Mexico Advice....

OK...I'm back to haunt u all with my indecisiveness about my 'real' honeymoon.

we have decided to actually go somewhere new (not disney)..MEXICOOOOOO!!!!

torn between the Aventura Spa Palace (Riviera Maya) & the Dreams Los Cabos Suites (Cabo)....

has anyone gone to either? any advice? suggestions???? a gun so i can shoot myself alreadyyyyy?????

TIA!!!

I've been to Cabo & Cancun. Little sis has been to Riviera Maya. I honestly love Mexico because the water is beautiful & it's the best vacation for your $$$. You also have access to some GREAT restaurants for less $$$.

Cabo: Great for sport fishing, golf, big resorts with multiple pools. Really nice restaurants serving world-class food for MUCH less than in NYC. Need a car to get anywhere. Lots of time-shares. Lots of families at time shares. Beaches are essentially non-swimmable except in very few areas...and those are public beaches. Drove to some great surfing places...if you are into that, this is a great place for it. Also, a great 'hidden' bar. Art bus. Town area with singing, dancing, Margarita-ville type places. Town in Me (Melia) Cabo is where you will find the hunks without the shirts. We went here on our HM. I stayed at a Sheraton branch.

Cancun: Great for pretty, calm, warm ocean & snorkeling. Great hotels...I stayed at a GREAT spa hotel...but much smaller, all on a common street & connected. Def do not need a car. Many malls and restaurants dot the common street. Great restaurants are INSIDE each hotel too. Very nice, adventurous things to book from the hotels: last time I did Rappelling, Ziplining, Cenote swimming, saw an archeological site not completely open to the public yet, snorkeling (fantastic). Town area with clubs & restaurants...mix of people who go to them, different based on what time of year you go here. I've stayed at Sheraton & ....I think Grand Melia.

Riviera Maya: Little sis says beach was not as nice as she had hoped (but they had a huge storm around that time...so someone else should answer you on that one...I see no reason why it should be different from Cancun). Big resorts, need a car. The excursions should be the same as Cancun. Someone else should fill the blanks in here.....

i saw that the beach was an unswimmable beach..i was wondering why..thanks for clearing that up!

the thing is that the other place i am torn between (aventura) doesnt have a swimable beach either!

(i'm not a huge ocean fan really..living things in the wate with me sort of freak me out..i can only take a few minutes then i get freaked out & get out of the water! haha)

they DO, however, have 2 inlets where you can snorkel, swim, etc. so really, neither one has a real beach/ocean.....

Bravo for jumping ship....

By your avatar (polar bears) you look like an adventurous person...

Costa Rica is lots of fun too...if you like doing adventurous stuff. Hard to commute back & forth between locations...we took small buses/shuttles that we booked via our travel agent...but you can stay by a volcano, the Zip-lining is amazing & there are tons of national parks with amazing monkeys, birds, sloths, ect. We went to Arenal (Volcano...stayed at a beautiful resort here with hot springs that are the Disney-land of hot springs...no joke! We're talking waterfalls of hot springs...it's called Tabacon), Tortuguero (very far out of the way but great for frogs & birds...VERY darn rustic cabins) and Manuel Antonio..(a national park with tons of monkeys, sloths, ect.). The BIG negative here is commuting between laces is by bus or small plane and takes a LONG time. If I were to go again, I would decide on 2 places & spend MORE time at each. Food is rice & beans...for everything. Their $$$ restaurants honestly were not that great. Food off the street was wonderful and cheap. The Costa-ricans were SUPER honest & friendly. It was shocking at times.

As you can tell, I'm def going back...maybe I'll take my DH next time

I went to Cancun years ago on a grad trip and the beach was AMAZING! We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Cancun.

We went to the Riviera Maya for our honeymoon (El Dorado Seaside Suites-) and the beach was horrible. Well- it was good for snorkeling and lounging in the sun- but not swimmable AT ALL.

Most of the riviera maya's coastline is bordering a coral reef- this is why it isn't swimmable.

I've never been to Cabo- but I've heard the water there is pretty rough and it could be dangerous.

Good luck with your decision


PS- you may want to check out Puerto Vallarta- my parents have been there and they loved it. I think the water is rought there too.

I highly recommend the Dreams resort. We went to Dreams Puetro Vallarta in Oct for our honeymoon. It was spectacular!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVED IT!The food rocked and the atmosphere was top notch. I am pretty sure that most of there resorts have the same restaurants, so I am pretty sure you wouldn't be disappointed.
Good luck picking!

Hum .. this is all very interesting .
I am going to Riviera Maya in May I was unaware of the beach situation.

I am going to THE TIDES I am hoping it is as Spectacular as it seems.