21 Apr Day Trip to Princess Resort’s Grand Riviera & Grand Sunset in Playa del Carmen

If you haven’t been following my recent posts, I’ve successfully avoided the Vancouver winter down in Playa del Carmen and have been blogging about some local luxury events and luxury hotels. My mother and her friends were looking for a sunny vacation in Mexico and the chance to visit me. With them all being serious tennis players, their only request was tennis courts. After some intensive googling, I narrowed it down to the nicest, closest resort with the most tennis courts, called the Grand Riviera and Grand Sunset, which are Princess Resort’s Mayan Riviera locations found at the north end of Playa del Carmen. And on top of having 6 tennis courts, they all had a great time there. They also invited me with a guest day pass to enjoy the inclusive amenities with them. Inclusive resorts aren’t really my style so I wouldn’t book one myself, but I was very happy to try one out and spend time with my mom.

A good feature is this couple of Princess resorts and are only 20 minutes from the main tourist strip in Playa del Carmen. While a bit confusing online, both resorts are actually connected and share each other amenities. This equals an absolutely massive area that felt almost as big as Playa itself. So I made a point of touring the whole resort so I could blog about it, I can’t say I even did that (or remember thanks to the inclusive drinks). I did have a great time, but they totally got me hooked on wanting to spend more than a day there. I enjoyed the service, the food, drinks, beach and infinite number of pools.

I have only two personal complaints, one being no free wifi (which is common in big resorts) and the cigar shop not being open in the day. Like many, I’d prefer to see wifi inclusive in the price as well, but many people come to disconnect and aren’t concerned. Also I guess smoking cigars on a sunny beach isn’t as popular as during the evening, so I was forced to buy a cheap one at the gift shop, while a whole wall of locked up cuban cigars mocked me lol (which was opening around the time I was leaving). But I enjoyed everything they had to offer and in some fantasy world where I didn’t have to be online 24/7, I could easily see myself back there for a week. Note most of the photos I took were first thing in the morning, because I knew I’d be drunk by lunchtime and would forget to take any. So most of the empty pools here did fill up. But with around 20 pools, there was still plenty of open waters if you need your space.

For more info on the Grand Riviera and Grand Sunset Resorts in Playa del Carmen, visit Princess-Hotels.com.