Active Pursuits

If you need a break from lounging on the beach, you can find plenty of activities up and down this coast. The following is a brief list to help you consider your options.

Day Spa

To relax after all that exertion, try Spa Itzá. It's in downtown Playa between calles 12 and 14 in a retail area called Calle Corazón. The phone number is tel. 984/803-2588.

Deep-Sea Fishing

The largest marina on the coast is at Puerto Aventuras, not far south of Playa. Here's where you'll find most of your options for boating and fishing.

Fly Fishing

The Boca Paila Fishing Lodge (www.bocapaila.com) specializes in fly-fishing, with weeklong all-inclusive fishing packages. It is in Sian Ka'an, between Tulum and Punta Allen.

Golf & Tennis

The Playacar Golf Club (tel. 984/873-4990; www.palace-resorts.com/playacar-golf-club) has an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert von Hagge. It's run by the Palace Resorts hotel chain, which offers golf packages. Greens fees are $180 in the morning (including tax and cart) and $120 after 2pm; club rental costs $30. The club also has two tennis courts, which cost $10 per hour. If you stay at the Fairmont Mayakoba hotel, you'll have access to a course designed by Greg Norman, which hosts a PGA tour event.

Horseback Riding

A few places along the highway offer horseback rides. The best of these, Rancho Punta Venado, is just south of Playa, past the Calica Pier. This ranch is less touristy than the others, and the owner takes good care of his horses. It has a nice stretch of coast with a sheltered bay and offers kayaking and snorkeling outings. It's best to make arrangements in advance and tell them you're a Frommer's reader so that they can schedule you on a day when they have fewer customers. E-mail (ptavenado@yahoo.com) is the best way to reach them; sometimes they don't answer their office number tel. 984/803-5224. Another option is to call the ranch's cellphone from Mexico (tel. 044-984/116-3213); there is a charge for the call. Talk to Gabriela or Francisco; both speak English. Or try dropping by. The turnoff for the ranch is 2km (1 1/4 miles) south of the Calica overpass near Km 279.

Maya Ruins

Four cities are within easy reach of Playa and most of the coast. The easiest to access is Tulum. A half-hour inland from Tulum on a pock-marked road is Cobá, rising up from a jungle setting. This city has not been reconstructed to the same degree as the other three and doesn't have the rich imagery or clearly delineated architecture. The other two cites, Chichén Itzá and Ek Balam, are 2 1/2 hours distant in the interior of the peninsula. My favorite way to see them is to rent a car and drive to Chichén in the afternoon, check into a hotel (perhaps one with a pool), see the sound-and-light show that evening, and then tour the ruins in the cool of the morning before the big bus tours arrive. Then drive back via Valladolid and Ek Balam.

Scuba & Snorkeling

There are dive shops up and down this coast. In Playa, Tank-Ha Dive Center (tel. 984/873-0302; www.tankha.com) arranges reef and cavern diving. Snorkeling trips cost around $40 per person. Two-tank dive trips are $70; resort courses with SSI and PADI instructors cost $110. The area around Akumal has a number of underwater caverns and cenotes that are popular scuba and snorkeling destinations. The Akumal Dive Shop specializes in cavern diving and offers a variety of dives. But the easiest way to try cavern diving or snorkeling is through Hidden Worlds Cenotes, which is right on the highway, 15km (9 1/4 miles) south of Akumal. They provide everything, including wet suit.

Swimming with Dolphins

In the two nature parks south of Playa, Xcaret and Xel-Ha, you can interact with these intelligent creatures. Also, there's an outfit in Puerto Aventuras called Dolphin Discovery that is quite good.

Tours

Tours to all of the ruins mentioned below run from Playa and the rest of the coast. The tour buses usually stop at a few places along the way for refreshments and souvenirs, which is why I prefer the small tours. Some combine the ruins of Tulum with a visit to a nature park. A tour agency in Playa called Alltournative (tel. 800/507-1902 in the U.S. and Canada, or 984/803-9999; www.alltournative.com) offers small tours that combine a little of everything: culture (visiting a contemporary Maya village), adventure (kayaking, rappelling, snorkeling, cenote diving), natural history, and ruins. It offers these tours daily using vans for transportation. The tours are fun. You can call the agency directly or arrange a tour through your hotel; they pick up at most of the large resorts along the coast. There is a smaller tour service called Edventure Tours (tel. 984/871-2209 or 875-4151; www.edventuretours.com.mx), based in Tulum, that does something similar but concentrates on snorkeling in cenotes and in the ocean, along the shore between Akumal and Tulum. It's a family business run by Eduardo and Bonnie Romano. They offer personal service and have a basic tour program. Group sizes usually run between 6 and 10 people. The best way to get in touch is through their web page. They also have a shop, which is in the row of shops outside the entrance to the Tulum ruins.

Selvática (tel. 866/552-8825 in the U.S., or 998/898-4312; www.selvatica.com.mx), operating out of offices in Cancún, offers guests a little adventure tourism in the jungle, with 2.5km (1 1/2 miles) of zip lines strung up in the forest canopy. The tour also includes biking and swimming in cenotes. In high season, you should make your reservation a month before your trip. The cost ($80-$90) includes transportation, activities, a light lunch, locker, and all equipment. Another interesting option is an ecological tour of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve. To do this, however, you have to get to Tulum.

Xcaret & Xel-Ha Nature Parks

These parks make full-day excursions, offering opportunities for swimming, snorkeling, and other seaside activities, and educational tours about the region's natural history and local Maya culture and entertainment. They are completely self-contained and offer food, drink, watersports equipment, and various kinds of merchandise. Xcaret is just south of Playa, while Xel-Ha is farther south, almost to Tulum.