lot of fun snorkelling out in the ocean, even though the seaweed was particularly bad at this time. You can see all the orange brown seaweed along the shore in the photo below.

You could spend so much time trying all the cool beach clubs along the Mayan Riviera! I’m glad we’re able to hang out with friends at some unique ones.

Petite Lafitte Beach Club

Petite Lafitte is a small, boutique beachfront resort that was only a short walk from our accommodation. It’s nestled between some of the larger resorts and offers beach club passes for visitors to use the pool, beach lounges and restaurant. It was around 650 Mexican pesos per adults and 250 pesos per child, but that cover charge gives you the equivalent credit in food and drinks. We spent all day there swimming and relaxing so it was worth the money. The girls will always remember this beach club because of the coconut that fell out of the tree right next to us. Rooney worked hard making a hole in it and Braino cracked it open and the girls ate fresh coconut directly from the nut.

I really loved the vibe of Petite Lafitte, wth the bungalows right on the beach. It’s one place I’d recommended to people wanting to stay on a quieter beach in Playa Del Carmen. I saw a lot of weddings there, during my walks along the beach.