Playa Palancar — Restaurant in Quintana Roo

DO NOT GO TO PLAYA PALANCAR UNLESS YOU ENJOY BEING SCAMMED

Yes, the beach is beautiful. But trust me—so are the ones next door, and those don’t come with scams, extortion, and watered-down piña coladas. Playa Palancar is one of the biggest tourist traps I’ve experienced in Mexico, and here’s exactly how it works:

The Taxi Scam (the moment you arrive at the port) We asked a taxi how much to Playa Palancar. First quote: 400 pesos for a 20-minute ride. Too high. We pushed back, he asked if we had a reservation and if we prepaid (we hadn’t, just reserved). Suddenly it dropped to 200 pesos. Great, right? Wrong.

On the way, the driver calls the beach club to announce he’s “bringing 3 people.” Already suspicious. Once there, instead of dropping us off, he ran to the reception like he was clocking in for a paycheck. When we tried to pay the agreed 200 pesos, he flipped out and said, “No, now it’s 300.” Turns out taxis get a commission per head for bringing tourists, and since we had our own reservation, he wanted to make up for “lost commission.”

We reminded him we had agreed on 200. He refused. He went to the manager, who backed him up and even threatened that our return trip would cost 400+ pesos because “otherwise no taxi will take you.” This wasn’t negotiation anymore—it was extortion. We gave him the extra 100 pesos just to avoid trouble, and he literally ran off after taking it.

Entry Fee & Towels (aka the towel scam) Entry was 360 pesos per person (~20 USD) for a sunbed and umbrella. Fine. But towels? Another $5 each. We requested them at 10:30 AM from the manager who’s name i dont know. And then multiple times from our waiter Emilio. Who said they’d be ready in an hour multiple times at different hours. We asked four more times over the next six hours. Nothing. We even asked the ladies at the massage parlor who directed us back to Emilio who said they haven’t and will not receive the towels today.

When we finally paid our bill at 4:30, we left a 10% tip instead of their pre-added 15% and explained it was because we never got our towels. Magically, the receptionist smiled and said, “Oh, the towels are here.” Six hours later, at closing time. That tells you everything. I might be wrong, but could it be because we didn’t play along with the taxi scam to our full pocket’s potential?

Food & Drinks Food was mediocre at best. Piña coladas were a joke—completely watered down. Ceviche was good. Quesadillas and guacamole lacked flavor. Fajitas were ok. Imagine paying resort prices for drinks that taste like juice mixed with ice water.

Early Closing Official hours say 5 PM. In reality, they kick you out of the water at 4:30 PM. So you’re paying full price for less time. If you want to go, I recommend to go earlier to maximize your time.

The Ride Back As predicted, the return taxi tried to charge 450 pesos—even more than the scam quote we got at the start. (The taxi and restaurant manager did warn us that they will inform their friends to charge us more to go back and they did not fail). At that point, we were too drained to fight.

The Bottom Line This place is run on scams, not service. Taxi drivers, reception staff, even the manager—they’re all in on it together. Playa Palancar looks like a beach club, but it’s really just a carefully orchestrated trap to nickel-and-dime tourists at every turn. The only nice person was the lady at the bar, at least she smiled and was friendly. The rest, seemed like they spit on everything we order.

The sand and water are gorgeous, but you can find that at the beach clubs right next door—without the scams, without the watered-down drinks, and without staff treating you like prey. Playa Palancar is not worth the headache. The one next door (right after it) seemed nicer, less busy and it’s hard to have worse service than Playa Palancar, so i would say the service is better too.

Save your money. Save your sanity. Avoid...

We visited Playa Palancar for the snorkeling trip to El Cielo since we couldn't figure out how to get there without a boat. We arrived around 11am before the crowds and booked our snorkeling trip for the next available at 2pm. We snorkeled in their protected area while we waited. It was full of sea creatures! The snorkeling trip took us to 3 different locations.

The guides were overall awesome, friendly and pointed out sea creatures. The only negative was that they were pretty quick with directions and someone on our boat had never snorkeled before and didn't know how to use a snorkel and was very uncomfortable in the water. I enough Spanish and was able to help her get caught up. But once in the water, she was struggling, so the thoughtful and kind guide towed her on an orange lifepreserver on the tour.

The photographer was super friendly and got great photos of all of us on the tour. Which means of course that they offered photo packages upon returning, but they weren't pushy about it at all and we were able to create our own size package for a reasonable price. The photos were sent to our emails through a digital dropbox. He did a fantastic job with the photos! He had a pocketful of fish food to attract the fish who were clearly used to this. We asked him afterwards what camera he was using as we wanted to buy our own in the near future and he spent a half an hour talking with us about his equipment and other options he suggested.

You aren't allowed to bring in your own food and drink, but we had planned ahead and brought lunch, so we picnicked in our car. The parking lot attendant had no problem with this. The parking lot is small and packed. Arriving early in the day or planning to take a taxi there is a good way to avoid parking issues.

The beach is beautiful. There are plenty of lounge chairs for hire and tables as well. We didn't rent lounge chairs, just lounged on our beach towels, and we weren't harassed by salesmen. They played great music all day, which was a plus. We ordered a margarita and a pina colada from the bar. They are massive, like two drinks in one, and came in...

Nice place for a relax-on-the-beach day. Thanks again to Gusto for providing great service as we relaxed by the water. Two cushioned lounge chairs with an umbrella and small table was $10 USD. Beers $3.50 USD. Shrimp nachos were $12 USD. They have toilets, changing rooms, and showers. I'd recommend water shoes for swimming and to hire a boat if you want to snorkel. They accept USD or Pesos, but no credit cards.

Contrary to some of the other comments I've seen, I thought the prices were reasonable. This is a wild and remote beach. Everything they serve has to be brought there. We were the first people there that day and they were starting a generator(s), presumably to provide their own power for food, water pumps, lights, and other services. Plus, everything on any island is naturally more expensive, even for locals.

Snorkel guides, jetskis, and other activities available for hire, but I only chilled at the beach and have no comment about that other stuff.

My only criticism would be that the "tip" for parking is a bit awkward. A tip is for exceptional service. I simply parked my car in a space so there was no "service" involved. It may not be possible (legally), but charging a parking "fee" seems more appropriate because I do recognize that there is some cost to maintaining the parking lot. Also, I wanted to shower when it was time to go, but there wasn't enough water to do so. I offer these two criticisms only for the proprietor to improve service, not to discourage anyone from going. It's actually a lovely place to chill...