Playa del Carmen

I spent a month here, just got back. There are several coworking spaces to choose from. Bunker is a popular one, it was full of young people. The best way to connect is via Facebook, believe it or not. It's still fairly active there. There are a couple groups. The city is a grid and the "Centro" part of town is below about 48 st. If you stay between 1st and 48st, crossed with 5th ave up to 15th, you'll be near everything. North of 48, you just see a lot of abandoned construction, trash, and poverty. People living in shells of buildings, putting up sheets for walls. Third World. Below 48th, you've got your choice of delicious restaurants, bars. and coworking. On the cross streets, 5th Ave is tourist central. 10th and 15th is for locals. Anything above that is the great unknown of a poor city. The housing market is depressed, so you can get great deals at airbnbs. Most modern buildings have rooftop pools etc. Every 3rd person on 5th ave will offer you weed and blow. The policia are just around the corner. I don't recommend it. Check out the coworking spaces and you'll probably meet people. On 5th, you'll just meet tourists. IMO the entire hoodmap should just be red for tourists along 5th ave, and the rest a new color representing Third World poverty. I didn't see any hipsters. Locals don't care about noise. They let their dogs bark unchecked forever. Guys on 3 wheelers bike around announcing cold treats with a clown horn that could drive you insane. 38th, 24th, 12th, are cool streets. If I could get a place on one of them at Ave 1 or 5, I'd give it a B+. Anywhere else in a mixed hood, I give it a C-.

Spent three months living in Playa in spring 2019. Weather is beautiful, though on the hotter side. One huge piece of the city, 5th Avenue, runs from the bus stop for a mile or two and is pretty much nothing but tourist junk. Bad restaurants, bars, and people trying to hawk you on garbage. Once the touristy stuff dies out, there is a small but growing area that's much nicer for living - quieter, greener, few-to-no sales vendors fighting for your attention, and some really nice little restaurants and apartments. The beach is nice (although EXTREMELY thin, sometimes 1-2 feet wide at high tide), but sargasso (seaweed washing up) is a continuous issue and makes the beach pretty much unusable in parts. English is pretty good, but a little Spanish can go a long way. The scuba diving is excellent.

Recommendations: Get a bike to ride around. Eat at Primo (restaurant). Try to find an apartment with a pool or rooftop so the sargasso problems don't mess up your ability to enjoy the outdoors. Rent a car and take a trip to Chichen Itza and Ik-kil. Avoid Cozumel.

All in all, mostly pleasant, decent cost of living, but wouldn't be in a rush to come back.

Nice place to work remotely. They do have fiber optic so you should update the info