Looking for recommendations for a senior trip for my daughter in July. I know it is last minute. She's never been to Mexico. Need a good resort in either Cancun or Cozumel (or surrounding areas). Wife and 3 kids ages 12-18 will be going. Need a good beach resort with great restaurants if possible.

Heard Cozumel was great but if you want beaches, you should go to Cancun. Thanks in Advance.

You need to check out the sargassum situation right now in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Cozumel. It is a real issue in the late spring and summer in this part of Mexico. It's slimy and stinks awful and kind of ruins the beach experience.

Riviera Maya (the area between Cancun and Playa del Carmen) is full of outstanding resorts that may be more family friendly than Cancun. Cancun is fine, but we prefer to be out of the Hotel Zone. Cozumel if you want to dive, but not great for beaches and they only have a couple of all inclusives. If you don't want all inclusive, Isla Mujeres and Playa del Carmen probably the best bets.

I'm a diver so I naturally gravitate towards Cozumel. That said, I go every spring break and talk to other people at the hotel (El Presidente) who have brought their girls for their senior trip. Some of them I've seen multiple years in a row. They felt it was a really safe place to let their kids have fun. Some of them get cabanas and drink all day and have a blast while their parents are on the beach nearby. It's relatively safe in town too. The hotel is nice, has about 5 restaurants and is well kept. The beach is groomed daily so seaweed is never an issue. As a bonus, you can do an intro to scuba dive in the water off the hotel.

But since you said July, maybe Isla Mujeres and swim with the whale sharks. Stay on North Beach at Ixchel. It's pretty safe there too and the beach is fantastic (but can be loud).

We just got back from Riviera Maya, and the seaweed was horrible and most of the beach has washed away. The resort was nice, but beach situation was very disappointing.

Cancun

I don't feel there are many good options for all inclusive in Cozumel, especially for kids. Resorts are just smaller.

Some great family friendly ones:
Dreams Playa Mujeres
Hotel Xcaret
Hyatt Ziva Cancun (Not riviera Cancun).

Other decent options:
Hard Rock Riviera Maya
Planet Hollywood (feel like they need more teen stuff)
Barcelona Maya Palace
Iberostar Selection Paraiso Maya


Seaweed can be pretty bad. Less likely north of the airport and hotel zone.

If I can assist my email is in my profile.

BSD said:

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I'm a diver so I naturally gravitate towards Cozumel. That said, I go every spring break and talk to other people at the hotel (El Presidente) who have brought their girls for their senior trip. Some of them I've seen multiple years in a row. They felt it was a really safe place to let their kids have fun. Some of them get cabanas and drink all day and have a blast while their parents are on the beach nearby. It's relatively safe in town too. The hotel is nice, has about 5 restaurants and is well kept. The beach is groomed daily so seaweed is never an issue. As a bonus, you can do an intro to scuba dive in the water off the hotel.

But since you said July, maybe Isla Mujeres and swim with the whale sharks. Stay on North Beach at Ixchel. It's pretty safe there too and the beach is fantastic (but can be loud).

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We stayed at IHG El Presidente and had a blast. During our stay we rented a buggy converted Nissan March and drove around the island.

The east side had a few swimming holes / pools that a lot of families were using bc of natural barriers in the rocks.

The gym at El Presidente was also fantastic.

Do you want your daughter to go out to bars/clubs at night? Cancun

Do you want your daughter to be safer? Cozumel

As mentioned above the beaches are going to be worthless wherever you go. FWIW we usually stay at the JW Marriott or the Kempinski (the old Ritz Carlton) in the hotel zone; neither are all inclusive but there are great walkable restaurants along the road in front of them, our favorite is Harry's. Both also have nice pools and plenty of space to lounge with the Kempinski probably being the quieter of the two.

I will be that guy…the Caribbean / Central America is a big place with lots of great islands & beaches. Why are you limiting your area to just two? It's also a short flight to Costa Rica, Belize, Roatan, Punta Cana, Grand Cayman, etc, etc where you don't have to worry about sargassum or security as mentioned in the above posts.

+1 for Dreams Playa Mujeres

just came across this and reading about the seaweed situation.. is this a summer thing or is this whole year bad?

We are going to cancun in October.

62strat said:

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just came across this and reading about the seaweed situation.. is this a summer thing or is this whole year bad?

We are going to cancun in October.

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Usually more prevalent spring to late summer. It of course can happen in fall but less likely. We have never had any (or very very little) in the fall.

Wow. Thanks for all the responses. Sucks about the seaweed. I'll have to look into that for sure.

Probably just stay at the resort mostly. An excursion or two. Leaning towards Cozumel for that reason.