Playacar Phase 1 | Luxury Villa Rentals in Riviera Maya

Playacar Phase 1 gives you a gated, green and quiet setting with Playa del Carmen right next door. Villas range from homes on the sand to houses on the golf course, and many are a short walk or golf-cart ride from Fifth Avenue's restaurants and shops.

It suits families and groups who want privacy and security without giving up a real town on foot, and golfers who want the course on their doorstep. Ferries to Cozumel leave from downtown Playa del Carmen, minutes away.

Playacar Phase 1 is a gated residential community immediately south of Playa del Carmen, built around an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert von Hagge — one of the original master-planned developments on this stretch of coast, dating back to the 1990s. Unlike newer gated communities further down the coast, Phase 1 has had decades to mature: the landscaping is dense and established, with wide jungle-lined streets, mangrove ponds, and tree cover that gives the community a settled, green character rather than the raw, newly-cleared look of more recent developments. Villas here sit on generous lots, many backing directly onto the golf course fairways or the community’s private beach club, and the neighborhood is entirely walkable to Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue (Quinta Avenida) — typically a 10 to 15 minute walk or a short golf-cart ride to the restaurants, shops, and nightlife that make Playa the most walkable town center on the Riviera Maya. The gated entrance and 24-hour security give Playacar a quieter, more residential feel than staying directly in town, while still putting guests minutes from the ferry pier to Cozumel, which departs from downtown Playa del Carmen. Golf is a genuine draw in its own right: the Playacar course is one of the longer-established layouts in the region and is often less crowded than newer courses further south. The combination of an established golf community, private beach access, and true walking-distance proximity to Playa del Carmen’s restaurant and shopping scene makes Playacar Phase 1 a natural fit for groups who want resort-style privacy without sacrificing access to a real town — as opposed to areas like Puerto Aventuras or Akumal, which trade that town proximity for greater seclusion.

Playacar Phase 1 is the original and most exclusive section of the gated community — the beachfront half, where the villas sit closest to the sand and the streets stay quiet. Its great advantage is the combination of a private, secure setting with Playa del Carmen’s Fifth Avenue and its restaurants a short walk away. Share your dates, group size, and whether you want a beachfront home or a villa on the golf course, and we’ll send a curated shortlist of Playacar villas, with every rate, service charge and booking condition itemized in the written quotation.

A mature, gated community on the beach just south of Playa del Carmen, with beachfront and golf-course villas a short walk from Fifth Avenue.

Below are our Playacar Phase 1 villas. Tell us whether you'd like to be on the beach or on the golf course, and we'll match the right home to your group.