First, let me start by saying my family has rented many different beachfront homes in Mexico over the last 6 years (mostly Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, San Jose del Cabo and now Playa del Carmen) so we've been through the drill before.
We truly enjoyed our time at Casa Callaway and highly recommend it!
Pros:
+The location in the Playacar neighborhood is great - it's walkable (~15-20 mins) or an easy taxi to the main restaurant/shopping area in Playa, it feels very safe, and of course the house is right on the beach.
+The beach has lovely powdery sand, the water is clear and warm, and very swimmable. There is quite a bit of activity on the beach (massage stand, sky divers landing, etc) but it's not overcrowded or crazy like some other places. It's just enough activity to be entertaining but does not take away from the relaxing atmosphere of the house. The Casa is between another house and resort.
+Proximity to activities - we were able to rent jet skis, go fishing and do some amazing snorkeling. We also did a day trip to Chichen Itza which was totally worth it.
+The food was amazing. Chef Mireya does a wonderful job cooking breakfast and lunch. And it was very affordable. In hindsight, had we known how affordable it would be, we would have asked her to stay and do some dinners for us. (We had gotten burned on a previous vacation at another house with a huge food bill at the end which probably tainted us).
+The pool is nice. It's not heated, but doesn't need to be. A previous reviewer mentioned issues with the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi worked just fine when we were there. It takes awhile to heat up (60 mins) but otherwise it's great.
+The staff (Masha, Mireya, Marbella) are very friendly and welcoming.
Cons
-There aren't many cons of staying here. Is the house a little tired? Perhaps. But it's very clean and well maintained.
-As with all houses we've rented in Mexico, there are sometimes minor issues. At Casa Callaway, the lock on the outer gate had some issues, but the house manager Masha was on top of it and had it fixed right away.
-If you can, it's better to communicate directly with the chef on meals and grocery items vs. going through the house manager. One day we ended up with some meals that were not what we requested because of that. It's best to communicate with Chef Mireya in Spanish (we had a few Spanish speakers in our group). Masha's English is great and she is super responsive.
Overall we had a lovely stay and would certainly return!
