Have you been in Playa del Carmen recently? Chances are, if you’re like most people who’ve been here, you’ll picture a reasonably sized town, with charming, low-rise Playa del Carmen condos, tree-lined streets, nice hotels, and a vibrant culture for dining, art and nightlife. Playa del Carmen real estate is an ideal place for a vacation home or Mexico retirement.
But Playa del Carmen’s growth, tourism, real estate and distinct European-like lifestyle are something of very recent decades.
Take a look at the follow picture. Can you guess when it was? If you know Playa del Carmen, can you guess where it was? (Look carefully at the picture and make sure you guess before you look at the answer below!)
Did you guess already?
Don’t cheat …
This picture was taken in the early 1980s, and it’s the little park right beside the ferry dock to Cozumel. It is now the heart of the booming town and the jungle you see out along the beachfront is now condos, hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, neat little shops and, in general the thriving and vibrant area between Fifth Avenue and the beach. The point jutting out in the distance is the site of the present-day Royal Hotel, where Constituyentes Ave. meets the beach, close to the Olmeca Head on Fifth Avenue.
Were you right?
Now compare this to the following pictures:
This aerial picture is taken from the opposite angle; the Royal can be seen a bit more than half way up the picture (where the first dock is) and the park and older ferry dock from which the first picture was taken is about 3/4 of the way up (it’s a very short dock, hard to see in the picture.)
This picture shows the re-widened beaches after the special project was completed in 2010.
This picture is the same stretch as the original picture from recent years, but taken from up above, and somewhat out to sea.
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