photo by gusto

PLAYA DEL CARMEN (known simply as Playa) once a soporific, very Mexican fishing village, has mushroomed in recent years and now has the dubious distinction of being the world’s fastest growing town (by a rate of 26 percent per annum), according to the Guinness Book of Records. The beachis one of the prettiest on the coast with unfeasibly white sand and gloriously clear sea and the entire town is, for the moment, still compact and easily covered on foot – as well as playing host to the best nightlife on the Riviera Maya. The reef offshore is almost as spectacular here as in Cozumel and there are scores of professional scuba-diving operations in Playa – recommended is Tank-Ha, Av 5 between C 8 and 10 (tel 9/873-0302, www.tankha.com) which offers PADI certification courses (US$350), one- and two-tank dives (US$45-65) and whole dive packages (from US$175) as well as twice-daily snorkeling tours (9.30am & 1.30pm; US$25; 3hr). If you’re a real thrill-seeker, you can sky-dive from Playa with Sky-Dive Playa del Carmen, Plaza Marina (tel 9/873-0192, _ www.skydive.com.mx_), which comes in at US$200 for a tandem dive with a certified instructor.