Playa del Carmen live webcams

What you can see on the Playa del Carmen cams

North of Punta Esmeralda the beach is wide and calm, with resort gardens and rows of palapas, the palm-thatched sunshades of the Mexican coast. Downtown, one cam sits at sun-lounger height where Calle 12 reaches the sand, with boats riding at anchor offshore. South of the ferry pier, two more look over the palms and the long curve of Playacar. Together they show how crowded each stretch is, how rough the sea is and whether sargassum has washed up.

Playa del Carmen beach webcam: Calle 12

This camera stands low on the downtown beach, right where Calle 12 runs into the sand. In front of it are rows of wooden sun loungers between the trunks of coconut palms, with a string of party lights hung from tree to tree; beyond them the waves break on a narrow strip of wet sand, and small boats with blue canopies ride at anchor a short way out.

Because it looks at the beach from the height of a lounger, it is the one to check before walking down: whether there is space, whether the sea is flat or choppy, and whether a brown line of sargassum has gathered at the water's edge. The stream is published through ipcamlive.

Playacar beach at Xaman Ha

From the Xaman Ha condominiums in Playacar, south of downtown Playa del Carmen, this camera looks closely over the sand to the waves breaking on the shore, with the coast running off into the distance.

Being so near the water, it is a good one for judging the waves and the wind, and for seeing whether sargassum has washed up on this part of the coast.

Playa del Carmen beach from El Taj

From El Taj, a beachfront condo hotel in Playa del Carmen, this camera looks through the palms to the fishing boats moored just off the sand, with a pier and more hotels further along the shore.

It streams during the day only, and in the morning the light falls straight onto the boats and the water.

Fifth Avenue, Playa del Carmen

From a rooftop in the middle of downtown, this camera looks along the Quinta Avenida, the pedestrian street one block in from the sea. Below it run the paving stones, the shopfronts, the shaded restaurant terraces and a few street trees, with a red-domed building on the left and palms rising behind the roofs.

It is the cam to open for the town rather than the beach: you can see at a glance whether the street is quiet or packed, whether people are carrying umbrellas, and how the evening crowd builds once the heat of the day eases and the lights come on. The stream comes from Webcams de México, a network of cameras along the Mexican coast.

North shore beach: The Royal Haciendas

On the north shore, past Punta Esmeralda, this camera looks down from a resort building onto its own stretch of beach. Rows of thatched palapa umbrellas with loungers beneath them line the sand, a wooden lifeguard tower stands at the water's edge, and a large thatched restaurant sits by the shore; to the right are a pool and the ochre walls of the hacienda-style buildings, with taller buildings in the distance.

The beach runs off to the left, so this view shows the width of the sand, the line of the surf and any weed washed up along it better than any other cam in town. The Royal Haciendas, a resort of the Royal Resorts group, streams it on YouTube.

Playacar beach webcam: Viva Maya

From above the crowns of a palm garden, this camera looks over the beach at Playacar, south of the ferry pier. The sand is wide and pale, with loungers set out in rows under the trees, and the sea beyond it shades from pale green over the sandy shallows to deep blue, with lines of white surf when the wind is up.

It is the widest view of Playacar's beach on the site and the clearest for the color of the water. Viva Resorts, the hotel group that runs the resort, streams it on YouTube alongside the cam of its neighbor.

Playacar through a palm grove: Viva Azteca

The second Playacar camera sits high on a resort building and uses a wide fish-eye lens, so the horizon bends into an arc. Most of the frame is a dense grove of coconut palms with thatched palapas between their trunks; beyond it the beach curves away along the shore and the sea opens out to the horizon. The date and time are printed in the top corner.

With so many palms in view, it is the best camera in Playa del Carmen for judging the wind: on a still day the fronds hardly move, and on a breezy one the whole grove sways. Like its neighbor, it is streamed by Viva Resorts.

North shore from above the resort gardens

The second camera of the same north-shore resort is mounted higher and further back. It looks over lawns, tropical trees and winding paths to a round pool bar with a red roof, a long pool lined with red umbrellas and, between two wings of ochre buildings with arched balconies, a band of open sea on the horizon.

Little of the sand is visible from here, so this is a view for the weather rather than the beach: the color of the sea, the clouds building over the channel, the wind in the palms and how many people are out by the pools. A caption at the top of the image gives the resort's name and the local date and time.