I did my research for a place to shop near Akumal Bay that sells real Mexican handmade art and gifts....so I learned about Mexicarte and we headed straight over. Luckily, this little gem is very easily accessible and not hard to find (due to the pink exterior paint!). I hate those shops where the employees are hunting you down, basically forcing you to buy mass-produced items at ridiculous costs. We wanted a place where we could feel good about our purchases. Mexicarte sells all handmade items by artists throughout Mexico. It's almost like a fair-trade store. You leave feeling good about the money you just spent, and can come back home bearing gifts with a story behind them.
Mexicarte has the prettiest, brightest, and most unique gifts in every corner of the store. We actually had to come back a few times because we kept comparing all the other shops to this one, and just wanted to spend our money here. From day of the dead items, skulls, crosses, to handbags, jewelry, wall art, clay art, you name it. Everything is handcrafted with such care and detail, you can see the love the artists put into it. Everything is priced very fair. You can find gifts for any budget, we brought back a couple little turtle figurines for about $1.50 USD for example...and great quality! I love how helpful the employees are, and can provide the backstory to all the items they sell. They let you roam around freely, and don't pressure you into buying anything.
Parking? Not so sure. We stayed at Akumal Beach Resort, it took us 10 minutes to walk up the beach here. You will see the Akumal Dive Shop, walk through to the back of the Dive Shop and you will see Akumal Plaza. It's a bright pink stand-alone building. You can't miss it. Happy shopping! :) read more