Now that the July 4th weekend is upon us and everyone has warm, sunny beaches on the brain, I thought I’d give some travel advice for my clients (and anyone else) interested in going to Cancun.
For starters, it is very easily accessible by plane. If you leave around 5:45a in the morning, you’ll be there by the afternoon and have plenty of time to enjoy the remainder of the day. My recommendation is to not have any set plans on day 1. You’ll really want to use that time to get familiar with the area. Most people stay on ‘Hotel zone’ which is a long stretch of resort properties along different beaches that are named after animals: Playa Delfines, Playa Langosta, Playa Tortuga, etc. The higher the KM number, the safer you typically are going to be. I stayed at Hotel Sotavento & Yacht Club (separate review to follow!) on the Hotel Zone KM4. It was a little closer to downtown vs the all-inclusive resorts located around KM 16. There is a cheap, public bus that will take you up and down the Hotel Zone for cents on the dollar. I used this bus many times, and many different times of the day and felt safe every time. Here’s my advice on the Top 10 things to do (for all ages) while you’re in Cancun:
1) Spend a mere $60 and hop aboard the Dancing Catamaran Cruise for the day. It is a full day, 7-hour tour that includes unlimited open bar of rum punch and a select few other drinks, ceviche appetizer, fajita lunch, 1 snorkeling stop, and a few hours to spend on Isla Mujeres. OH, and in case you couldn’t figure it out from the name, there’s unlimited DANCING! Party for all ages. Wonderful time. You have to try diving off the diving board on the boat. TOO fun!
2) If you don’t feel like joining the catamaran party, you should still visit Isla Mujeres. You can rent golf carts and ride around the island. Or, ya know, do nothing at all but lay there in the sun and catch some rays. Your choice. It’s a quick ferry ride away.
3) Go snorkeling. The best place to go if you have the time would be to Cozumel which has one of the top dive spots in the world. The reef I went to unfortunately didn’t have much life going on. If I had more time I would’ve preferred a day trip out to Cozumel to see their reefs. Either way, it’s a good time for beginners (like I was!).
4) Visit Chichen Itza. It gets HOT, and there is NO shade around, so my recommendation is to suck it up and wake up for the 4a departure bus so you arrive when it’s fairly cool outside. You’ll also beat all the other tour trucks in the gate 😉 It will still be hot while you’re there so be sure to wear tons of sunscreen and a wear a hat. Even if you’re not a history buff, you will enjoy learning about how people eons ago were able to tell the time, day, etc. It’s crazy. Makes you wonder if more technology = dumber society.
5) Ride a camel on the beach. About 45 minutes from Cancun lives a beautiful place in the Riviera Maya called Playa del Carmen. Within that town, there is a tour company called Maroma Adventures that allows you to participate in sports – water sports, riding ATVs, and much more. You can also choose to ride a camel along the beach for a nice stroll. I loved it. My girl’s name was Clara and she was the sweetest. Who said you have to go to the desert to ride a camel??
6) Don’t be afraid to leave the Hotel Zone, take the public bus into town and have dinner with the locals there. They were all very friendly and I felt safe the whole time. I also had a blowout done there at one of the hair salons and I must say, muy bueno! Just what you need after swimming all day and the price was $25USD. Here’s a pic of the delicious meat served! Dinner was so delicious and there was a “futbol” game on that night that the locals loved to watch.
7) Nightlife exists outside of Coco Bongo. I promise. I was torn between going to Coco Bongo for about $100 (pretty sure that just covered admission!) or, $88 price that got me into 4 different night clubs and free drinks at each venue. Yeah…. didn’t really have to think about it. They had me at free drinks. Be prepared to have a TON of promoters along the streets trying to get you to buy their ticket. Be sure you are actually buying a legit ticket and not being scammed! The 4 clubs we were able to access: Dady Os, The City, Palazzo, and La Vaquita (Little Cow). Dady Os was my favorite simply because they had hip-hop music playing. Palazzo and The City were great but the night we went it was all techno/EDM style music. Not a fan, but that may be your thing. La Vaquita was a great starting point. Girls dressed in little cow shorts dancing on stage and a good mixed crowd. DJ was pretty good with playing a mix, I guess to cater to the mixed audience. P.S., when you have people take pictures of you while laying on the ground you look way taller 😉
8) Visit one of the Beaches near the Hotel Zone. If you are not staying at an all-inclusive resort and therefore don’t have the wristband to enter the parties, the beach is a great alternative. Take your pic as there are many to choose from. The one that was closest to my hotel was Playa Delfines so I stayed there for hoursss. I don’t recommend sneaking into resorts without wristbands, sadly it won’t work. Which is a shame because the bartenders would make more money.
9) While I’m generally a cheap person and prefer to take the public bus, the bus can take forever to get home and there are other ways of getting around from the nightlife area to Hotel Zone. Try taking a taxi. Taxi drivers are all over and want your business. Just don’t expect a yellow NYC-type cab. It will likely be someone driving their everyday car around. I’m not entirely sure if they even have insurance… Use at your own risk.
10) Don’t drink the ICE. So everyone already knows not to drink tap water in Mexico. Google: “Montezuma’s Revenge.” So I was so good about not drinking any tap water and only bottled water or Cerveza. BUT, guess what? That crushed ice in my Margarita… yeah that’s frozen tap water that liquefies as the same stuff I tried so hard to avoid while there. I will say though, if you’re in the resort area of Hotel Zone you are generally fine. Most of the facilities there offer purified water. Just drink sparingly and be careful.
What are your thoughts on Cancun? Have you been there? Is it on your bucket list? P.S. apologies for the bad quality of the photos. You’ll be happy to know I upgraded cameras!
