Over spring break, I took a vacation with three friends to the RIU Palace, Riviera Maya in Mexico.
Travel
We flew into Cancun from MSP Airport. From Sartell, it is around an hour and a half drive to get to MSP, give or take, depending on the traffic that day. You can fly directly to the Cancun airport from MSP or get connecting flights at a cheaper rate. We all flew Delta, but many different airlines will take you there. The flight takes around 3.5-4 hours and is smooth. Once you get to the airport, you have to go through customs, and once you are done, you can take a shuttle to your resort. The ride from Cancun to Playa Del Carmen (where the RIU is) is about an hour and fifteen minutes right along the east coast of Mexico.
The Resort
We stayed at the RIU Palace Rivera Maya, one of the six RIU resorts in Playa Del Carmen. The resort featured four pools, one activity pool, one regular pool, one 18+ pool, and one sports pool. There was a beautiful beach with hundreds of lounge chairs open to anyone at our resort. There were two bars in the resort where you could get any drink; one was next to the pool, and the other was right in the lobby. There were two entertainment stages; one was dedicated to live singing every night, and one show every night at 9:30.
Restaurants
There were a variety of restaurants at the resort. For breakfast, there is a massive buffet with many different kinds of breakfast food; there is also a small continental breakfast option. For lunch, there are two buffets and a small lunch bar near the pool called PePe’s. At the resort, there are 5 different a la carte restaurants, including a steakhouse and Italian restaurants. There is also a buffet available, the same one available for breakfast and lunch.
Playa Del Carmen
One of the days, we went into the town of Playa Del Carmen to get off of the resort and check it out. There were many different restaurants and shops to choose from, and you could get fast food like McDonald’s or go to a sit-down restaurant like Margaritaville. They had a full shopping mall with many different stores than the ones we have in the U.S. (Crocs, Victoria’s Secret, etc.). There was an international beach volleyball tournament going on, and you needed to buy tickets to get in; they were sold out, so we were not able to attend.
Neon Party
Every Friday night, all of the RIU resorts in Playa Del Carmen have a party. The theme alternates between white and neon, and the week we went, it was neon. The party is open to all ages and goes from 7:30 to 11:30. They have live music, a DJ, multiple bars, and fun decorations. Everyone wears neon and gets their face painted with fun colors.
Cozumel
On our last day in Mexico, we took a boat over to Cozumel. While there, we took a Catamaran over to a snorkeling spot. There, we saw many different aquatic animals. We saw many kinds of fish, stingrays, and jellyfish. After that, we hopped back on the ship and went over to a private beach. On the beach, there were floating water slides, food, chairs, and paddleboards. We spent an hour and a half there before taking the catamaran back to the main part of Cozumel.
