A polaroid camera chained to the bed. A shower in the bedroom. Hot pink neon lighting. A magazine called "Animal" on the nightstand. This, my friends, is Hotel Basico, the stuff of dreams -- that is, if you ever wished to fall asleep. Couples must find these rooms to be intoxicating temples of modernist passion, with the elevated platform bed serving as an altar devoted to hedonist pleasure. But sadly, I stayed here solo, and wished the entire time that I wasn't.

Not that I didn't have the most perfect stay, in every way. As a matter of fact, it is my favorite hotel I have ever stayed in, and if you tell me you slept in my "Claudia" room on the corner, I would be fiercely jealous. There are personal inner tubes and soccer balls to take to the beach on a whim. Two circular pools adorn the industrial space on the roof, inviting you to pleasure yourself in both. Breakfast is a plate of local fresh fruit, juice, coffee, and toast, and when I asked for milk for my coffee, it was served warm, without my asking.

Hotel Basico is in the heart of the tourist action, but only a short walk from authentic Mexican restaurants catering to locals ike El Sarape and El Fogon. There's a taxi station 10 feet from the hotel's outdoor lobby, and Colectivo and the main bus station are just a few blocks away. Playa del Carmen (and Mexico, for that matter) is one of the safest places I've visited in many years.

The rooms have recently been sound-proofed, and you can keep the fan on at all times, so the music at night is barely audible. Still, a pair of ear plugs and half an ambian aren't a bad idea to ensure a perfect night's rest.

Stay at an all-inclusive resort if you wish to be boring, but bring the hottest partner you can find if you want to live life on the Hotel Basico edge. And when you get there, tell Claudia I miss her badly.

I purchased a group on to stay at the Basico in Playa del Carmen. This was a great stay for my husband and my friends. Our room was beautiful, large and spacious. We requested a ocean view room so we could see the skyline. The service was good and very friendly . I would recommend this hotel to a friend.

I must admit that is the most fun/strange/modern hotel if you going to Riviera Maya. Also it is a block from the beach. But if you want to sleep get a room away from the pool area and the noise at night. The service was great, friendly and attentive.

We came to Playa on the first week of our honeymoon last year, we were blown away. Basico is one of the most amazing places to stay, the design is inspirational and the staff are wonderful. I don't know what we had expected, but whatever we did was truly supassed by what Basico had for us, I loved the room, everything down to the lighting is designed in a quirky and modern way somehow including original mexican aspects as well. I loved the food. Loved the bar with it's trendy oldschool mexican wrestling films projected on the wall and hammocks to chill in. There is also an amazing beach club called 'Canibal Royal' which is associated with the hotel so you get passes to go there, this place is NOT to be missed, it's another design haven with quirky 50's and 60's design meeting traditional mexican style. A-Mazing, I only wish we could go back every year.
I would advise going out of season for better prices and a better nights sleep, we were there end of September and one night was a party night, this is pretty loud in the rooms, but we didn't mind really.