Puerto Aventuras is an excellent vacation spot home base! We felt completely safe the whole trip. We loved being in Villa del Mar- right on the beach (family friendly beach- a huge plus). Our four kids (boys ages 5-17) loved the pools, snorkeling (we brought our own snorkel gear), and lawn for games. The condo on the first floor was very accommodating- everything was clean and comfortable. We appreciated the BBQ, Netflix, washer and dryer in condo, plenty of towels, air conditioning (hot in May!), and having our own kitchen to cook in. Villa del Mar is a short walk to all the restaurants and shops in Puerto Adventuras- very convenient.
As for the trip- we used a shuttle service to get from the airport in Cancun (we paid a little extra for a stop at Costco). We toured with Alma's tours (highly recommended- Chichen Itza and Ek Balam), visited eco parks (we had members of our whole group of 18, with kids ages 5-18 go to Xel-Ha, Xplor Fuego, Xenotes, and Xcaret- we recommend Xel-Ha and Xenotes!), and went deep sea fishing with Captain Rick (located in the shops at Puerto Aventuras). It was a great vacation and having Villa del Mar as our home base was awesome- highly recommended and will stay here when we come back!