Sandos Playacar Beach Resort and Spa - All Inclusive - Playa del Carmen

Me and my fiance need to get out of new york and decided to go visit playa del carmen for the first time. Just by chance a friend of mine suggested we stay at Sandos All inclusive. I did some research and found out that there are 3 different Sandos Hotels in Riviera Maya: Sandos PlayaCar, Sandos, Eco resort, and Sandos Caracol. Well thank goodness I read a review recommending Sandos Playacar out of all of them because Playacar happens to be the newest Hotel out of the three and it was amazing! We had such a great time and the food was delicious. There was not one day we were disappointed by the food. And we are foodies so we love food. We chose to stay in the Junior suite with jacuzzi. The room was spotless and kept that way for the 8 days we were there. We also had a new owel animal" everyday surprising us when we got back to the room. The AC never failed, we actually ahd to turn it off a couple of times because it was so cold. Also the staff were so friendly. [...] we received a letter upon arrival personally signed by the general manager welcoming us to the hotel. They also gave us $40 to use in their spa for whatever we wanted. The night before we left they surprised us with a chapagne bottle and chocolate covered strawberries in our room Complimentary! We were taken back because it was so unexpected. So back to the food, the best place to eat is the Festival buffet. They have the most variety.They have a wide variety of fresh squeezed fruit juices, at dinner you will find lots of seafood, fresh shrimp, calamari, and fish. The food was just yummy. The pool is alot of fun and every night they have tons of activities and performers to keep you busy until about 12am then after that the party continues in their disco (if you're up for it). During the day i highly suggest you rent their bikes and take the 10 min ride into playa del carmen (5th avenue) for some sightseeing, people watching, and great shopping. There are tons of restuarants and things to see down there. The resort lies in a secure location because it's located inside of a gated communtiy. There are residentail houses (very beautiful) and other hotels that are located in the community of Playacar. But it's safe enough to walk around because there are only 2 entry points into the community and both with security guards 24 hrs. I felt safe and enjoyed my stay there. I was never bored and if you have kids they won't get bored either because they have a kdis activity lounge stocked with ping pong tables, fooseball tables, jenga, a couple of nintendo Wii,pool tables I mean I was impressed. Hope this review helps because I just picked this hotel on a whim and was grateful when it turned out to be so good. Oh another note, the specialty restaurants are so good. We ate at the Asian place, the Gaucho steakhouse, and the french restaurant. The best one we thought was the steak restaurant. All of them had yummy food but we love steak so we particularly enjoyed the milanesa at the Gaucho.

wonderful stay beatiful grounds and beach ,lovely staff

This resort is of the highest quality. I read most reviews before we left and I dont understand why some people complain. We were offered an upgrade to a beauitful suite.It was gorgeous,but it was in adults only section and we decided it was to quiet for my wife and myself, so we stayed in villas on pool and beach area. The food was very good, the grounds were impeccable. The service was out of this world. The Entertainment team was fantastic....they gave you a personnal feeling. The rooms were very clean. No bugs or insects whatsoever. We kept our balcony doors at all times to avoid any. This resort exceeded all of my expectations. Drinks were always easelly ascessable. Bars were steps away from anywhere you may be and the staff was always there every few minutes to serve you. A dollar or two every so often is appreciated by them and well deserved. The only thing I say is if you dont want a timeshare presentation, make that clear if you are approached when you you arrive and checking in. If someone comes up to you when you check in to tell you they want to tell you about the resort, they are going to try and get you to take a tour...if you arent intrested WALK AWAY . I made reservations for Febuary 2013...CANT WAIT

I reviewed my experience at this wonderful resort already. Just wanted to add a couple of things. There were 2 shows every night. They were great. Something for all ages.....kids, and adults that just want to be kids. We felt that the shows were so good, we decided not to go to Coco Bongo. Michael Jackson show was great. They had a Disney show that included many little children staying at resort. We had no children with us,but I saw how wonderful the staff was with the kids. Rock bands, Mexican Mariarchi, Circa show, 70"s Show, high flying acts...it was all great. They work so hard at this resort. Again, food and drinks were all fantastic. Even if you are a picky person with what you eat, you will not starve. We stayed 7 nights ,so we got 3 reservations. At first I was a little dissappointed,but it was enough. The buffets wer great. The Italian buffet was exceptional(I am italian and own an Italian Restaurant in New York). They use high quality products,especially for their antipastos. Try the prociutto and salumi. Pasta is fresh and made to order. You will not be disappointed with this resort. We are going again in july 2013!!!

Thomasso the concierge, made our trip. He upgraded us to select because it was our second time at the resort. Our room had a view of the ocean and was about 200 yards from the beach and pool. Great quick vacation. Everything went perfect.

We spend one week as couple had great time and good vacation.Strongly recommended .

We had a wonderful stay at Sandos Playacar. The staff was so nice and friendly and the service was excellent. Very clean! Overall great experience.

The service was phenomenal. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The resort was very clean and well taken care of.

We just returned from a one week stay at Sandos Playacar. This was my 5th time in Riviera Maya and this hotel was definitely a good bang for the buck. Our vacation price was one of the best when searching in Playa del Carmen for an all-inclusive resort and we partly picked Sandos Playacar from previous reviews. Overall we were not disappointed! This hotel is the last in the row of hotels in Playacar, so the beach to one side for about a mile is completely untouched and breathtaking! The rooms were clean and had plenty of space. The mini-fridge was always stocked with soda, beer, and water. The buffet food was pretty good considering the long hours it's open and the amount of food that has to be prepared; however we were slightly disappointed with the "reservation a-la-carte" restaurants due to what seemed to be a lack of staff and servers in a big hurry to serve smaller portions of "specialty" dishes which were rather mediocre. We recommend taking advantage of lunch and breakfast and drinks at the hotel and then spending a little extra money to eat out in Playa del Carmen (El Diez argentinean steakhouse and Yaxche mayan cuisine for sure!). The entertainment staff is awesome and they work their cute behinds off! Starting in the morning they're leading exercise classes or teaching spanish or dance lessons, in the afternoon they hold belly flop contests in the pool and beach games, and they are still going at the evening shows dancing and smiling like they really love their jobs! It really seems to be a family resort with plenty of activities for kids but as an adult couple without the kids we still found it romantic. On our arrival we were approached by what we think was a timeshare sales lady with a Sandos uniform on. She invited us to breakfast the next day to "see a presentation about what the resort has to offer and a guarantee for a full week vacation free the next visit....." yeah, yeah, yeah. We slept in and ate our free bountiful breakfast at the buffet instead and avoided her the rest of the week. We were however somewhat curious about the difference in premium club members and our regular all-inclusive rate. It seems there are a couple of kinds of upgrades you can have (not sure how to request them or how much you pay) that allow access to a pool side cabana, a private bar area, and a separate beach area with a little nicer beach chairs. We accidentally sat in one of the "club" beach areas for 2 days before we were notified (very politely) that the blue wristbands had to sit in another area of the beach...which was just as gorgeous and still the same proximity to the bar and the turquoise waves. We learned it's best to go to the beach early in the morning (8-9 am) with your towels and claim your chairs, especially if you want a spot under a palapa, otherwise the partially shade areas filled up quickly. The full sun beach areas were still not too crowded though. We appreciated the eco-friendly recycle bins and how drink cups are washed and re-used but servers picking up used cups on the beach just dumped the remainder of the drink right in the sand next to your chair. Still that didn't keep us from ordering more drinks and lounging around most of the day on the beach or taking walks along the beach. They had tennis courts and bicycle rentals that we didn't make it to....but hopefully next time. All in all, each traveller has his own likes and dislikes about a resort but we would definitely stay here again!

This hotel had the very best beach experience when it comes to walking and snorkeling right off the shore. Very kid friendly, if that is what you want. We enjoyed the adults only section. Would have liked adult only restaurants, but if you eat at late reservations, kids may all be in bed. Really enjoyed the 24 hour room service and frig in room. We would leave a tip in the frig each night and receive extra beer every day to carry down the beach with us. Getting a drink on the beach was a little bit of work and quite a walk. However, good exercise. Beautiful beach and sand!