There are two main ways to travel while visiting the Cancun area, you can rent a vehicle or you can use hotel transportation, taxis, and tour buses. I have outlined the benefits and drawbacks for each type of transportation as well as tips.
Renting Your Own Vehicle
Benefits
If you plan on visiting a variety of sights in the Cancun area or have a larger number of people in your group (taxis only accommodate 4 people) you will want to rent a car. This is what we did. The cost was $500 for the week, but we saved between $100-200 dollars by driving around ourselves.
We were able to set our own schedule and visit the attractions and restaurants that we wanted to when we wanted to. We even went to Wal-Mart a couple of times and bought food and snacks.
Drawbacks
When you are driving keep in mind that the sun goes down at 6pm most of the year and driving at night can pose a challenge. It is a lot more difficult to see road signs or the turn off for your resort, which we found out when we passed it one night and had to turn around.
Driving in Mexico can also be scary because few people actually obey the traffic laws. At one point we saw two vehicles passing another so for a minute there were three cars going the same direction. You will need to use your best defensive driving. Although to be fair we only saw one accident, and as my husband pointed out he usually sees an accident every day while driving to or from work.
Tips
Get a map of the area from your car rental agency. You might also want to consider purchasing a map on-line before traveling.
Road signs to the major attractions are clearly visible and show you which direction to go. We didn’t have any problem finding what we wanted to see.
The road from Cancun to Playa del Carmen is a four-lane divided highway and was in good condition. They are currently widening the highway from Playa del Carmen to Tulum. There is more traffic on the road during usual rush hour times in the morning and evening.
Watch out for taxis and tour buses. The taxis, although small, zip in and out of traffic at will. Tour buses are the kings of the road and will not move for you, so you better move for them.
Be careful of the speed bumps that are placed before stoplights and periodically in city streets or on country roads off the main highway. If you hit them going too fast you can do some major damage to your vehicle.
Allow more time to reach your destination than you would in the states because speed limits don’t go above 55 miles per hour. Also watch for changes in speed limit, since it slows when there are shops on the roadside and then speeds back up.
Using Tour Buses or Taxis
If you plan on staying at your resort or condo and lounging by the pool or playing at the beach you are probably better off using hotel transportation, tour buses, or taxis.
Your resort will have transportation to any attractions that you want to see or can set up transportation with a tour bus for you. You’ll just have to catch it at the front gate. You can also call a taxi, they are everywhere, and they will take you where you want to go.
Benefits
One of the greatest benefits is that you do not have to worry about where you are going or how to get there. You can just sit back and let the driver do all the work. You also do not have to deal with crazy Mexican traffic.
Drawbacks
The downside is that you cannot set your own hours. You have to leave and come back when they say. This does not leave you with very much freedom. Often when you are traveling with kids it’s nice to be able to leave later in the morning or come back when your kids are tired.
When using a tour bus the cost is a lot more, ranging from $20-30 over a regular entrance fee.
Taxis can be quite expensive as well. The cost from Playa del Carmen to Cancun is about $35. The price to travel from Playa del Carmen to the popular ruins at Tulum is also about $35. It is 6 pesos or $0.60 for each additional kilometer past Cancun or Tulum.
You also have to stay with the tour and are limited to attractions and restaurants that the tours routinely visit. This means that you can’t go off on your own and will miss out on less visited attractions like Aktun-chen, Selvatura, and smaller restaurants off the main
tourist track.
Tips
Before you go, look on-line and find the best tour rates available, your resort isn’t usually the cheapest. If your resort has a package deal that includes tour attractions make sure that you schedule your tour times at least a week before your trip because they fill up fast.
If you are catching a tour bus in front of your resort or hotel make sure you arrive on time, even though you might end up waiting you don’t want to miss your bus.
Taxis are not allowed to pick you up from the
Cancun airport so you will need to arrange for transportation with your hotel or resort.
There are no meters in the taxis instead rates are set by how many zones you travel through. So you can ask your driver up front how much the fare will be. A good estimation of the fare is 6 pesos per kilometer.
For more information see my other Cancun blogs
- Cancun – A Family Destination
- Getting around in Mexico
- The Ruins – Tulum and Chichen Itza
- Xel-hà – Eco park
- Eco Adventures
- Action Adventures
- Pirate Dinner Cruise
- Restaurants