A relaxing stay in Puerto Aventuras (6 days)

We were so fortunate that Julian has an American aunt that owns an apartment in Puerto Aventuras and they very kindly let us stay there. This was our next stop after Tulum and it felt very homely, spacious, and beautifully decorated. The apartment is amazing with a big living space and 2 big bedrooms with balconies overlooking the ocean, coconut trees and a lagoon. It’s part of a condo with a beautiful shared pool and private beach.  And it was so nice to have the pool so close, Elisa finally learned how to swim in this pool and felt so comfortable under the water she was doing crazy acrobatic jumps.

Puerto Aventuras is a private resort located along the coast between playa Del Carmen and Tulum. It’s very different to where we had been before, partly because it’s private but also because it was mostly people that owned or resided there for the winter, so it wasn’t touristy with souvenir shops, more like an American or Canadian town in Mexico I guess. Having a car was a must with a big supermarket across the highway. Very practical for visits to parks and cenotes along the Riviera Maya.

We went on a day trip to Playa Del Carmen. Julian was there 14 years ago, studying Spanish before backpacking around Latin America so it was very strange to see quite how much the main strip had developped. While it was touristy before, it was still charming. Now it had become like a huge outdoor shopping mall with concept store after flagship store. So good for shopping, not great for Mexican culture!

We tried to find a restaurant that Julian remembered El Fogon, walking for ages, expecting it to be shut. When we did find it, not only was it completely unchanged with its yellow awning and disney cartoons on the wall, it had the biggest queue outside so we ate somewhere else, but clearly it’s the place to go…

Overall, Puerto Aventuras is so beautiful and we had a very nice homely and relaxing time. It was really fun to see so many animals (separate post) and was great to be able to cook ourselves, as we all are a bit tired of tacos.