Where to Study Spanish in Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen is a perfect place not only for your holidays but also for your education. Yes, you heard it right! Prepare to immerse yourself in Mexican culture by learning Spanish. You can either learn the language by picking some words while communicating with locals and by reading words in shops, restaurants and anywhere around, or you can go to a language school.

As you can imagine there are quite a number of schools and private teachers which provide Spanish courses for foreigners at different levels: from beginners to advanced speakers. I would like to share with you some information about language schools in Playa del Carmen based on my own experience and on the reviews of expats and tourists of Playa. Here we go!

1. International House Riviera Maya

• Address: Calle 14 Norte, between the 5th and 10th Avenues.
• Phone: 01-984-803-3388
• Web: Facebook, Website
• Classes: Spanish courses of all levels, group and private lessons. Extra activities (cooking classes, diving, latin dancings, tours etc.). For more information please visit their website.

It’s a very established chain of schools all over the world. I decided to give it a try. It was a one week intensive course (4 hours every day) in a group of 8 people, all of them beginners like myself. Price per week – $220 but if you live in Playa del Carmen, they can offer a price for locals, which is $30 less.

I came for the first day, which was kind of a trial, I didn’t pay anything. I liked our teacher and the people in the group were very friendly. We were all of different nationality and ages, from Europe, Asia and Oceania. We had our 4 hours of Spanish and it was good…I am sure everybody liked it. But it was so slow! I spent most of my time waiting for others to finish their exercises. I don’t know, maybe I am fast or maybe it’s just impossible to keep up a good tempo in a group, especially in a group of beginners. Anyways, after that 4 hours lesson I decided that I need private lessons, and I felt like trying another school.

All in all I would recommend IH Riviera Maya, they have many classes and the teachers seem to have good qualifications.

2. Spanish Joyfully

• Address: Calle 30 Norte, between 20th and 25th Avenues. Casa №32
• Phone: 01-984-804-8670
• Web: Facebook, Website
• Classes: Spanish courses of all levels, private, group and skype lessons. For more details and prices check their website.

This school was recommended to us by many people and all the reviews were very good. So I suggest you read on this post till the end and then make your own decision about where to study Spanish.

3. Spanish & English with Lupita

• Address: 5th Avenue, Playa del Carmen, Mexico
• Phone: 01-55-4616-9024
• Web: Facebook
• Classes: Spanish of all levels, mini-groups and private lessons. Check out Lupita’s Facebook page if you are interested in more information.

This is a private teacher who has many happy students all of whom recommend her a lot on the web. I contacted Lupita, but she was out of town and couldn’t meet me. She was very friendly though. I am sure she is as good as people say.

4. Language School Chichen Itza en Playa del Carmen

• Address: Calle 4 Norte between 10th and 15th Avenues.
• Phone: 01-984-147-5950
• Web: Facebook, Website
• Classes: Spanish courses at all levels, group and private lessons. English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German lessons. Extra activities free of charge: cooking classes, latin dancing, cocktails nights, tours around Playa del Carmen, activities at the beach, local volunteering. Check out their Facebook page or website for more information and prices.

We got to know about this place from some people spreading the information on Facebook pages about their free conversation evenings over cocktails and some snacks. The temptation was too big not to go and check this place out. 🙂

We were met by the very friendly Mexican family Galicia who run this school. We sat over the table and Hale – a teacher – started to speak to me in Spanish and I tried to answer. I was amazed by how many words I picked up while living in Playa for 3 months and just listening to what people said around and reading products’ titles and menus.

While I was trying to tell her about myself in mixed broken Spanish and English other guys came over and the table was served with cocktails and snacks.

It was a very pleasant evening, we played some games that helped improve Spanish grammar, spoke to others and got to know each member of the family Galicia, almost all of them are teachers. At the end of the evening I was offered classes (I chose private lessons) and Hale kindly gave me a very good discount. The usual price for 1 hour of a private lesson is $20.

I attend the school whenever I have time, but usually around 3 times per week, 2 hours each lesson. My teacher is Alex (Alejandro). I am very pleased with his work, he is an excellent teacher and a wonderful person. His lessons are very interesting. We not only learn the language but also speak about Mexico (culture, history, customs). I never get bored and after 8 hours of lessons I was able to keep up a simple conversation. Alex speaks only in Spanish with me and the funny thing is that I understand everything with despite my very limited mastery of the language. When I don’t get something Alex shows it in gestures, he is very good at it. 🙂

As soon as I came back from the first lesson and told my husband about it, he decided to go as well (though he is quite fluent in Spanish). He enjoys his classes a lot. He usually takes 3 hours at a time. Jean is a person who easily gets bored. So Alex does a great job, my hubby always comes from lessons with some stories to tell me (they speak about politics, life in Mexico, etc) and with the satisfaction of new things he learnt.

If you can’t make up your mind about a language school in Playa del Carmen, I highly recommend you to come and learn Spanish in Language School Chichen Itza. After lessons you can practice your Spanish for free in real life attending salsa classes, cooking classes, and cocktail nights on fridays.

Would you like to learn Spanish? Have you attended any Language school in Playa del Carmen? What is your favourite place to learn Spanish in Playa? Share your experience with us!