The great winter escape

Since I can remember, Jess and I have dreamed about escaping Canada’s long, cold, brutal winters.

If you too live in the snow belt of Canada, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

The -30 degree celsius wind chills, the 6 feet of snow, the ice storms, and the perpetual darkness that drops your mood and drains your vitamin D levels.

It started with taking a couple all-inclusive trips every year to places like Cancun, Curacao, Jamaica, Grenada, you name it.

7 or 8 days in either of those spots was always enough to break up the winter months for us.

…until it wasn’t.

So we decided to stop dreaming and start taking action.

Florida? Mexico? Texas? Panama?

We ran scenarios for multiple locations, but one in particular always seemed to resurface and catch my attention.

It was a small, coastal resort town in Mexico between Cancun and Tulum called Playa del Carmen.

Turns out several clients of mine own rentals in the area, and a couple colleagues of mine actually live there full-time.

It seemed like the perfect combination of chill beach living and modern infrastructure we were looking for.

So we decided to book 6 nights directly on 34th and 10th, just steps away from the famous 38th and 5th intersection.

The goal was for us to spend time here, even if only a week, to determine whether or not we could actually see ourselves living here for 1, 2, even 3 months over winter.

We’re now on day 6 here in Playa, so I thought it would be fitting to share our thoughts and official verdict while the experience is still fresh.

Overall, the experience so far has been overwhelmingly positive — except for one part that I’ll share soon.

First, the weather is damn near perfect.

It’s a hot, but not too hot, 28-29 degrees celsius almost daily, with a consistent, cool ocean breeze.

Sunscreen is mandatory, but it’s an extremely small price to pay for this calibre of weather, especially when it means escaping the Canadian arctic tundra.

Everything we need is also within a reasonable walking distance.

That includes grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, everything.

Which makes getting our steps insanely easy. I’m talking 16-20k steps daily, rather effortlessly.

We’ve already established our morning routine too:

There’s something about waking up to palm trees and sunshine every morning that just elevates your mood beyond belief (Who knew?).

The calibre of fitness here is on another level.

When you walk down the street and look at everyone, it’s clear that health and fitness is simply a way of life in Playa.

It’s very different from back home, and this aspect alone nearly sold us within the first 48 hours.

If you know me, you probably know that I value high quality food.

You probably also know that I cooked in my dad’s restaurant for many years.

I have a very strong grasp of ingredient quality, food safety, and overall flavour profiling, which has been both a blessing and a curse at all-inclusive resorts.

So, to be honest, I was a little bit worried about what the food quality would be like here.

Well, let me tell you…

I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

(Almost) every single meal here has been of, or above, the quality back home.

No exaggeration, it’s like we’ve been eating out on King West in Toronto nearly every meal.

From Sabora for breakfast, to Lido Beach Club for lunch, to Trattoria for dinner, every meal has been its own unique and flavourful culinary experience.

Not to mention the fresh guac and tacos available on every corner. Game changer.

Now, for the “almost” part.

Unfortunately, after eating at a beach club (Not Lido, but nearby), Jess suffered a rather aggressive, but short lived case of toxin-mediated food poisoning.

She’s 100% recovered now, 48 hours later.

That being said, we understand that this happens sometimes, so we’re not letting this one situation derail our positive experience.

Now, remember earlier when I said there were plenty of Starbucks?

I wasn’t kidding.

In fact, there’s one on nearly every corner of 5th Ave, spanning well over a dozen blocks.

The commercial density here is mind blowing.

And it’s not just Starbucks.

It’s gelato shops, pharmacies, name brand clothing stores, shopping centres, even one-off favourites from back home like Bath & Body Works.

If you ever find yourself in Playa, you won’t struggle finding anything you need.

Another benefit we noticed is that the city is built on a grid system, which makes navigating extremely simple.

From the ocean up, the streets go by fives — 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, etc.

Running along the ocean, the streets go by twos — 38th, 34th, 32nd, 30th, etc.

So needless to say, it’s fairly simple to figure out where you’re going, even if you don’t have access to Apple or Google Maps.

This one was definitely a deal breaker for us.

If you’ve seen me post about our two and a half year old Morkie, Rosie, you know she’s a big part of our family.

So finding a place that was dog friendly was extremely important to us.

Luckily, Playa is even more dog friendly than we expected.

You can’t walk 10 seconds without seeing puppers of all breeds and sizes walking with their owners.

Big win for us, and Rosie.

Safety seems to be one of the first things people ask about when you mention traveling to Mexico.

And when it comes to Playa, there hasn’t been a single instance where we’ve felt unsafe.

In fact, the police presence is quite heavy as it’s a very popular tourist area.

That being said, that doesn’t mean there’s zero risk. Just like back home in Canada, it comes down to being smart, staying alert, and not looking for trouble.

But even after talking with friends who live here full-time, it’s clear that Playa is a very safe place.

After spending only 6 days so far in Playa, we’ve come to the conclusion that this is the perfect place for us to spend a few months each year to escape the brutal Canadian winters.

Our goal is begin the hunt for a 90 day short term rental over the coming months and have something lined up for late November or early December 2026.

As of right now, we won’t be looking to buy anything here as we value mobility and optionality, and currently have other investment vehicles in motion that better suit our long-term goals.

If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this newsletter with me, congrats.

What I thought would end up being a quick blurb, turned into a 1200+ word essay on Playa del Carmen, lol.

If all goes according to plan, Jess and I can’t wait to spend next winter here with Rosie.

And if you’re looking for a fun getaway, I highly recommend it.

Heck, maybe we’ll even see you here one day.

Hit me up if you have any questions, I’d be happy to help.

— Coach RK