dumb question (yeah, I know).... but do I need to bring a beach towel??

[WarrenZ]

If you are in Cozumel just buy one at the mega you will probably end up there to buy booze and snacks.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If you are in Cozumel just buy one at the mega you will probably end up there to buy booze and snacks.

This. How comfortable can it possibly be to lie on a microfiber towel on the beach, as some have suggested? Microfiber towels are for backpackers. This is a Mexican beach resort vacation, not a survivalist exercise.

 

[kelemvor]

If you are in Cozumel just buy one at the mega you will probably end up there to buy booze and snacks.

This. For the benefit of @jontay The "Mega" is the name of a store in cozumel that's somewhat like a walmart. They have pretty much everything at what I thought was fair prices. It's a short cab ride from pretty much any of the resorts. It's close enough to the Hotel Cozumel (where I stayed) that we just walked. Just remember that prices are in pesos, so you don't have a heart attack when you see the $900 styrofoam coolers for sale. They accept USD cash or pesos, but only give change in pesos. We kept our pesos as a souvenir. Our hotel had plenty of towels, we just used theirs. I've never been to a hotel that didn't provide towels so that's a safe bet. You can keep a shopping trip to the mega in your pocket as a backup.

 

[mstevens]

Do not take a towel. If you're staying at hotels, they'll almost certainly have beach towels to borrow. If you're backpacking and staying in hostels or want your own personal beach towel, you can find decent beach towels EVERYWHERE. If you don't want a touristy one, just go to pretty much any big grocery store (Chedraui, Mega, Soriana, Aki) or to Walmart, Bodega Aurerra, or the like and you'll find plenty. We got ours at Sam's Club because we wanted really nice, thick, thirsty beach towels of the sort that are great in a closet or car but that you would not want to try to pack due to their bulk. For the kind we pack in our drybags on a dive boat, we go to Chedraui (in Cozumel, but they have stores all over the mainland) and get nice striped beach towels made by Solá in the Puerto Morelos area. They're large and sturdy, dry well, and are inexpensive enough that we won't miss them if they blow off the boat.

 

[sobthomaser]

I was just in Cozumel and bought a towel that I also brought home as a souvenir. They were available at all the small shops in the square.

 

[JamesBon92007]

What does everyone consider "inexpensive?" Sure, I got a nice, thick, beach towel with tropical fishies all over it with Puerto Vallarta embroidered on it but I wouldn't call it inexpensive. At the local Wal-Mart here in California you can get a beach towel for $6 but I didn't see anything that compared to that in San Miguel.

 

[ERRN]

i tend to do a lot of backpacking trips and have found the best bet for me is a small packtowel (microfiber) on a dive boat, and for chilling on the beach i just take along a really thin sarong type beach wrap/towel, packs small as 1 t-shirt. if you want to just buy one down there they sell them everywhere, oxo, walmart, mega etc... probably around 120-180 ($7-10 US) pesos if i remember, that's what i would do. bought one 5 years ago at an OXO and still using it, or just ebay from the states. They don't work to dry you off real well, but shake out real easy, dry super quick, hand wash and dry in an afternoon, and pack very small. plenty of gender neutral or "male" colors and patterns. at least in mexico and the carribean a lot of the backpacker/hostel crowd use them in my experience, plus they are bigger than must beach towels in width.

 

[jontay]

Thanks everyone!
The microfiber towel was definitely the way to go (for me).