Playa del Carmen?

Where is the best resort to stay in for a week on the beach at Playa del Carmen? I want "all inclusive" for a week.

hello,
first it would be good to know what "the best" means to you.everybody has a different interpretation when it comes to "the best".
if we talk about top of the line 5*+ hotels there are:

in playacar: the "riu palace mexico","riu palace riviera maya" and the "occidental royal hideaway".
in playa del carmen: "the royal porto real" (not the "porto real")

the big advantage of the "the royal" in playa del carmen is the location.it is located in the heart of playa (as we locals call it shortly).only a few steps away is where all the shopping and nightlife action is without disturbing the classy ambience and quietness of the hotel.since opening my favorite in all playa area.the entire hotel including the rooms are breathtaking.

the "riu palace mexico" was my first choise till the royal came to town.exellent food and service combined with style and charm.

the "occidental royal hideaway" is one of the...if not THE best,all-inclusive hotel in the world.but....for most people allready tooo much.i'm afraid even the fun has to wait outside.besides that they lost a lot of beach during the hurricane in 2005.

and then there is the "riu palace riviera maya".same standard like the other "riu palace" but without that "little thing" to call it charmish.

from every hotel in playacar you need a taxi to go to town.it will cost you approx. 5U$ each way.unless you like to walk the 2-4 miles....depents which hotel you choose and where in town you want to go.

do NOT just go to any 4 or 5 star hotel here is.unfortunetly here are hotels which rate themselve 4*....nobody with a right mind wouldn't even give them 2 stars.

you will find links to all hotels mentioned at the bottom.also i put a link where you can read some reviews from costumers which come back to playa frequently.they have a very friendly forum aswell.
have fun and enjoy your stay here,greetings from playa,
cancundivers

sorry for any misspelling....i'm german(....and the "check spelling" function doesn't work right now,lol)

p.s.:if you have more questions about the other hotels or the area do not hesitate to send an e-mail to the same nick at yahoo.de

follow up @ USA:
sorry,but that`s not true like you say it.ONLY if you stay at the "riu palace mexico" or at the "riu palace riviera maya" you are allowed to use them all.if you stay at the yucatan,tequila,playacar or lupita you are NOT allowed to use any of the two riu-palace.

go to any 4 or 5 star resort, you can go to tripadvisor.com to get an idea how people rated their hotels and see pictures too.
good luck, have a nice trip. I will be leaving on friday to stay at sandos caracol its a 4star and its 5 min from playa de carmen.
I heard the food is really good there.

Riu Palace...went for my honeymoon...asolutely perfect and not for an insane price. Booked my trip through Apple Vacations. We were treated like royalty during our stay!

We just stayed last year at the Bahia Principe - Coba. It was breathtakingly beautiful, everyone was so nice and the food was very good. For a first time in Mexico it was wonderful!!!

We stayed in Cancun and took the bus to PDC....bus only cost like $3.00

Just loved PDC and would do as you're doing, then next time we take vacation.

I would check some of these sites:

Travelocity
Orbitz
Hotels.com

Good Luck and Have FUN!

Try Barcelo Maya Beach resort just south of Playa del Carmen. You will love it!

I would recommend the Riu Palace or any of the Riu in Playa , stay at one Riu in Playa and you can go to all the other Riu In Playa. to see picture of the Riu Resort , http://www.riucancun.net

The Riu Palace is very nice, but also expensive. We stayed at Riu PLayacar. The staff was incredibly friendly. Rooms were very nice. THE BEST. The only Riu that I would not recommend is the Riu Tequila because it is not beach front.