Where we went, what we did, and how it all played out on our family vacation in Mexico, with some hot travel tips and other advice!

All about our trip to the Mayan Riviera: in case you were wondering what a family vacation to an all-inclusive resort looks like

This is part one of a two-part vacation series. Read part two here.

Be sure to check out part two because it includes my three big takeaways from this trip.

I hope I answer any questions you have about a family vacation to an all-inclusive resort. If not, hit me up with a comment about what you really want to know!

We survived our family vacation at an all-inclusive beach resort #familytravel #beachresort #traveltips

Take a sneak peak into what an all-inclusive beach vacation looked like for our family

After talking about it winter after winter, we finally booked an all-inclusive vacation to the Mayan Riviera in Mexico. It was not our first trip south. Matt and I have been three times before (once just the two us, once with a small group of close friends, and once with a big group to a wedding, with Anna when she was nine months old. This trip was our first with active, busy children. They were all very different vacations!

Full disclosure, my sister is a travel agent and she helped pick the resort based on our budget and knowing what we like, and what we needed: family-friendly being a major fact. So I can’t really take any credit for selecting the resort. But my advice is do your research. Read the reviews (but keep perspective. What one person complains about may be no big deal to another). Find somewhere with lots of food options, with the beach and pool nearby. Of course we all have our priorities so make a list of those and find a resort that aligns with what you’re looking for. Save up enough to visit a decent resort because you don’t want to spend a chunk of your hard-earned money to be miserable on vacation. My sister found an amazing deal at a resort she felt confident in recommending and we jumped at the opportunity. The trip cost $4000. We spent seven days at Hotel Catalonia Playa Maroma, a 30-minute drive from the airport in Cancun.

Hot tip
We paid an extra $100 total to upgrade to a premium room, which had bigger beds and was newly renovated/decorated. Based on reviews from Trip Advisor, this made all the difference. If you don’t have a huge budget for a swanky resort, choose a middle-range resort and pay for the upgrade to a better room or special services. It’s worth it.

I’ve always wanted to go to Mexico, having already been to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. We chose the Mayan Riviera since it’s know for its all-inclusive resorts and long, beautiful beaches. Truth be told, I think we could have been on a resort in any of these countries and it wouldn’t have made a huge difference to us. We had sun, we had sand, we were on vacation. But compared to the other countries down south we’ve been to, something about Mexico felt more cultural. The major perk is that Mexico is known for having amazing food. It’s true. And there’s just something special about drinking margaritas in Mexico.

ONE OF MANY MARGARITAS CONSUMED ON OUR FAMILY VACATION TO THE MAYAN RIVIERA IN MEXICO #FAMILYVACATION #MARGARITA #TRAVEL

Leave yourself lots of time when travelling

Day one: honestly, a flawless travel day. We left the house early (4:30 a.m.) for an 8 a.m. flight. My stress levels cannot handle feeling rushed to get to a flight. I’m the type of traveller who would rather be at the airport three hours early than feel rushed to arrive just in time. The recommendations for a chartered flight is to arrive three hours early. That seems like a lot of time and Matt was rolling his eyes but I was adamant to just follow the guidelines. Also, travelling with children is kind of a crapshoot, you never know what’s going to unfold - how many times they need to stop and use the bathroom or need a snack or have a meltdown. Why go through that AND feel pressed for time? Fortunately, we were able to pick up my Dad en route to the airport. He took our car home with him so we didn’t have to deal with long-term parking. We checked in, took our time through security, and had breakfast at Tim Hortons. By the time we made it to the gate, we didn’t actually have that long to wait. People-watching and watching the runway out the windows was just enough activity to pass the time.

How much luggage is realistic to take on a family vacation?

Now that the girls are a bit older, what we need to take is much more manageable (read my ultimate packing lists for travel with kids to see how our packing list has evolved!). Matt and I still ended up each bringing a suitcase. We tried to share one but just couldn’t make it all fit when we added sand toys, extra snacks, and a pharmacy in a bag! I’m not known for packing light, but I tried. We each had a carry-on bag (his backpack, and what would be my beach bag). The girls had a small child-size carry and a backpack each. While this was totally manageable, we ended up checking their carry-ons on the way home (it didn’t cost anything extra) because we didn’t need anything from them and it was one less thing to think about while navigating our way through an unfamiliar airport.

Relax any screen time rules in transit

Not going to lie, the girls had screen-time most of the five-hour flight. At one point I made them put the screens away for a little while to colour and flip through some books, but again I’m not up for making a situation unnecessarily stressful and hey - it’s their vacation too. Rosie didn’t sleep, and Anna fell asleep on descent. Perfect timing right?

Relax any rules you may have around screen time and enjoy that flight! #traveltips #familytravel #beachvacation

Pack extra snacks for travelling

If you have kids you already know this. I packed extra snacks because Air Canada Rouge gives you nothing but a (non-alcoholic) drink. Turns out the menu was not that expensisve and is full of items from Freshii. The kids meals (age 12 and under) were $6 for pizza or mac cheese, and a snack trio (a GoG SqueeZ fruit sauce, Bear Paw Cookies and Bear Paw fruit snacks). However the granola bars, goldfish, apple sauce, and smarties I brought along were good enough snacks for the flight.

Hot tip
I recommend packing some snacks for the way HOME and putting them aside during your trip. We left the resort after breakfast and by the time we got to the departure gate, I knew we needed some kind of sustenance. Of course we couldn’t bring water through security and didn’t want to try the tap water. I spent an embarrassing amount on water and pretzels. Okay it was $18 USD. On two bottles of water and pretzels. And the pretzels were the expensive part. Bonkers.

Wherever you land, once you’re through customs, breeze past all the tourism reps and booths trying hard to sell you on time-shares and excursions. There were reps who REALLY wanted to give us a “special invitation” to a grand opening party (read: tour) at a brand-new resort. Nobody got time for that! If you were on a chartered flight, go straight outside and find your tour operator. The Air Canada Vacations travel rep was easy to find with his sign, and directed us to our shuttle.

We lucked out with a private shuttle ride because the driver needed to get to the resort to bring people back to the airport on time. This meant we didn’t need to stop and drop people off at all kinds of resorts on the way to ours.

We arrived and checked-in just in time for a very late lunch at 2:30 p.m. We checked out our room and then took the time to get lay of the land around the resort. We didn’t get past the pool where we all immediately enjoyed some drinks and a swim. Repeated the same on the beach. We chose the Mexican restaurant for dinner to kick off the vacation. The girls literally tumbled into bed by 8 p.m. after what I realized was a 17 hour day for them! We set ourselves up with drinks on the patio and shared a great big cheers for making it there.

Be sure to read part two of this guide for more insight on our all-inclusive family vacation, including many more hot tips and my three big take-aways!

The Ultimate Packing List for Travel with Kids

Five family-friendly travel tips for your next beach vacation