Gay Travel Influencers Michael & Matt Share Their Secrets For Playa del Carmen & Quintana Roo

Hello, Playa del Carmen and Quintana Roo

The smart and sexy duo of Michael Lindsay and Matthew Schueller are no strangers to readers of Out Traveler, who were introduced to the married world travelers and their meet-cute in our Spring 2022 print edition. The social media savvy Schueller came out on his YouTube channel in a viral video that inspired Lindsay to come out himself and record a video reply, albeit a year later and 1,300 miles away. The rest is history, as they say.

The pair married in 2018, and when they’re not posting about their travels and life together on social media, Schueller works as a nurse and Lindsay is a practicing dentist.

We recently caught up with Michael and Matt to ask for travel tips on some of their favorite destinations.

Here are Michael and Matt’s answers to seven questions on LGBTQ+ travel to Playa del Carmen and Quintana Roo in Mexico! And be sure to follow Michael and Matt at their blog (www.michaelandmatt.com), Instagram (@michaelandmatt), YouTube (@michaelandmatt), and TikTok (@michaelandmatt1).

Where do you recommend to eat?

You can’t travel to this area without trying a good ceviche or aguachiles. There are so many great restaurants in the area, it is truly a shame that many don’t make it outside their resort! Our top restaurant recommendations in Playa del Carmen include Plank, Axiote, Patanegra, La Perla Pixan Cuisine & Carboneria, and Tahini. Many restaurants will feature a mix of seafood and traditional Mexican cuisine. We particularly loved Tahini because of the cute outdoor dining area lit by little lanterns beneath large jungle trees. It was one of the few restaurants we’ve tried anywhere that served incredible Lebanese food. The space felt very intimate.

Where are the best places to stay?

There are a ton of great hotels and resorts along the Quintana Roo coastline from Cancun all the way down to Tulum. For an all-inclusive experience, Unioco Riviera Maya and the Hard Rock Hotel are our favorites. The Hard Rock Hotel has an adults-only area, and some of the club events in the evening are actually quite well put together. For something more central and well-integrated into one of the coastal cities, we stayed at The Thompson Playa del Carmen. The rooms were beautiful, spacious, and super close to the beach. The Thompson has two sites just blocks away from each other, one off the main shopping street and the other right on the beach. If you’re staying off the main shopping street, just be aware that at night the parties go long and hard, and the noise does travel!

What’s the LGBTQ+ culture like there?

Playa del Carmen and the surrounding area are more so what you make of it. I recommend traveling to the region with a group of friends, as it’s the perfect area to do so and go out together. While Quintana Roo isn’t known for gay bars, on any given night out you’re bound to find many from the LGBTQ+ community out dancing. Tulum is also quite gay-friendly, and many of the hotels and businesses in the area are making an active effort to make it more inclusive. It’s up and coming, and still, we didn’t feel totally ready to show any PDA, but we hope on our next trip we see a little more pride.

Where should you grab a drink?

Catch at the top of the Thompson Playa del Carmen served fantastically vibrant cocktails featuring fresh maracuya. This was the perfect place to lounge by the pool for happy hour before heading out for the evening. Central Playa del Carmen is often overlooked from a U.S. tourism perspective, but the downtown area is so active and alive. Take a walk down 10 Avenida and you’ll find bar after bar packed with people partying. We loved INTI Beach, Chela de Playa, and The Reef 28 Rooftop for cocktails. As for Tulum, some of our favorite gay-friendly bars include Todos Santos, Batey, Casa Jaguar, and Gitano.

What are the must-dos while visiting?

While good food, beach, and nightlife can really make up the full trip, there are a couple of things that I absolutely wouldn’t pass up. If you get the chance to book a tour to check out a cenote or the Maya Ruins, do not pass on the opportunity! We snorkeled in Cheyumil with Aventuras Mayas and it was an experience we’ll never forget. Nearby Akumal is famous for being an incredibly beautiful cenote as well. Near Tulum, Tankah is an active Maya community that provides private access to secluded cenotes, as well as kayaking and zip-lining activities.

What are the top Instagrammable spots?

One of the best things you can do is to spend a day exploring the ancient Maya ruins. The archaeological sites of Coba and Muyil are two of the most impressive in the region. Of course, many head to the inland Chichen Itza for their Instagram photo, but the closer Coba and Muyil are not only impressive, but also far less crowded. Though touristy, Xcaret Park also provides tons of photo opportunities. As an eco-adventure park celebrating Maya culture, you can explore the jungle, the beach, and ruins, and honestly see a little bit of everything that makes Quintana Roo so beautiful.

What’s your favorite memory from there?

We scheduled a tour with Living Dreams Mexico to visit the Maya ruins at Muyil and swim in the cenotes at Tankah near Tulum, and the experience was worth the trip itself. What stuck out most about this experience is that the tour company is LGBTQ+ owned and led. Our tour guide was so passionate about the history, and they told us so much about the gay history in Quintana Roo. I felt like the experience was so special and different in comparison to what I typically see people experience in the area. Toward the end of the day, we had this gorgeous crystal blue cenote to ourselves in Tankah. We took turns cliff jumping into the water, diving down to swim with the fish, and basking in the sun with the iguanas on the side. I had never felt so connected with nature as my day at Tankah.