Yaya Beach — Restaurant in Quintana Roo

I had originally been looking at Maya Chan for this trip, but they were sold out. Instead, I started looking for some of the other beach clubs in the area to which we could go. I looked at Tropicante, Barefoot, and a handful of others, but the Trip Advisor ratings and other online resources helped me settle on Yaya Beach.

At a cost of $45/adult and $25/child (ages 6-12), we were guaranteed a beach bed lounger, a combo platter lunch (quesadillas for the kids), and open bar during our visit. We paid an extra $10 at the time of booking to choose the lounger we wanted in advance. We opted for bed #3 right at the water line for the beach. Well worth the extra $10 as we had a knockout view throughout the day!

The beach umbrella over our chairs was perfect, and it included a call button to call for Luca, our awesome server. The only time we used it was to let him know we were ready for our lunch. Otherwise Luca seemed to magically show up every time our drinks got low.

During our afternoon, I ran to Yaya's next door neighbor, Doctor Dive. This dive shop rented us four sets of snorkels and masks for the full day for $5 each. They took my driver's license and the $20 as collateral, and I returned them at the end of the day without issue.

After we finished our lunch, we decided to wander out a little further away from the beach. This was where our day went from great to incredible. This beach is exceptionally good for young snorkelers as it remains fairly shallow water quite a ways out. There was a pretty decent variety of fish in these reefs and the boys... ok... we ALL really enjoyed seeing the wildlife dart in and out of all the nooks and crannies. We've all heard the coral reef conservation speeches before, and we gave our kids the same speech, but it would appear this reef has been the victim of quite a bit of human spoliation. Sad to see, but glad the fish have stuck around.

Other than the food being a bit meh, the only other knock I have on Yaya is the traffic from vendors walking the beach. We had told the boys earlier that this could be expected, and that a simple "no thank you," should do the trick. It did do the trick, but if you're looking for a day of relaxing, uninterrupted in your beach chair, then I won't lie, you'll have some frequent interruptions. That said, I spent so much time in the water with the boys that it never rose to the level of annoyance; just a reflexive "no thanks" when I saw someone approaching.

In summary, we had a terrific day at Yaya Beach, and it was without a doubt one of if not THE best beach experience...

A friend and i booked 2 deluxe packages that included unlimited alcohol beverages and a selection of food. We arrived and checked in at the bar where we received our wristbands, a drink menu, and then our server escorted us to our own covered canopy bed. It went downhill from there.. As soon as he showed us our canopy, he left and began servicing other people. He was gone so long that we thought we misunderstood the guy who checked us and that the man who escorted us onto the beach and to our beds wasn't our server. So we signaled another person in the staff to place our drink order and to ask for a food menu. Before we could even get the question out, he barked out, "you only get a Mexican platter, quesadillas, nachos , guacamole". We were completely thrown off and was just like "ooookay".. And he walked off. Our server soon appeared and asked about placing a drink order. We shook off the tone and barking from the other staff member, we're on vacation and trying to enjoy ourselves. Our platters arrived quickly. Would've been delicious had it not been cold and soggy. We also asked for the food menu. That's when we were told that with the deluxe package, we only get the 1 platter and drinks. What? That is not what we were told when purchasing the package. The only reason we purchased it was for the unlimited food/drinks. But again, we're on vacation and wanting to enjoy it. So i asked how much was the platter, he told me $10. Gave him a 10. The drinks were awful. The 2nd platter wasn't any better than the 1st. We watched servers go out of their way helping other customers. Serving an array of food and chilled drinks with ice. While we seemed to have had drinks and meals that had been sitting out getting cold and melting ice/watered down drinks. Also, I'd be a disservice if i didn't mention someone coming to our canopy, NO LIE, every 3 minutes to sell us something. We couldn't even have a conversation because we were too busy telling people "no thank you"!! The first couple of times was fine. But after telling the first 7 people "no thank you" we were BEYOND annoyed. One person would leave and another was right there trying to sell you something else! We left way before we needed to and headed back to the ship. Only later to run into someone who was also there, had also purchased the deluxe package, and had multiple platters, an array of different food, and was not charged extra for it! By far the worst experience. I would not recommend this place nor...

We had a good time. We didn't have a reservation, because this was last minute after our catamaran snorkeling tour was canceled, but we got there early and they seated us in four comfortable lounges with shade. We were advised upfront that there was a $25/person minimum, which we actually had a little trouble hitting because our kids aren'told enough to drink. The beer was very reasonably priced at $3/bottle, as was the food. The ceviche was excellent, and the Pasta YaYa wasn't bad. My wife had the pork tacos and said they were good.

The beach was nice and clean except for a large amount of seaweed. It was very windy, so that probably contributed to the overnight buildup. There was a guy raking it up and hauling it off in a wheelbarrow, and most of it was gone by the time we left. The water was pretty even with clouds and a little rain, and it was beautiful when the sun came out. There is some seagrass out there, so there are dark and light patches. I snorkled for about 20 minutes and saw some fish and urchins. The beach is protected by rocks or a reef further out.

The service was very good. Our waitor, Luca, spoke good English and was attentive. He also got a cab for us when we were ready to leave. Cab rides to and from port were $8 each way, and that covered the whole family. The shuttle would've been $4/person, and was only one way, so don't be afraid of the taxis!

The only reasons I gave four stars were because I thought they had pizza on the menu based on descriptions I'd read, and because the beach was crowded with merchants selling things. Not hard to say no thanks, but gets annoying when the same guys come...