The Riviera Maya is a fantastic part of Mexico to visit. The area is mostly developed for the sole purpose of tourism and it has lot to offer. There are tours, adventure and eco parks, Mayan ruins, great beaches, excellent water sports, and even Mexican shopping to be found along this section of the Caribbean coast.
Getting Around - The Colectivo
While there isn't a subway or metro system connecting the Mayan Riviera, they do have a pretty easy and convenient public transportation option. The colectivo, or collectivo, is a fleet of vans that runs up and down the coast from Cancun to Tulum, with another hub in the middle at Playa del Carmen. The price is cheap, at 30 pesos per person each way (or they will take $3 USD), and they will drop you off when you ask them to along the way, including at hotels. Be forewarned, however, that dropping you off at a hotel does not mean at the lobby, it means at the highway in front of your hotel. We once had to run across a 4 lane highway to make it over to our hotel.
The colectivo vans are usually fairly comfortable in the Mayan Riviera because it is a tourist zone. They'll have air conditioning running but some vans have better AC than others. I've also been in colectivos that leave an empty seat, and I've been in one that was completely full and then stopped to pick up 3 more people. All in all, though, the colectivo is a great way to get around the Mayan Riviera.
So, how do you catch a colectivo? In the main hubs, Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum, they wait in a main area.
Cancun: You can catch the colectivo in downtown Cancun in the parking lot of "La Comercial Mexicana" on Tulum Ave.
Playa del Carmen: Calle 2 Norte between Av. 15 and 20, which is a short walk 5th Av, the major shopping area.
Tulum: When visiting the Tulum ruins there is a small stretch of road where cars can come in and that's where they will be waiting.
Hotels: Many of the big resorts will have colectivos waiting near the front of the hotel, ask at your hotel where to catch the colectivo.
Everywhere else: You can catch a colectivo on Hwy 307 anywhere from Cancun to Tulum. You just stand on the side of the highway and start waiting. When a colectivo approaches he should flash his headlights if he has space in his van and if you want a ride wave your arm.
Hotels
There are a few traditional hotels along the Riviera Maya, but most of the hotels here are actually huge all-inclusive resorts. I stayed at the Gran Bahia Principie resort, which consists of Gran Bahia Principie Tulum, Gran Bahia Principie Akumal, and Gran Bahia Principie Coba. The complex is huge and thousands of guests stay at a time, enjoying all you can eat food and drinks. As you drive up and down the Mayan Riviera you will see a lot of other huge resorts along the same lines.
Gran Bahia Principie Tulum, Gran Bahia Principie Akumal, and Gran Bahia Principie Coba
A few tips on these hotels specifically. They do now offer free Wifi internet access in the lobby of each hotel. It's not too fast, but it was free on our trip in July 2010. Even though there are 3 hotels, they work as one. You can use any of the restaurants, beaches, pools, bars, and snack bars at any of the resorts. With this particular resort, you have 3 al a carte restaurant choices per week and they require advanced reservations. I recommend making the reservations as soon as you check in since some of them fill up fast. The two most popular are the Mikado and La Gran Tortuga. The Mikado is a japanese restaurant where, at some tables (which you can request when making reservations), the chef puts on a show and prepares the food at your table. They have steak, chicken, and shrimp and muscles. This was by far the best food of the week. The second best was La Gran Tortuga, which is a Brazilian steak house where waiters come by your table throughout the meal with various cuts of meat.
Many people make a whole vacation out of just going to their resort and spending all their time within the resort compound. That is understandable and doable, because there are some many activities and private beaches. But the Mayan Riviera has so much more to offer that it would be a shame to miss the other features of the area.
One tip, if you are going with a group of people and you will not use your cell phones (either because you cannot or because of high international roaming fees), we recommend getting some walkie talkies to keep in contact so you can find each other if you split up during the day or night. These resorts are so big that it can take hours to find your party if you get separated.
Cenotes
All around the Mayan Riviera there are things called Cenotes. These are basically like natural wells that provide access to underground rivers. There is a huge network of these rivers around this part of Mexico, and they are great for swimming, snorkeling, and even scuba diving. Exploring an underwater cave is definitely a unique experience. The cenotes are usually fresh water or a mixture of fresh and salt water and the water temperature is cool but not cold. The cenotes are typically beautiful, because they are surrounded by lush jungle and then open up into a pool.
Mayan Ruins
There are a lot of great Mayan ruins in and around the Mayan Riviera. The most popular are the ruins of Tulum, which are special because they are the only major Mayan ruins on a beach, and Chichen Itza, which was named one of the 7 new wonders of the world. The ruins at Coba are also very important and actually have the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan, but they are not as easy to get to as Tulum and there are not as many tours that go there as Chichen Itza.
Tulum Ruins
Tulum was a major Mayan port city and the ruins of Tulum remain in very good shape. The setting, on cliffs above the Caribbean sea, is beautiful. There is a beach you can access through the ruins. The oldest buildings in the area are from around 800-1000 AD.
Getting to the Tulum Ruins
Tulum is one of the most visited Mayan ruins in all of Mexico, partly due to the beauty of the setting and partly because it is fairly easy to get to. Where Chichen Itza requires a drive of at least an hour from the major hotels in the Mayan Riviera, Tulum is much closer and you can get there using the public transportation known as the Colectivo for only about $3 USD, or $30 pesos. You'll be dropped off near some shops and about a 10 minute walk from the ruins. There is a train that will pick you up if you want to pay for it, but the walk is nice.
Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza was named one of the new 7 wonders of the world, and it is a very large site with a lot to see. The major attraction at Chichen Itza is the huge step pyramid (seen in the picture to the right) in the center known as El Castillo. Perhaps the most amazing part of the pyramid is that on the spring equinox and the autumn equinox, at the runsise and sunset, a snake appears to slither down the pyramid down to a head at the base.
The Chichen Itza site also has a lot of other great things to see. One of the other highlights is a Mayan ball court. The acoustics in the court are amazing. When you stand at either end and clap the sound echos back and they say you can hear people talking across the court as if they were next to you.
Getting to Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza is not very convenient, but it is worth getting to. There is not good public transportation that will get you there, and a taxi would probably be more expensive than a guided tour. That means your best options are to rent a car and drive yourself, or go with a tour that includes transportation (as almost all do). The best deal we found was http://www.cancunandrivieramaya.com/chichen-itza.htm
Snorkeling
Snorkeling was pretty good in the parts of the Mayan Riviera that we have tried. We saw cuttlefish, sea turtles, a sea horse, and lots of colorful fish all just snorkeling off the beach at our resort, the Gran Bahia Principe Coba.
Adventure Parks/Eco-Parks
We did not go to any adventure parks or eco parks in Riviera Maya for two reasons. One is our research said they were not that great. They over commercialize natual settings and make them less exciting and cool. Another reason is that they were really expensive and given our research and the other things we had going on we were never bored in our week there. Having talked to other people who went they had a lukewarm response and they just did not sound that great.