Top 10 Family All-Inclusive Resorts in the Riviera Maya

·Outstanding family and waterpark offering.

·Exceptional all-inclusive dining program with eight restaurants and Michelin-starred Cocina de Autor.

Grand Velas does all-inclusive at a genuinely luxe tier, eight gourmet restaurants, a cavernous SE Spa, and a choice of jungle or beachfront suites with personal concierge service. It manages to be both family-capable and couple-romantic depending on which section you book. Riviera Maya at its most refined. Best November through May.

·All-suite room inventory.

Barcelo Maya Palace is the all-suite family resort of the Barcelo Maya Grand complex on the Riviera Maya, for families who want space. The run of a whole resort estate comes with it. It is about 75 minutes from Cancun's airport, with three pools, a children's water park, six restaurants inside the plan and access to the facilities of several sister hotels along the same beach. Every room is a suite, which is what separates it from its neighbours in the complex.

·Excellent family activity infrastructure.

Barcelo Maya Colonial is a family all-inclusive inside the Barcelo Maya Grand complex on the Riviera Maya, for families who want a big, busy resort. The run of its neighbours comes with it. It is about an hour from Cancun's airport, with six pools, a children's water park, two specialty restaurants, a buffet and a snack grill, and access to the pools, beaches and restaurants of the sister hotels along the same shore. The scale is the product and the walking is the price.

·Excellent family infrastructure and water-park access.

·True luxury resort with optional all-inclusive convenience.

·One of the largest on-site water parks in the Caribbean with 14 slides and two lazy rivers

·Major family infrastructure including pools, water park, entertainment, and large beach frontage.

This is the big one, five interconnected resorts sharing one stretch of Riviera Maya beach, which means 25+ restaurants and bars, a water park, and pools with swim-up bars without ever leaving the property. Made for groups and families who want options and energy. Come November through April for the dry-season sun.

·Large, highly amenitized all-inclusive complex with multiple pools and four-hotel access.

Barcelo Maya Tropical is a family all-inclusive on the Riviera Maya, for families who want the run of four resorts on one wristband. It is about 75 minutes from Cancun's airport, with 478 rooms of its own and access to the whole Barcelo Maya Grand complex: eleven pools between the four hotels, a water park, and four restaurants and four bars on this side. The beach, and the snorkelling straight off it, is better than most resorts this size manage.

·True all-inclusive

Ocean Riviera Paradise is a very large family all-inclusive north of Playa del Carmen, for parents who want a water park and a dozen bars. Add a room with a pool at the door and the picture is complete. It is about 45 minutes from Cancun's airport, with 974 rooms, five pools, ten restaurants and twelve bars, a bowling alley, a theatre and a disco. It is a small town with a beach attached, and the beach is the part that disappoints.