My All-Inclusive Resort Review of Paradisus La Perla at Playa del Carmen, Mexico
This past summer, my family and I traveled to Mexico and stayed at the all-inclusive resort, Paradisus La Perla in Playa del Carmen. Usually we like to stay in Airbnbs and travel around more like locals wherever we are visiting. However, my sister-in-law was getting married at the resort so we opted to stay there for the long weekend as well. This was actually my first time ever staying in a resort that was all inclusive.
We took Spirit, which was one of the only reasonable non-stop flights into Cancun. We’ve taken this flight several times to Mexico and always had a positive experience. Playa del Carmen is about 45 minutes away from the resort, or really it depends on who is driving you. We got to and from the resort without a hitch and the drivers were very accommodating. The ride is included with staying at the resort. Some people complained that they had to wait for others to arrive in order to leave the airport; however, we were escorted to the resort as soon as we landed.
Once we arrived at the resort, we were speechless. The entrance was extravagant with gorgeous sculptures sitting inside a pond with koi fish swimming around. The entire resort has an indoor outdoor concept. The resort is all around visually stunning. There are two sides to the massive resort which spans over 25,000 square feet. There is an adult only side and a family side. We had our two daughters with us so we stayed on the family side. We did go to the adult only side for parts of the wedding festivities, but there was not a difference in what was offered or how it looked apart from a few night clubs and a couple restaurants. The resort was so large and had so many different areas that no matter what side you are on, there are a lot of options on food, ambiance, privacy, events, and anything you want out of your experience. It all depends on how you want to customize your stay!
The architecture of the resort was so beautiful, just walking around was fun! It was all very open with fountains, plants, and beautiful details on the columns. It was shiny, clean, and inviting with so much to see and do. The workers looked genuinely happy to be there. The pools were very well maintained and humongous, snaking around the whole resort and mostly all connected to each other. There were swim up bars, lounge chairs in and out of the water, different style restaurants close to the pools, and very comfortable bed-like cabanas. There were populated areas as well as quiet areas. Our girls opted to stay by the more bustling areas where there was a fun pirate ship and slide and even a swim up bar. If you were lounging outside of the pool, there were waiters walking around constantly taking orders and making sure you had everything you needed. Some suites had swim-up pools to their rooms and some rooms even had private hot tubs on their porch. Our room had a private terrace which overlooked some tropical gardens.
Each week the hotel has certain activities for both adults and children. Some of the activities we saw were volleyball, kids foam party, yoga, cocktail classes, disco night at the club, art and pottery classes for kids, and more. There is also kid care at the Kidsdom for ages 4-12 where you can drop your child off for a fun activity while you go get a massage or read by the pool in peace. If we were to go back we would take more advantage of the offerings, but since we were there with a lot of family and wedding festivities our days and nights were already planned out for us.
The hotel also offers excursions to different cenotes and sights close to Playa del Carmen. Our large group visited a cave-like cenote and swam with sea turtles at Akumal. This felt very touristy to me and I would not recommend it if you like to do your own thing when traveling. However, others in our group really had a great time and appreciated the extra attention and explanations. Mexico has so many different cenotes and visually stunning outdoorsy venues to choose from. Next time we will schedule a driver for just our family and go to a few cenotes or ruins close by of our choosing, without the large group.
Our kids enjoyed the 24-hour room service that was available. Since food was all inclusive it got a little redundant. Now please keep in mind we are snobby foodies from New Orleans. The tacos were a family favorite as was the breakfast buffet. However, the “nice” pizza restaurant was the same pizza we received for room service. A lot of the items are recycled throughout the resort’s different genre restaurants. The drinks were great (although a little watered down) and the girls loved ordering virgin pina coladas and mango smoothies from the bartenders. Ordering and chatting with the employees was no big deal and many of them spoke English.
The beach was gorgeous and there was not a lot of seaweed during the time we went. It was shallow enough so the kids could go in by themselves. One of my favorite evenings was going down to the beach club at night. It was a gorgeous night with soft wind through the palm trees overlooking the sandy beach, a beautiful sounding trumpet player, and veggies and meats being grilled near tables lit with candles. The kids were playing in the sand while a bunch of us danced and chatted on the comfortable swinging chairs. The whole vibe of the evening was romantic and fun!
I could go on and on about the great time we had, but my biggest tip I have is to save a couple of your pool or beach towels from the previous day and go out early to reserve your spot. Some of the popular spots get taken pretty early on so if you have a particular area you want to be in, then place your towels out in the morning before heading to breakfast.
Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to answer them!
