We took a family vacation with our 1 year old son to Mexico. We stayed near Puerto Aventuras, a town on the Riviera Maya just south of Cancun, on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. During our trip, we visited Xcaret theme park and some cenotes.
Watch our travel video to get a better idea of the area:
Where we stayed in Riviera Maya
We stayed at the Barceló Maya Grand Resort. This hotel is located near Puerto Aventuras, about 2 hours south of Cancun, Mexico. We chose this hotel because it was all-inclusive and on the beach. Having a 1 year-old that wasn’t sleeping through the night yet, we knew we weren’t going to do a ton of traveling around. So we wanted something where all of our meals were taken care of and we could have fun on the beach without having to go too far.
The resort also had a lot of pools, including a kids pool with water slides that were fun.
What we did in Riviera Maya
Xcaret Adventure Park
Just a little bit away in Playa del Carmen is Xcaret. It’s sort of a mixture of nature reserve, zoo, beach resort, and adventure theme park. There, we went on river rides, snorkeling, and chilled on the beach. It’s not really something for a baby, so our son Emerson was left with the grandparents while we went for the day. Buy tickets for Xcaret >
Cenotes: Chikin Ha & Azul
The Yucatan Peninsula is know for its cenotes – underwater caves that often have small ponds that come out to the surface. The water is typically very clear with some beautiful rock formations.
These cenotes are everywhere, and there were some right across the street from our resort. We went to Cenote Chikin Ha and Cenote Azul to go snorkeling and cliff jumping!
We discovered many of these places by looking on TripAdvisor. You can also find other top places to go and things to do in the Riviera Maya, along with creating and saving a shareable itinerary.
