During our weekend trip to Cancun, we spent most all day Saturday on our whale shark excursion, but we did have time for a few others things while there as well. Here are our top tricks and tips to share:
- Buses in Cancun are great.
Public transportation in Cancun is actually really good. From the airport to get into the city you can take the ADO bus for around $5. There are kiosks in the airport where you can purchase tickets and the ride is around 30 minutes. You may have to wait 20 minutes for the bus, but they run very punctually and we never had a problem. They were also very comfortable, nice and air conditioned similar to a coach bus in the U.S.
Once you arrive at the main bus terminal you can ask locals about where to catch the R1 bus to the city center (the R2 bus may work as well). These are big buses and run every 5 minutes constantly. You can catch them right near the main bus station, just ask a passerby where to go- or just keep your eyes open you’ll probably see them coming by right away. Each local bus ride is 10.5 pesos, so less than a dollar. The ride to get to the downtown area from the main bus station is about 15-20 minutes depending on where you’re going. Don’t think you’re going to get a fancy coach style bus for the local lines though, these are much simpler.
- Our Hotel: The Ramada Inn Cancun City
This hotel was ok. It was within a 10 minute walk from the main bus station which was a huge selling point for me. This meant we could save money on needing to catch taxis everywhere. However, it’s located in “downtown” Cancun which is NOT the main hotel zone (Zona Hotelera). This meant it was not near the beach and it would have been nice to be closer to that. I had read that the hotel had its own private beach area and a free shuttle that will take you there as well. However, upon arrival we learned that this shuttle only went once in the morning and once in the afternoon. And you had to make reservations each morning for it, there was no reservations ahead of time. This didn’t match up with our plans at all so instead we got directions and hopped on a bus there. Sadly we never actually found the hotel’s beach area. We went up and down the area multiple times where they said it would be and we asked multiple people for directions as well but could never locate it. This was really disappointing and to add to that we learned afterwards it closes early afternoon each day anyway.
We took a taxi from the bus station to the hotel upon arrival just since we were tired, hot and sweaty and didn’t know exactly where we were going. It cost us $5 for a 2 minute taxi ride and we quickly figured out the route to walk to the bus station after that.
The hotel did not include breakfast for us (another downside in my book) but there were plenty of restaurants located all around it. The other main advantage is how closely it was located to Mercado 28!! It was closer to walk there than the bus station in fact, less than 10 minutes. Which leads me to talk about that next
- Mercado 28 is fun
I’m sure it’s a bit of a tourist trap but I still loved it. One of my favorite parts or our foreign travels is eating in the open air markets wherever we go. Mercado 28 is the biggest market in Cancun and it definitely lived up to its reputation- it just went on and on. We found some great souvenirs here and they’re supposed to be cheaper than buying souvenirs in the hotel zone. We also had some great food included fresh strawberry drinks that were absolutely delicious in the intense heat. I would definitely go back here again and it was nice that it was so close to the hotel so we could walk here for meals.
- Our Parasailing Adventure
I used some of our Chase points to book a parasailing excursion through the Chase Portal as well. The reservation then gave us contact information for “Cancun Vacation Experts” who we needed to contact to set up our exact time. I emailed them and was told I needed to call them the day before our parasailing excursion or even the morning of. We did and were able to get a hold of them without a problem. They gave us directions on how to find their location as we needed to go through a hotel and to the beach behind. We found the hotel and the front desk pointed us through their doors towards the beach behind. Our reservation was for 10:00am and they had asked us to arrive 20 minutes prior to that. However, they did not actually show up for us to go until around 10:30 or so. This was frustrating and I was glad I didn’t schedule it for later in the day which could have cut it close for our flight.
Although I was terrified at first, it was a lot of fun and something I’d recommend to anyone. Our parasailing wasn’t the traditional kind where you were strapped in with your feet dangling- instead we sat the whole time in a little seating contraption and there was nothing strapping us in. That caused a whole different kind of nervousness for me but as long we didn’t move around much I felt ok. The one benefit is that we were allowed to spend time at the hotel’s beach area before and after our time out parasailing. They had some nice umbrellas and beach chairs and it was quieter and move private which was nice.
- Cancun is not cheap
Many people think of Mexico as a cheap destination and although its definitely not as pricy as Europe, it’s still not as cheap as one may think. Most restaurant prices were very similar to costs at restaurants here in the U.S. On top of that, while the buses are cheap any actual activities are so pricy! Our whale shark excursion was close to $200 per person if we had paid for it and parasailing would have been around $50 each! It’s really tough for me to think either of those activities was worth quite that much but it honestly just seems that any activity you’re going to do is going to be overpriced. That’s just the reality.
- Other Beaches
Sadly we didn’t get as much beach time on this trip as we would’ve liked. Since we never actually found the beach area for the hotel we visited a public beach instead, Playa Tortugas. This was not a super picturesque touristy area, instead it was full of locals there. Restaurants there have tables right on the beach and it was fun to each close to the water though again the food was expensive. We enjoyed spending some time relaxing there but Isla Mujeres Playa Norte was far more gorgeous. Next time I would do some research ahead of time on which beaches in Cancun are the best to see.
In closing:
- Use buses to get around Cancun, way cheaper than taxis!
- Be prepared for food to still be expensive in Mexico. If you really want to save money take a trip to Chedraui (the local grocery store) to stock up on some things and aim for Mercado 28 or another market.
- The hotel zone has lots of beach access which is super convenient. But the downtown area can be cheaper
- Tulum Ave is the main strip in Cancun.
- If you find an awesome beach there, let me know!
Fire Round the World 