Playa del Carmen Archeological Site — Attraction in Playa del Carmen

I found Arroyo Spero's year-old review (on this webssite, for "Playa del Carmen Archaeological Site") invaluable in locating 4 sets of ruined buildings in this part of Carmen del Playa, but I wanted to make a handful of small amendments to his instructions. Rather than simply posting those amendments and then forcing you to dig through several other reviews just to find his, and then asking you to compare our different versions... what will follow is his review, in full, with my comments added [in brackets] so you can find all the relevant information in one place. I emailed his instructions to myself and used them as a reference while I walked around, and they got me to where I needed to go. Without further ado, his [modified] review:

To get the entire experience of all archeological sites in Playacar, one can start at the three ruin buildings at the map point [that is, the spot on the map marked Playa del Carmen Archaeological Site]. From here there are three additional ruin sites that are a good walk apart. One can essentially make a circle starting from the first site then walking to the other three sites.

The next site is across from sunset fishermen resort and is accessible by path from the roadway next to the original pin for the Playa del Carmen archeological site. This is a larger site with more expansive green space. [More specifically, walk down the dead-end marked Palenque on Google Maps. On your left, past almost all the houses, you will see a clear, paved path. You can follow it directly to the second site.]

Next, continue walking on the roadway in front of the sunset fishermen resort towards the city of Playa del Carmen and you will come to the next site on your left. Again, a larger ruin building and worth the walk. [This third ruin site is located where the street you are following (Bahia del Esperitu Santo) is intersected by Foca de Acantilado.]

Finally if you continue walking towards, the Center of Playa del Carmen you will come across the largest site. [This site is marked on Google Maps twice - as Playacar Maya Ruinas and as Xaman ha maya ruins. Not sure why.] There is a large amount of green space to sit and enjoy with your lover or walk to the buildings and take a trip back in time. The placement of the buildings was for security and fortification of the area amongst many other things. We saw a couple sitting there feeding an iguana which I have mixed feelings about. Animals should be left alone.

There is a hidden path at the south edge of the last and largest site that connects to the beach or if you walk in the other direction (which looks like dead end at first) it takes you back to the main drag in Playacar for easy access to your resort. [I actually spent a good amount of time traveling northward on this route that I actually missed the third site and had to double back ~5 minutes to find it. It is the least impressive of the four sites, so skipping it entirely in favor of a pleasant beach walk wouldn't be crazy.]

If you want to see all the ruin sites this review will help you see them...

To get the entire experience of all archeological sites in Playacar, one can start at the three ruin buildings at the map point. From here there are three additional ruin sites that are a good walk apart. One can essentially make a circle starting from the first site then walking to the other three sites.

The next site is across from sunset fishermen resort and is accessible by path from the roadway next to the original pin for the Playa del Carmen archeological site. This is a larger site with more expansive green space.

Next, continue walking on the roadway in front of the sunset fishermen resort towards the city of Playa del Carmen and you will come to the next site on your left. Again, a larger ruin building and worth the walk.

Finally if you continue walking towards, the Center of Playa del Carmen you will come across the largest site. There is a large amount of green space to sit and enjoy with your lover or walk to the buildings and take a trip back in time. The placement of the buildings was for security and fortification of the area amongst many other things. We saw a couple sitting there feeding an iguana which I have mixed feelings about. Animals should be left alone.

There is a hidden path at the south edge of the last and largest site that connects to the beach or if you walk in the other direction (which looks like dead end at first) it takes you back to the main drag in Playacar for easy access to your resort.

If you want to see all the ruin sites this review will help you see them...

Have to walk along the beach to find this place. No signs anywhere we could see so asked the security guard that was shadowing our every move. Don't think I look that dodgy. Anyways, we got there was one ruin in some trees, and by ruin I mean ruined!. Can't understand where these photos of these ruins are from we must have missed something?

Feed the mosquitos 🦟 and left. Even mosquitos repellent wasn't enough to keep the hungry mossies away.

And as others have said, people just dumping rubbish. Can't understand why such a flash gated community don't clean...