I mean just look at some of the gorgeous locations they chose to build at. White sand beaches, incredible turquoise water, cliff-side locations to enjoy the tropical breezes – I mean these guys definitely knew what they were doing in picking out some prime beachfront locations.

If you don’t believe it, just check out a few of the pictures below that depict some of the Mayan ruins at Tulum in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Now imagine standing on the bluffs, enjoying a spectacular view looking out over an emerald Caribbean Sea.  

It just doesn’t get much better than that!

Around 1000 A.D. Chichen Itza in Yucatan was the center of the Mayan civilization, which was spread throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, through Belize and Guatamala, and on to the edges of Honduras and El Salvador.

Today the Maya number around five million and live mostly in the Yucatan Peninsula and the highlands of Guatemala. As they did over a thousand years ago, most live in villages and make their living from the land.

Our modern cities are primarily centers for commerce which is completely different from the purpose of the Mayan stone city remains we see today. For the ancient Maya, these were principally ceremonial sites and gathering places where they came for spiritual reasons.

During the early 1500’s the Spanish were determined to systematically destroy the Mayan civilization. One of the world’s greatest cultural crimes was their destruction of all the wriitten records they came across.

As for the people themselves, those not killed in battle, were mostly decimated by diseases carried to the “New World” from the “old”. Today the magnificent stone cities lie abandoned and in ruins once more.

Tulum or the “Walled City” was built by the ancient Maya on a cliff overlooking the Caribbean. One of the most visited archaeological sites in Mexico, it was occupied for over 300 years, from around 1200 A.D. until after the Spanish conquest.

Located at a convergence of both land and sea trade routes, Tulum was a major link in an extensive trade network. Artifacts found in or near the site indicate Mayan commerce ranged from Central Mexico to Central America and all points between.

The Castillo, sometimes referred to as the lighthouse, is the tallest building at Tulum and the most famous. It stands on the bluff, commanding a view of the ocean and coast for several miles in both directions.

Until the late 20th century when tourists became too numerous, the local Maya continued visiting the temples to burn incense and pray.

There is no way to gain a real appreciation of the Mayan culture without visiting some of these ruins that have been abandoned to the elements. There are hotels to be found in the area, plus the Tulum ruins are only a two hour drive south of the popular beach resort of Cancun, which makes for a pleasant day trip.

Photo Credits: Aaron Logan, Hugo van Tilborg, Keith Walbolt.

The area’s main attraction is by far the beautiful climate: hot sun with soft ocean breezes. During the months of June, July, and August expect your sunshine to be interrupted with a rainshower. The rainy season peeks in September and October, so plan your visit accordingly.

There are several rentals that are so enormous and elegant that you’ll never want to leave, so your major decision will be having to decide how much time to spend basking in the sun and how much time you will spend exploring the area. A typical day at one of the many Puerto Vallarta resorts might include relaxing by the beach or by the pool, taking some time for tennis, water skiing, or, maybe, parisailing might be your thing! Not so adventurous? How about a relaxing spa treatment?

Shopping can be done in the hotel shops and even on the beach where local peddlers offer a variety of merchandise. If you’re lucky, you might even run into one of the young boys toting around 3′ to 4′ iguanas. For a couple of green backs, they will let you take pictures with the beast.

Puerto Vallarta resorts boast dramatic dining rooms. Most have a couple. They can range from casual to formal. They have a perfect setting to create a very intimate feel. The food is wonderful and the menus offer a nice assortment so everyone can find something there they like.

There are also many attractions outside the hotel. Enthusiasts can take day trips into the jungle by either horseback or jeep. One can also spend the day on a fishing excursion. If golf is your game, Puerto Vallarta also offers beautifully kept courses with a scenic landscape to enjoy.

After a day of fun and the sun goes down, there is still a lot of action in Puerto Vallarta. There are several bars to go dancing or you can catch a variety of shows. You can also indulge in a sunset dinner cruise or lobster dinner cruise.

At the end the day Puerto Vallarta is a wonderful destination spot. If you ever get the opportunity to explore, you have to go. You will leave with smile on your face and a lifetime of memories.

And I’d like to do a little body surfing too, but then the kids can’t handle the big stuff. Oh yeah, what about shade, maybe there should be a few palm trees placed strategically – but don’t block the sun. Better make sure it’s wide enough for some volleyball too – don’t want the beach disappearing whenever low-tide comes around.

Speaking of low-tide, those tide-pools left behind are cool for finding little critters, so maybe some more of those reef rocks up on shore – not too many though……

Hmmm, maybe this isn’t such a no-brainer after all. I suspect everyone has some sort of fuzzy notion in their mind of what the perfect beach looks like, but when it comes time to actually pick one out as a destination, it becomes a bit more complicated.

The real answer is it depends – it depends on what you want to do at the beach. And that answer will no doubt have several parts that change with every trip, not to mention ages of the travelers.

Lets go a step further and really complicate things. If you were going to pick a beach to settle or retire on, which would it be?

Now you have to start considering other things, like how often will you be blown away by hurricanes, how far from groceries and other stores, how far from services like doctors and hospitals, and a hundred other typical home buying questions.

Sort of takes the fun out of it eh? Not really, but makes for a much more thought provoking question. For instance, while I really like being right on the beach, I might not like it during bad storms, or potential flooding.

In fact I might want to get off the beach and live high up where I can enjoy cool breezes and a panorama view of the ocean. There was great illustration of such a place in a film called “The Thomas Crown Affair” starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. (Actually was a remake of the original with Steve McQueen.) It was filmed in Martinique where Crown had a cottage up a couple thousand feet, on top of a mountain. It was totally secluded with a magnificent 360 degree view out over the ocean.

As much as I like the idea of stepping out the back door and walking to the beach, I’m becoming more interested in something like Crown’s place where I get the breeze and view, but would have a longer walk down to the water. Probably more sensible in hurricane areas and would certainly save on insurance as well as property cost.

Another reason for considering locations not directly on the beach would be that no beach will likely provide for all the different activities I might want to do. These range from sunning, reading in the shade, taking long walks, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, finding shells, searching tide-pools, enjoying both calm seas and crashing waves, and on and on.

There just isn’t one place to do it all, which is a bit frustrating because the reason one goes to the effort and expense of living on a beach is to do beach things. So not being able to do all of them would be rather annoying.

And the end of the day, there will no doubt be compromise involved. What do you think – what comes to mind when thinking about a “perfect beach”, or have you already found you place in the sun?

I’m talking specifically about Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, and Tybee Island, Georgia. Both are popular and well known, so decided to drive around the area and check them out.

In general, the beaches along most of this area are typical light brown sand that packs well. In several places you can even drive on the beach. Most of them are wide and flat with dune and grass areas that while rising up only a few feet, do a good job of protecting inland areas from storm surge.

The ocean will often provide some decent body-surfing waves, but there’s no real reefs in the area so waves aren’t particularly high, except ahead of big storms where they can be a lot of fun. Following these storms is also about the only good time to find shells washed up.

Without much reef to speak of, there’s no snorkeling or diving. You can however dive further out on various wrecks found up and down the coast. Also, the ocean floor is mostly sandy, with visibility underwater running anywhere from about 8’ to 40’.

I found Tybee Island, at least along the beach in the main part of town, to be very touristy and crowded. Lots of visitors packed in like sardines. Driving further saw diminished crowds, but being limited by the length of the island, you can only get so far away.

There are many folks that live on the island, but because a lot of surrounding marsh area limits beach choices, the few existing beaches seem to draw tons of people from nearby towns and cities.

On up at Hilton Head you can get into some fairly exclusive areas once you get out to the island. Overall it was quite nice, and comparatively spread out. Like the Tybee area, there’s a lot of waterfront besides the ocean itself, in the nature of harbors, inlets, bays, and rivers, which is good for boaters, fishing, and such, but my interest was focused on the beaches.

Although not so much as Tybee, the Hilton Head beaches that were easiest to reach were the most crowded. No big surprise, but there were some other places, that if you could get across the marshy area separating them, let you out onto less crowded beach areas.

Bottom line was you could get away to more quieter areas if willing to trek a bit. Also, the beaches were lighter, softer sand. Of course you want to bring everything with you to avoid the need to go back before days end.

Overall there seem to be a lot of folks who either really like this area, or just use these beaches because they’re the closest option. Likely some of both. Having lived near various beaches including some along the east coast of Florida, I found these to be quite similar.

One of the real challenges in finding beach areas in which to visit or even settle, is locating those that haven’t yet been discovered, not to mention over-run with people. Although it’s highly unlikely that anything still remains undiscovered, I’m intrigued by the idea of finding places that haven’t really been “done” yet.