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The Tren Maya reached Playa del Carmen: what it means for buyers near the station

The first passenger trip left on March 15 and the station is about 10 km from downtown. What to check if you are sold a property near the Tren Maya.

By Homero·3 min read·Published: March 26, 2024
The Tren Maya reached Playa del Carmen: what it means for buyers near the station

For whom

Anyone seeing listings a few minutes from the Tren Maya in Playa del Carmen.

On February 29, the Cancún to Playa del Carmen section of the Tren Maya was inaugurated: 45.6 kilometers of electrified double track, with a stop in Puerto Morelos. Eleven days later, the Playa del Carmen station still had no ticket sales. The first trip with passengers left on March 15 at 10:30, with about 20 riders on a train built for 221.

If someone offers you a condo or a lot "minutes from the Tren Maya", it helps to know first where the station ended up.

Where the station is

The Playa del Carmen station sits on the way out of town toward Mérida, on the opposite side from the hotel corridor, about 10 kilometers from downtown. It is not in the tourist area or near Fifth Avenue. The first passengers found little transportation on arrival: the bus downtown costs 55 pesos and runs at fixed times, and a taxi charged them 250.

The schedule it started with

  • For tourists: departures from Cancún at 9:00, 12:00 and 15:00, and returns from Playa del Carmen at 10:30, 13:30 and 16:30.
  • For workers: departures from Cancún at 6:00 and 17:30, and returns at 7:30 and 19:00.

What it means for buyers

  • Being close to the station is not the same as being close to the beach or downtown. They are different products and they are priced differently.
  • The station connects to the Cancún airport. For vacation rentals, that matters if the condo has an easy way to reach the station.
  • A launch with few passengers does not tell you what the train will look like in five years. It also does not justify paying today for appreciation that does not exist yet.
  • The area around the station still needs streets, transportation and services. Before buying, look at what is built today, not at what the master plan says.

What we check in a listing "near the Tren Maya"

  1. The real distance to the station, measured by road and not in a straight line.
  2. The deed, the lien-free certificate and the land use of the lot.
  3. The transportation that exists today between the property, the station and downtown.
  4. Whether the price already includes future appreciation that nobody can guarantee.

Our take

We have been in Playa del Carmen for 19 years, and the city has been growing on the other side of the federal highway for a long time. The train may push that growth further. But what sets Playa apart is still walking to the beach and to Fifth Avenue, and a station 10 kilometers away does not change that.

If someone offers you something "minutes from the Tren Maya", send us the location and we will measure together how close it really is.

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