What you find in Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen grew around Fifth Avenue, a pedestrian street running parallel to the sea, lined with shops, restaurants and bars open late. On either side sit Playacar, with its large hotels and golf course, and the apartment districts where people staying for weeks tend to base themselves. The ferries to Cozumel leave from the downtown pier, so some of the people booking this transfer are really heading to the island.
The result is a very mixed arrival hall: families on all-inclusive packages, divers on their way to Cozumel, groups of friends, and people coming to work for a few months out of a rented apartment. Drop-off points are spread widely between downtown, Playacar and the northern hotel strip, which is why we ask for the exact name of your accommodation rather than settling for the town.
Against the shared van and bus
There is a direct bus from the airport to the Playa del Carmen station, and shared vans run down Federal Highway 307 stopping along the way. Both leave you downtown rather than at your hotel, and from there you still need another taxi, with your bags in hand and whatever fare you are quoted at that moment. If you are staying in Playacar or on the northern strip, that last leg eats much of the saving.
A private transfer is paid once, $69.99 USD one way for 1 to 8 passengers and $139.98 USD round trip, and it ends at the door of your accommodation. The price does not move with the number of passengers or bags, so the bigger the group the less it works out per head. And nobody waits for a shared vehicle to fill up before leaving the terminal, which on a busy afternoon is a wait of its own.
Heading back from Playa del Carmen
Fifth Avenue is pedestrian, so no vehicle can reach the door of the hotels that face it: the pick-up happens on the nearest cross street or at the service entrance, and the driver tells you the exact spot when confirming. In Playacar and in the apartment buildings we do drive up to the entrance, though several condominiums need the tower number and the name the booking is under.
The pick-up time is worked backwards from your flight, counting the run up Highway 307 and check-in at the terminal. That matters most for afternoon departures, when the stretch into Cancun fills with traffic and the margin disappears on its own. If you booked a round trip we confirm the hour the day before; if you only booked the outbound leg, the return can be added later.
