The Photos Your All-Inclusive Doesn’t Include
You booked Hotel Xcaret México because the parks come included, which is a genuinely good deal — and it also means your family has the entire week spoken for before you land. Then you get home and the pictures of the trip are the ones somebody took mid-morning, in a queue, with a crowd of strangers behind you. A family of nine wrote to us in March with exactly that: "four days of park photos and not one of the nine of us we would put on a wall." The pictures you keep from this week should look like your family, not like the day’s schedule.
We’ve photographed thousands of sessions across Playa del Carmen, and the families who write to us from this hotel all describe the same week: booked solid, sunrise to dinner. So we take the one slot the package leaves open — the hour before your day starts. It is a short ride north to open public sand, an unhurried hour, and you are back before anything you already paid for has begun. Six years and more than a thousand clients later, that hour is still the easiest thing we can hand a family.
What We Photograph Most for Hotel Xcaret México Families
You chose a resort where the entertainment is the package, and that already tells us who is on this trip: kids, cousins, and usually somebody’s parents along for the ride. These are the three sessions we photograph most for guests staying here.
Families with little kids
A toddler has one good hour a day, and it is not the one in the middle of a queue. That is the whole reason we start early: the sand is cool, nobody is squinting, and your two-year-old is rested instead of three hours into a schedule. We keep a family session loose — short bursts of shooting, breaks to dig, and the candids caught in between — and you are back at the hotel before the first thing on your list.
The multi-generation trip
When the grandparents came too, this is usually the only week of the year everyone is in the same place — and the phone roll will still end up with zero pictures of all of you at once, because somebody always has to hold the phone. We choreograph a group session so nobody hides in the back row: the full line-up first while everyone is fresh, then quick rotations — grandparents with the baby, the cousins in a heap, each family on its own — before the youngest runs out of patience.
Everyday vacation memories
No occasion, nothing to announce, just a week that went better than expected and a wish for real photographs of it. This is what most guests of this hotel actually book: one hour on open sand where nothing is queued, nothing is timed, and nobody else’s afternoon is in the background. Our vacation photoshoot guide shows the kind of easy, everyday-magic frames we mean.
Getting You There: Playa Mamitas, a Short Ride North
Hotel Xcaret México sits at Km 282 of the Chetumal–Puerto Juárez highway, south of downtown Playa del Carmen — and that is the only logistics fact that matters, because it puts the public beaches of the centre 10 to 15 minutes away by taxi. That is the same short ride most guests here make at least once for a dinner on Quinta Avenida, so a session is not a new expedition on the itinerary: it is a trip you already know how to make, done at the hour nothing else is competing for.
We meet you at the public access to Playa Mamitas and send the exact pin over WhatsApp the day before. If you are travelling with very small children we will often point you at Punta Esmeralda instead — public, free, and about 4.5 km north of the centre — which trades a couple of extra minutes in the car for a calmer, gentler shoreline where a two-year-old can wander without weaving between beach clubs. Either way you are on open sand that belongs to everybody: nothing to book, nothing that can be closed for somebody else’s event, and the real Playa del Carmen behind you.
Want one frame that belongs on a wall rather than in an album? Ask about our signature beach-gown editorial sessions in Playa del Carmen — metres of fabric in the morning breeze, and the same short ride north.
Simple Pricing, No Session Fee
Pricing is refreshingly simple: there is no session fee. You pay $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or choose a group package from $200 USD when the whole family wants in — so you only pay for the images you love, which takes the pressure off an hour with unpredictable toddlers. You can see everything we offer, and hundreds of recent sessions, on our Playa del Carmen photographer page.
Every hotel has its own rules about photography on the property. We know how each one works — message us and we’ll tell you exactly what your options are where you’re staying.
For couples or groups of up to 4, we can pick you up. Message us and we’ll work it out based on your hotel.
Almost nobody who books us has been photographed properly before, and they usually apologise for it in the first message — there is nothing to apologise for, because we direct the whole thing, and you can see how that turns out on our Playa del Carmen photographer page. Send us your dates and we’ll tell you which morning to keep free.
Ready to Get Everyone in One Frame Before the Day Starts?
Tell us your dates and how many of you are coming, and we’ll hold a morning for your family. The early slots are the first to go in high season.
What You Get for One Early Alarm
Everything we shoot for families staying at Hotel Xcaret México happens in the one hour the rest of the week never uses.
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The kids are still fresh
A toddler has one good hour and it comes early. We use that one, so nobody is melting down in the frame and nobody is squinting into the sun.
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The day you paid for stays intact
A short ride north, an unhurried hour on open sand, and you are back before anything on the week’s schedule has started.
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We direct the whole thing
Almost nobody who books us has done this before. We tell everyone where to stand and what to do with their hands, so it still comes out looking like your family.
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You keep only what you love
There is no session fee. You see the full gallery afterwards and choose from it, which takes the pressure off an hour with small children.
Family Photo Sessions at Hotel Xcaret México — FAQ
Our week is packed and we have small kids. Is a beach session realistic?
It is the reason we shoot early. The hour before your day starts is the one nothing else wants: the kids are rested, the sand is cool and empty, and the whole thing — the ride out, an hour on the beach, the ride back — is done before anything on your schedule opens. Nobody misses anything they already paid for.
How much does a family session cost for guests of Hotel Xcaret México?
There is no session fee. You pay $15 USD per photo with a 10-photo minimum ($150 USD), or choose a group package from $200 USD when the whole family wants in. You see the full gallery first and choose from it afterwards, so you only ever pay for the images you love.
There are twelve of us across three generations. Can you photograph all of us?
Yes, and it is one of the three things we shoot most for guests of this hotel. We start with the full line-up while everyone is fresh, then work through quick rotations — grandparents with the grandchildren, the cousins together, each family on its own — and we allow a little extra time so nobody ends up only in the back row.
Where do we meet you if we are staying at Hotel Xcaret México?
On the public sand in Playa del Carmen, 10 to 15 minutes north of the hotel by taxi — usually the beach access at Playa Mamitas, or Punta Esmeralda if you have very small children and want somewhere quieter. We send the exact pin over WhatsApp the day before.
Does it have to be first thing in the morning?
It does not, but you should know the trade. This coast faces east, so there is no sunset over the water here. Mornings give you soft light, cool sand and a beach that is practically empty; late afternoon is still beautiful, it just will not be quiet, and it collides with the day you came to spend. Either way, plan on about an hour on the sand.