Social activities & sports in Playa del Carmen

After classes are over for the day, our program allows you plenty of time to discover Playa Del Carmen, culture and everyday life.

Our Spanish language courses are supplemented with a wide variety of fascinating opportunities to learn about Spanish and local culture. Activities could include: workshops in local music, food & dance or enjoy local water sports!

At the weekend many students can arrange to take optional excursions to local cities or local places of interest. Some of the most popular weekend trips include: a ferry excursion to the island of Cozumel, visit a National Park (ecological wonder where both fresh and sea water mingle to create a natural aquarium), prehispanic temples including Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Uxmal.

Local events

Yucatan Fair: This lively, colorful fair started out as a stock breeder event and to this day is still the most important event in the stock breeder trading industry in Mexico. However, many features have been added as the years went by to make this a true celebration, so besides livestock, you will also come across many other regional products, small theme parks, horse races, children’s’ shows, entertainers, cockfights and the traditional palenque festival.

Bird Festival: For several years now, an annual bird watching festival has been held in Yucatan, usually around November, where enthusiasts can participate in workshops, conferences and exhibitions.

Autumn Cultural Festival: Another annual festival typical of the region, this festival celebrates Mexico’s and particularly, Yucatan’s culture through lively and original music, dance and theatre productions.

Local nightlife

One of the features that Playa del Carmen is best known for, aside from its beautiful beaches and charming weather, is the great nightlife. There are bars on the beaches as well as in town that play fun, lively music, serve delicious drinks and generally provide live entertainment too. There are moods to suit everyone, quiet small affairs, loud and rowdy places, beach side bars, sports bars and bars with TV’s, pool tables and other games.

Generally closing time is around 2 am. Nightclubs and discos stay open until 4 am and sometimes later. While the locals and tourists here are fun loving and enjoy partying, don’t expect Ibiza for example. On nights when a full moon glows in the sky, all-night raves are arranged on the beaches. A particularly popular beach for this is Coco Beach.

Unlike Cancun, here one makes the most of Playa’s small dimensions as you can easily walk from one bar to the next without having to climb into a taxi or catch a bus every time. Walking home to your hotel is also easy when you decide to call it a night.

The Blue Parrot and Capitan Tutix are two of the most popular after hours clubs. Walking along the “Quinta” strip gives you a chance to check out all the places dotted along it, as well as the bars and clubs tucked away on the side streets. There are new places sprouting up by the week, as Playa’s popularity continues to grow. For jazz lovers, Apasionado is the place to be to enjoy some great live music.

Local water sports

Playa is an ideal place to relax in – to kick back your feet and simple do nothing for a while. But it is also a place for the sporty type, those who love to stay active. Playa has a lot to offer sports wise. Let’s see if any of the following take your fancy

DIVING: Playa has great corral reefs bordering the coastline, which are simply teeming with exquisite species of marine life. Part of the biggest barrier reef in the world, second only to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, it attracts many diving enthusiasts. In Playa itself you will find several diving stores carrying any equipment you may need on all kinds of different dives.

FISHING: With the rich marine fauna and flora, Playa has an incredibly broad range of fish swimming in its waters. It is renowned for a great fishing location and frequented by many fishing enthusiasts.

SAILING: Another active yet relaxing option is chartering a catamaran or small sailboat and making a day cruise of it… Spectacular weather ensure perfect sailing conditions to enjoy the Caribbean sea with your family and friends.

OTHER WATER SPORTS: Of course, other popular water sports such as snorkeling, kite surfing and wind surfing are also available.

PARASAILING: a rather more daring option, gazing down on your holiday destination from the heavens offers an original, thrilling and very different viewpoint.

GOLFING: What is a spectacular beach town, seaside resort without decent golfing facilities? The kinds of crowds that Playa attracts certainly calls for a first rate golf course, and it has one! South of Playa’s main center, in a place called Playacar, you will find an 18-hole course designed by Robert van Hagge.

SPORTS CENTER: Referred to in Playa as the “Unidad Deportiva”, this center has sporting facilities for those who enjoy tennis and basketball.

HEALTH CLUB: there are several well equipped gyms where you can join yoga, toning or aerobics classes and do some weight training.