Akumal

Beach life is the reason Akumal exists. The village is strung along a run of sheltered bays on the Caribbean, and the water is warm all year, around 26°C in winter and 29°C in late summer, clear and calm behind the reef. Akumal Bay is the best known, a curve of soft sand where green sea turtles graze on the seagrass a few metres from shore. Half Moon Bay and Jade Bay to the north are quieter and rockier, lined with villas, and the Yal-Ku lagoon mixes fresh and salt water for easy floating and snorkelling.

These are small, gentle beaches rather than long open strands, and parts of the shore are seagrass or limestone rather than pure white sand. Xcacel, a protected turtle-nesting beach, and the long beaches around Tulum are a short drive away for more space. In some summers drifts of sargassum seaweed wash in and can spoil a day or a week, so a visitor in the warm months should keep an eye on which bays are clear.

Eating in Akumal is simple and limited. Along the bays there are a handful of open-air restaurants serving grilled fish, ceviche, tacos and cocktails, with a relaxed, sandy-floored mood and resort-level prices. Across the highway, the pueblo where local workers live has taco stands and small family kitchens that offer better, plainer Yucatecan cooking such as cochinita pibil and panuchos.

Many visitors stay in villas and condos and cook for themselves, stocking up at the supermarkets in Playa del Carmen or Tulum. For a serious meal or more variety, most people drive to one of those towns for the evening.

Akumal has almost nothing to see in the usual sense. It began as a coconut plantation and a base for divers, and its only real institution is a small ecological centre devoted to the reef and the turtles. The Maya sites that make this coast famous, Tulum, Coba and Muyil, all lie outside it and need a short drive.

Evenings in Akumal are quiet. A few beach bars and restaurants serve drinks until late evening, and a sunset margarita by the bay is about as far as going out goes. Those wanting bars and clubs drive or take a taxi to Playa del Carmen or Tulum, and many come here precisely to avoid them.

The outdoors here is largely underwater. The Mesoamerican reef runs just offshore, with good snorkelling straight from the bays and dive sites a short boat ride out. Inland, the limestone is riddled with cenotes and flooded caves, part of one of the longest underground river systems known, and the cenotes along the road towards Tulum and Coba draw cave divers from around the world as well as snorkellers who float over stalactites in clear fresh water.

On land the country is flat and covered in low, dense jungle, so there is little hiking and no viewpoint to climb. Turtles nest on the protected beaches from May to October, and the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve to the south offers lagoons, mangroves, birds and dolphins by boat. The heat and humidity make midday activity hard work for much of the year.

Akumal sits in the middle of the Riviera Maya, which makes it a practical base. The cliff-top ruins of Tulum are about twenty minutes south, and Coba, with its tall pyramid set deep in the forest, is under an hour inland. Playa del Carmen is about half an hour north, and from there ferries cross to Cozumel for its town and reef.

Further out, the colonial town of Valladolid and the great site of Chichen Itza are both roughly two hours away, a long but popular day that is best started early. The quieter Maya site of Muyil lies at the edge of Sian Ka'an, south of Tulum. Beyond this, most of the Yucatan's cities and lagoons need an overnight stay.

Akumal works well for families who want a calm, water-based vacation. The bays are shallow and sheltered, and snorkelling alongside turtles in Akumal Bay is the kind of thing children remember for years. The Yal-Ku lagoon is gentle enough for younger swimmers, and villa rentals with kitchens and pools suit families who want space.

The big eco-parks of the coast, Xel-Ha a few minutes away and Xcaret near Playa del Carmen, add zip lines, underground rivers and animal encounters. The village itself has little else for children, the heat is heavy in summer, and almost everything beyond the beach means a drive.

Akumal is a scatter of bays and villas off the main coastal highway, and it is not built for walking beyond the stretch you stay on. Shared colectivo vans run up and down the highway between Playa del Carmen and Tulum and will stop on request, which is fine for a single trip but awkward with gear or children. Most visitors hire a car, which also makes the cenotes and ruins far easier to reach.

There is very little to buy in Akumal beyond sunscreen, snorkel gear, groceries and a few souvenirs and beach clothes. Playa del Carmen's long pedestrian street and the craft shops in Valladolid are where visitors go when they want to shop.

Akumal is expensive for Mexico. Most lodging is beachfront villas, condos and a few resorts priced for foreign visitors, and there is almost no budget accommodation in the bays themselves. The bay-side restaurants charge resort rates, and car hire, entry to the eco-parks and cenotes, and guided snorkelling add up over a week.

Costs come down for those who rent a place with a kitchen and cook, eat at the taco stands and family kitchens in the pueblo across the highway, and use the colectivos rather than taxis. Much of what makes a stay here good, swimming and snorkelling in the bays, costs little once you have arrived.

There is essentially no performance life in Akumal: no theatre, no concert hall and at most a guitarist or small band playing in a beach restaurant. The large evening spectacle of Mexican music and dance at the Xcaret park near Playa del Carmen is the nearest thing to a show.

Akumal's main wellness asset is its pace. Days run on swimming, snorkelling and hammocks, there is no traffic in the bays, and evenings end early. Yoga classes, beach massage and spa treatments at the resorts and villas are easy to arrange, and a swim in a cool, still cenote is restorative in its own way.

The one local bathing tradition is the temazcal, a Maya sweat lodge ceremony with herbs and chanting, which is offered at several places along this coast. Beyond that there are no thermal baths or bathhouse culture, and the spa offer is a handful of hotel spas rather than a reason to come.