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Arrive Golf

Riviera Maya & Cancún · Mexico

Golf in Riviera Maya & Cancún, handled end to end.

Tour fairways, jungle cenotes, one coastline.

The Riviera Maya is the coast we are studying next: five courses along one highway south of Cancún, anchored by El Camaleón at Mayakoba, which brought the PGA TOUR to Mexico and hosted it for sixteen editions. We have not hosted a group week here and do not yet sell tee times; this page is the curator's case, and a custom week can be arranged on request.

Courses
3
Region
Quintana Roo
Country
Mexico
Updated
August 19, 2026
The case

Why is the Riviera Maya on our list?

Because the golf here has been tested in public. El Camaleón hosted the PGA TOUR for sixteen editions, then LIV Golf, then the LPGA; two of the coast's courses co-hosted a World Amateur Team Championship; and all of it sits within about an hour of one of the busiest international airports in Latin America.

The record does most of the talking here. Professional fields have been grading El Camaleón in public since 2007 — the PGA TOUR through 2022, LIV Golf in 2023 and 2024, the LPGA beginning in 2025 — and the courses around it carry the signatures of von Hagge, Price, Dye, and Nicklaus. When a record is that long and that visible, the curator's job is mostly to point at it.

Now the disclosure, in full. ArriveGolf has not hosted a group week on the Riviera Maya, and we do not yet sell tee times on this coast. Every fact on this page is the destination's own — architects, tournament records, seasons, distances — checked against public sources; the trip itself does not exist until we build one with you. A custom week here can be requested today: this page is the case, and a confirmed itinerary would be the promise.

The courses

What is the golf like on the Riviera Maya?

Five names carry it. Greg Norman's El Camaleón at Mayakoba, with a cenote beside the opening fairway and two oceanfront par threes; Robert von Hagge's 1994 course in the Playacar jungle; Nick Price's Gran Coyote in Playa del Carmen; P.B. Dye's Iberostar Playa Paraíso; and Jack Nicklaus's Riviera Cancún, routed through a mangrove reserve at the edge of Cancún's Hotel Zone.

El Camaleón is the résumé course. Greg Norman finished it in 2006, the PGA TOUR arrived in February 2007 for its first-ever event in Mexico, and the tour kept coming back through 2022 — sixteen editions in all. LIV Golf played it in 2023 and 2024, and in May 2025 it hosted the inaugural LPGA Riviera Maya Open, which returns in 2026. The chameleon in the name is the routing: jungle, mangrove, limestone canal, and then, twice in a round, the open Caribbean. There is a natural cenote beside the opening fairway, in case the point about geology needed making.

The rest of the coast is a study in architects. Robert von Hagge's 1994 design in the Playacar jungle — the former Golf Club at Playacar, now under the Hard Rock name — is the old-school test, all narrow doglegs and small greens under a canopy patrolled by coatis. Nick Price's Gran Coyote, formerly Grand Coral, threads jungle in Playa del Carmen and was built with an environmental team minding the water and wildlife around it. P.B. Dye's Iberostar Playa Paraíso, which co-hosted the 2016 World Amateur Team Championship alongside El Camaleón, is called one of his toughest by Iberostar itself, with small, undulating, heavily bunkered greens — recognizably a Dye. And Jack Nicklaus's Riviera Cancún, a Signature design from 2008, plays through mangroves and a natural reserve minutes from the Hotel Zone, its holes isolated from one another by wetland and long cart boardwalks.

The calendar

When is the best time to play the Riviera Maya?

November through April is the dry season and the natural golf window, with winter highs around eighty from December through February. May through October is the wet season, hot and humid, when rain tends to come in short, heavy bursts — often in the afternoon — rather than all-day storms. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June through November and peaks August through October, and a week in those months should be planned with the season in mind.

Nov–Apr
Dry season

the golf window, and the busy one

~80°F
Winter highs

December through February

May–Oct
Wet season

hot, humid, rain in bursts

Jun–Nov
Hurricane season

peaks August through October

The dry months are the obvious answer and the honest one: this is the coast's most popular window, so the driest weather and the fullest tee sheets arrive together, and a group with flexible dates has reason to look at the quieter ends of it. Wet-season golf is workable golf: the rain mostly comes in short, intense bursts, often in the afternoon, leaving mornings the clearer half of the day — which is where summer rounds belong.

The hurricane question deserves a straight answer rather than a brochure one. The Atlantic season runs June through November and peaks August through October. Direct strikes on this coast are the exception, not the rule, but the record includes major hurricanes, and an honest page says so. A late-summer or fall week should be planned with flexibility built in — and a group that wants no part of the question can point at December through April, which falls outside the season altogether.

The arrival

How do you get to the Riviera Maya's golf?

Through Cancún International, which carries nonstop service from dozens of cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe and ranks among Latin America's busiest airports for international traffic. The golf spreads south from there along one coastal highway: Riviera Cancún sits minutes from the airport at the edge of the Hotel Zone, Mayakoba is about forty-five minutes down the coast, and the courses around Playa del Carmen are roughly forty-five minutes to an hour away.

Ease of arrival is half the case for this coast. CUN carries nonstop service from dozens of cities across the United States, Canada, and Europe, and the geography past the terminal is simple: one federal highway runs south along the shore, and every course on this page lies along or just off it. There is no ferry crossing and no mountain road between the runway and any first tee here.

The spread is honest, though: this is a corridor, not a single address. Riviera Cancún plays minutes from the terminal, while Mayakoba and the courses around Playa del Carmen are a forty-five-minute to one-hour run down the highway. Where a week bases itself along that line matters, and it is a decision to make deliberately when an itinerary actually gets built — not a detail to discover on arrival day.

The golf

The courses we plan around

The courses we build Riviera Maya & Cancún trips around, each with its designer and the numbers that matter. Your itinerary confirms your exact rotation. Facts from our verified course library.

Golfers on the fairway seen from inside the cenote cave at El Camaleón, Mayakoba

The tour stop

El Camaleón Golf Course

El Camaleón is the most credentialed tee time in this catalog. Greg Norman's routing through Mayakoba hosted the PGA TOUR every year from 2007 to 2022 — the first TOUR event ever played in Mexico — then LIV Golf in 2023 and 2024, and the LPGA's Riviera Maya Open from 2025. The course changes skins the way its name promises: out of dense jungle, through mangrove and limestone canals, to two par 3s set directly on the Caribbean at the seventh and fifteenth. A natural cenote gapes beside the first fairway. You play the same Paspalum the pros putted.

Par
72
Yards
7,116
Designer
Greg Norman
Explore the course El Camaleón Golf Course
Tee shot over the lagoon through Playacar jungle at Hard Rock Golf Club Riviera Maya

The jungle veteran

Hard Rock Golf Club Riviera Maya

Von Hagge cut these fairways through the Playacar jungle in 1994, and three decades of growth have turned every corridor into a commitment: narrow lines, doglegs that hide the landing area, small greens, water where you'd rather it wasn't. The wildlife is part of the round — coatis patrol the ropes — and the Caribbean sits a few hundred yards beyond the trees. From the black tees it's 7,136 yards with a 142 slope; choose your tees with humility.

Par
72
Yards
7,136
Designer
Robert von Hagge
Explore the course Hard Rock Golf Club Riviera Maya
Tee shot over water at Gran Coyote Golf, Playa del Carmen

The honest test

Gran Coyote Golf

Gran Coyote opened as Grand Coral and later took its current name, but the course underneath is unchanged Nick Price: honest angles, jungle rough that converts wayward drives into recovery lessons, and Platinum Paspalum surfaces. It was built with an environmental team involved in the design — water use and native wildlife shaped the routing — and it anchors the Corasol development a few minutes north of Playa del Carmen. Par 71, just over 7,000 yards.

Par
71
Yards
7,043
Designer
Nick Price
Explore the course Gran Coyote Golf

Plan your trip

No Riviera Maya & Cancún dates on the calendar yet, so we'll build yours.

Tell us your group and the dates you have in mind, and we'll design the week end to end. See a real itinerary before you share a single detail.

Good questions

Common questions about golf in Riviera Maya & Cancún

Do you run golf trips on the Riviera Maya?
Not yet. We have not hosted a group week on this coast and we do not currently sell tee times here — a page like this should say that in its first breath. What we can do today is take a request and build a custom week with you from scratch. This page is the case for the destination; a confirmed itinerary would be the promise.
Which courses would a Riviera Maya golf trip be built around?
The five on this page: Greg Norman's El Camaleón at Mayakoba, Robert von Hagge's Hard Rock course in the Playacar jungle, Nick Price's Gran Coyote in Playa del Carmen, P.B. Dye's Iberostar Playa Paraíso, and Jack Nicklaus's Riviera Cancún by Cancún's Hotel Zone. Which of them a custom week would actually play is decided with you, if and when an itinerary gets built.
What makes El Camaleón worth the flight?
The record, mostly. It staged the first PGA TOUR event ever played in Mexico in 2007 and hosted the tour for sixteen editions, followed by LIV Golf in 2023 and 2024 and the inaugural LPGA Riviera Maya Open in 2025. The course itself moves through jungle, mangrove, and limestone canal to two oceanfront par threes, with a natural cenote beside the opening fairway.
Is hurricane season a reason to skip a Riviera Maya golf trip?
It is a reason to plan one carefully, not to rule one out. The Atlantic season runs June through November and peaks August through October; direct strikes on this coast are the exception rather than the rule, but its record includes major hurricanes. A trip in those months should carry flexible plans, and December through April falls outside the season altogether.

Your week in Riviera Maya & Cancún, handled from the first tee.