Home America Mexico Yucatán, Mexico: practical info + itinerary

Yucatán, Mexico: practical info + itinerary

září 24, 2022
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září 24, 2022


I knew I wanted to take Donut somewhere further, outside Europe, but somehow there was still no time for that this year. But at the same time, it seemed ideal to me if this "bigger" trip could be done before she turned two, when we still don't have to pay for her full-fare ticket. I spent X hours comparing flights, entry conditions, weather and prices in the destinations until Vietnam made the shortlist and... Mexico, which won out in the end thanks to relatively cheap airfare and a great deal of swimming options. If we were going alone as a couple, our priority would definitely not be water :) and quite possibly not Mexico, or at least not that part. But with an almost 23 month old Nina, I have to say it was a great choice and we all really enjoyed it to the max. And where did we actually go?


Mexico - Cancún - 13 days - September - rental car - drove through the states of Quintana Roo + Yucatan. I'll throw our full itinerary in at the end of the article, so if that's the only one you're interested in, keep scrolling! :) I should point out that the September date was a bit of a lottery, as the ideal travel period for the Yucatan Peninsula is stated as November to May = dry season. June to September is usually referred to as the rainy season, which of course doesn't necessarily mean it will rain all (and every) day and night. In short, we decided to take a chance. And what was the result? We got wet a couple of times, but mostly it was really short evening showers that didn't limit us or disrupt our plans. Otherwise hot, hot and hot :) And now let's go into some detail about traveling in the Yucatán.




Flights

You can get the best deals on flights to Mexico departing from German airports, saving several thousand compared to Prague. It's worth waiting for a deal, you can for example follow the sites I listed in the article here. I bought my tickets with TAP Portugal on the route Munich - Lisbon - Cancún, and as two adults and one child under two we could fit in €920. Be warned though, without checked luggage, we packed again only two backpacks + a cloth bag with food/toys for the plane + a stroller (carried for free). I chose TAP because they are almost the only ones that don't have a stopover in the US - I didn't want to deal with and pay for ESTA, which you also need for transit, or go around covid tests.


In the end, we didn't even make it to Lisbon on the way there because our flight was cancelled, probably due to the Lufthansa pilots' strike. We flew the next day, but on a direct flight, on Eurowings Discovery, and arrived in Cancun just a few hours later than expected... Actually, it was good, it seemed like a lot more nerve-wracking. I mean, it was a big nerve when you're running around the airport at midnight with a sleeping baby in a stroller, you can't get a hold of anyone and there's no one at the airport to help you. But that's a story for another time :) Anyway, info for you - there is also a direct flight Munich - Cancún, see Eurowings.






Transportation, rent a car


If you don't want to drive from the airport only to the holet resort, you basically have two options. Either you can use local buses (ADO and Mayab are the most common), or you can use the collectivo or taxis, which are available practically everywhere. Not many people walk here :) Or option number two: RENT A CAR. I understand that for many people driving (and not only driving) will be a big scare, but we have only positive experiences see the following lines.


  • roads - don't expect any wilderness, the roads are marked and at the level you are used to from the Czech Republic. Be especially careful on the access roads leading to cenotes, which are mostly dusty rocky surfaces. And the second thing - Mexican toll highways. Prices for individual sections vary a lot, watch out especially for 180D (Cancún - direction Merida), which has become even the most expensive highway in the whole of Mexico.

  • rules - if you have driven a car in the US, it will seem quite similar, e.g. traffic lights are after the intersection, you can overtake on the highway from the right and from the left, and you can run red lights at the intersection when turning right.

  • topes - well, since nobody respects the speed limit signs here, they have one super specialty that you can enjoy to the fullest - the so-called "topes" or slowing thresholds. They are everywhere, even in the smallest village expect several of them! Be sure to slow down, because some of them are not exactly small and you probably don't want to go through them with a rental car.

  • police - as soon as you start thinking about renting a car and googling the information you need, you are bound to come across stories of corrupt police officers pulling you over on some pretext and demanding a bribe. I don't know how prevalent or not this practice is on the Yucatan Peninsula itself, but we didn't encounter anything like this, and we did encounter a lot of police officers. Often they stand at the deceleration lanes and either let you pass or require some interaction - once we opened the trunk of the car, once Pepa took a breathalyzer test. However, in both cases the officers were polite and there was no problem at all.

  • filling up - another Mexican scare is often gas stations as a place where they will try to screw you. In Mexico, most of the stands are manned by an attendant who will fill your tank or wash your glass, and at which you also pay. In general, make sure the stand is zeroed out. The second thing: keep your money under control, i.e. concentrate on how much you give the attendant and how much he gives you back. They once tried to give us back a smaller amount than it should have been, but to their misfortune it didn't work out.



Cancún is a pretty touristy city thanks to the airport, so you'll find plenty of car rental companies. I recommend comparing a few, as there are quite big differences in prices. You can check the classic comparison site booking.com or you can check the individual (especially local) rental companies separately. The local folklore is that the staff (not only) of car rental companies prefer to communicate via whatsapp, so all arrangements and exchanges are made via this chat app. You'll get used to it :)


We chose Emporio Car Rental, the main reason being the price (600 MEX/day), a great deal of positive reviews and last but not least they provided us with a free car seat for Kobliha, which was really handy. We were picked up at the airport, taken to the office where we cleared the red tape and in a few minutes we were driving off in the Chevrolet Aveo on our Yucatan sightseeing tour. The entire budget regarding the car for reference follows:


  • rental: 7 200 MEX (500 MEX in advance, the rest on the spot + 2 000 MEX refundable deposit)
  • petrol: 3 260 MEX
  • road fee: 151 MEX
  • parking: 60 MEX (only in Cobá)



Accommodation


Most people go to Mexico for the beaches, so they prefer the convenience of staying in one place, i.e. a hotel with a beach. There are hundreds of them and more are coming, so the choice is huuuuge, and the price range for this type of accommodation is also huge, see booking.com. The most expensive accommodation can be found in the most touristy area - the Riviera Maya, i.e. Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum. But, of course, even here you can find affordable and fine tips. I guess you can see that a hotel resort is not exactly our cup of tea, so where did we sleep?


We had a total of 12 nights, during which we changed 8 different accommodations, namely 7 x booking + 1 x airbnb, which is very common here. I booked all of them in advance from CR and it was only good. Even though September in Mexico is not exactly top season, the prices still went up more and more as the date approached. I generally chose hotels in the middle category, with good ratings, always with air conditioning and parking. Plus when possible, I took a room with 2 double beds as we didn't have a cot with us and Nina migrates quite a bit in bed. The price ranged between €26-44/room/night and we were really completely satisfied with all the hotels we chose. I'll list specific tips in the itinerary below + later in individual articles.




Shopping, food


Well, here's one of the reasons we went to Mexico - because FOOD! I knew that I wasn't going to cook anything on this vacation, that we were going to try and taste, and that we were simply going to enjoy it. The only accommodation we had for our entire stay was 3 breakfasts. Everything else was taken outside, so there was a lot of tasting of Mexican cuisine. By the last few days we even knew what we were ordering in most cases :)

I don't want to go too much into the price ranges here, I guess everyone has it set differently, and everyone is willing to spend a different amount of money for food, but in general I found the prices of food in Mexico comparable to the Czech Republic. If you are not in those echt tourist locations, and on the contrary you are trying to eat like a local, you can get cheaper. If you're interested in supermarket shopping, there are several shops in every town, even tiny ones, where you can at least buy drinks and some unhealthy stuff like chips, cookies, etc. I would consider the local very widespread chain Oxxo or 7eleven to be such a small convenience store, they are often near gas stations as well. In big cities you can then conveniently shop at Walmart (huge selection of everything), Willys or Super Aki. Prices are also very similar to ours, only dairy products and milk itself a bit more expensive.


A special category, and a budget item, in Mexico is WATER. Here, tap water is not drinkable, so the same kind of drinking water as in Europe is out of the question. Fortunately, there is no problem to buy bottled water more or less anywhere and anytime, but those plastics...  In a typical street shop, you can expect to pay about 15 MEX for a 1.5 litre bottle.




Our itinerary


Most tourists come to this part of Mexico for swimming, either in the sea or in the so-called cenotes = flooded karst sinkholes with incredibly clear water. Nowhere else in the world can you see so many in such a small area. In Yucatan there are supposedly more than 6000 cenotes (!), so... you probably won't be able to see them all :) Often there are various jumps, ziplines, swings or ropes installed in them for variety, but for less demanding people it is enough to simply cool down on a hot day, watch the fish or just check out the beautiful stalactite decorations. There is an entrance fee to the cenotes, which varies very, very much. The most expensive (and also the most crowded) cenotes are around Tulum, where prices can be in the hundreds of MEX. On the other hand, it's much cheaper to take a dip in the Homún area, where you'll pay around 50 MEX for entry and quite possibly have the cave to yourself. You can encounter several types of cenotes, which are related to their age:

  • open - they look more like natural swimming pools
  • semi-open - the ceiling is partly caved in, so you can see out at least a little bit
  • underground - inside the cave, lit only by artificial light


And one more note about the beaches. In recent years, sargassum algae have been coming to the Riviera Maya more and more often, which would make swimming very unpleasant. I recommend following the fb page Red de Monitoreo del Sargazo de Quintana Roo to find out the current situation. Oh, and if the beach isn't cleaned up right now, snag a cenote that day for now. Simple :)

But the Yucatan Peninsula isn't just about swimming, it's also perfect for exploring the local culture and history, as there are dozens of archaeological sites. So I tried to put together a program that would keep us all happy, which meant somehow combining a reasonable mix of Mayan sights, city errands, and of course, some of that cackling. The Nina loves water... and don't ask us, we don't know who he gets it from either.)


DAY1

Cancún arrival

night Playa del Carmen

DAY2

Playa Punta Esmeralda

Coba

night Tulum

DAY3

Tulum

Muyil 

night Bacalar 

DAY4

Kohunlich

Los Rapidos

night Bacalar

DAY5

Bacalar lagoon

night Oxkutzcab

DAY6

Choco Story Uxmal

Kabah

night Oxkutzcab

DAY7

Mayapan

cenote Yaxbacaltun

night Homún

DAY8

cenotes Santa Cruz

hacienda Yaxcopoil

night Merida

DAY9

Progreso - beach, salt flats

night Merida

DAY10

Sisal

night Merida

DAY11

Izamal

night Pisté

DAY12

Chichén Itzá

Valladolid + cenotes Suytun

night Valladolid

DAY13

moving to Cancún + departure

-> DAY14 přílet do Munich arrival



You can continue straight to the other articles below. If you're interested in anything, feel free to email me, I'll try to answer/advise as best I can :)



If this information helped you save some time or money or both, you can maybe "invite me for coffee" and contribute to the running of Travel with Donuts :) account number / QR code: 1257951017/3030




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