Riviera Maya Nightlife
Calle 12 between Avenidas 1 and 5
52 984 803 3416
Playa del Carmen
Mexico
www.diablitochachacha.com
Spicy Mexican-Asian tapas (tempura calamari, tuna tostadas) fire up the taste buds while DJs spin an increasingly intense hip-hop beat beneath this peaked palapa bar. Locals casually dressed in camis and shorts sink into wicker chairs to chat and dine or congregate around the bar sipping cool mojitos. Serious dancers move on to La Santanera after midnight.
Open daily 1 pm to 3 am.
Calle 12 between Avenidas 5 and 10
Playa del Carmen
Mexico
Tel: 52 984 803 4771
www.lasantanera.com
Kitschy lucha-libre posters, calaveras (skeletons) and masks hang from the thatched roof above the second-story bar at this outrageously popular club. Partiers arrive en masse after midnight and dance until dawn beneath spotlights and mirrored disco balls on the main first-story dance floor. Expect a mix of international house music with a Latin bent, and a mixed crowd of locals and in-the-know tourists. However, since this is still the Riviera Maya, you don't have to worry about the interminable lines and grumpy bouncers that usually come with such a club.
