"Puerto Aventuras: "Gringo Town"" Top 5 Page for this destination Playa del Carmen Favorite Tip by Kaspian

Favorite thing: Puerto Aventuras describes itself as: "the only gated community resort on the Mexican Caribbean coast." Now, I don’t know exactly why you need to be "gated" in one of the most tourist-friendly areas of the world--it seems a little excessive. Some web sites and travel agencies say it is "in" Playa Del Carmen, which is wrong--it is about 35 minutes outside of town, halfway between Playa and Akumal. Puerto Aventuras is basically a very large oceanside retirement community for Americans and Germans (yep, the old WWII vets living side-by-side), which also hosts several lavish all-inclusive resorts, a marina, golf course, and some nice restaurants and shops. Don’t get me wrong, the setting is absolutely stunning, the grounds and roads are superbly well kept, and everybody is really happy. But this type of place (with gates) never make me feel safe but instead make me feel trapped inside. Locals have nicknamed Puerto Aventuras "Gringo Town" (gringo meaning white person) and say it is "very American." I agree. I had a great time staying on a resort here but I’d rather hang out with the locals, they’re generally nicer than the foreigners. You could literally live in Puerto Adventuras for years and not learn anything at all about Mexico.