Mexican paradise

After a years of dreaming, I finally went there. I’ve always imagined Mexico like a perfect place on Earth, and guess what – it’s just like that! After two weeks spent there I want to share with you all the beauties I saw there. Above all, to share practical and useful information that will help you make your holiday even better and stress-free. So, let’s start!

Arrival

Few tips about entering the country. We landed in Cancun from New York. Our flight was operated by Delta Airlines and I would like to mention some things here. When booking our fare with Delta, we didn’t have included checked bag. If you want to add bags to your flight you can’t do it online, only at the airport. The price is 25 USD per bag per flight. When traveling from Mexico, they won’t accept american dollars, only pesos. Keep some pesos for this purpose 🙂 Visa is required for Mexico, but for citizens of Serbia is for free. However, you have to visit Mexican embassy so they can put the visa in your passport. Also, if you have US visa there is nothing to worry about. You can enter the country with her without any problem. Once you arrive, you will have to show two forms – Immigration form and Customs declaration form. You will get this forms on board the aircraft, or, you can find them at the airport. Mexican immigration form can also be filled in online, but my advice is to do it at the airport.

Transportation

After finishing all the paperwork at the airport, we went to find the bus stop for our destination – Playa del Carmen (around 60 km from Cancun). For this purpose we bought tickets with ADO bus which costed us around 10 USD (190 MXN) one way per passenger. These buses are very nice, but my advice is to use them only from/to the airport because there is much cheaper way of transportation between the cities. You can download the ADO app from play store as well.

There are two ways of moving around – taxis and collectivo buses. Of course, if you don’t have your own car there. Taxi fares can vary. We tried to catch the taxi near the touristic zone in Playa del Carmen and the driver told us that if we want to pay less, we have to catch the taxi somewhere on the corner of the street. You can find them anywhere, just give him the signal to stop and bargain about the price. Determine the price first. Collectivo buses are small vans, usually used by the locals. One van can drive from 8 to 15 pax. We used this van to drive to Cancun and Tulum. Collectivo buses can be find in the corner of 15 Av. and 2^nd street. For the ride of 67 km, we paid around 2 USD (40 MXN) one way per passenger. If you are planning to visit Cozumel or Isla Mujeres you will use the ferry. Ultramar is the company that provides these rides. Tip: When traveling from Cancun to Isla Mujeres, use the port at Puerto Juarez instead the one from the hotel zone (Playa Tortugas). It’s cheaper.

Accomodation

We were staying in the center of Playa del Carmen. Here is the link of our hotel. We were very satisfied and the price was good. However, it is very easy to find cheap and nice place to stay here even if you haven’t booked it already from your home. My advice for Playa del Carmen –  try to find the hotel in the center, close to the touristic zone. Here is the map of Playa del Carmen.

Food

So, so, so delicious. Try typical Mexican cuisine and always check if the food you ordered is chilly. In Playa del Carmen there is one shopping and food street (5 Av.), but, prices are very high here. However, 2 or 3 streets down you can find different local restaurants with cheap and tasty food. My recommendation is restaurant El Fogon (with no A/C inside it looks like the temperature is 100 degrees Celsius, but this place is always full). Also try Mexican pancakes called marquesitas (try the one with nutella and philadelphia cream cheese). Street food and marquesitas you can find at the square located near the corner of 2^nd street and 15 Av. Also, some stores with food you can find here are Oxxo and Walmart convenience stores.

Beaches

We were staying in Playa del Carmen in July. Unfortunately, in this period we had a big problem with sargasso. So, each day we were changing the beach, looking for the perfect one. My suggestion is to visit Punta Esmeralda beach (10 min drive from Playa del Carmen) or you can always visit the beaches in Cancun Zona hotelera. Good thing about the beaches in this zone is that in some of them you can get beach umbrella for free. Just leave your ID and tip them. Mexicans live from the tips. My recommendation: Playa Marlin, Gaviota Azul, Chac-Mol and Caracol beach. Temperatures in July are very high as well as the humidity. You can reach these beaches easily with the bus. Ticket price is around 1 american dollar.

Trips and tours

As I always like to say, if there is a chance, go and visit everything you can on your own. The only trip we took with the agency was the Chichen-Itza, because it was too far and we didn’t have a car. I will write more about the trips we took, especially about the Chichen-Itza which left the big impression on me. Some excursion you will be offered with are Xcaret, Tulum, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres etc.

More

-Cancun and Playa del Carmen have streets (calle) and avenues (avenidas). It is very easy to get around.

-Local currency is Mexican peso (MXN or Mexican dollar), however, they accept american dollars as well.

-My advice – always pay in pesos.

-1 USD is around 18 MXN (July 2018.)

-Language: Spanish is official but they speak English almost everywhere.

-There are 60 different languages in Mexico and 200 dialects.

-In general, it’s safe for tourists, tourist police is everywhere around.

-Before you book your trip, check the weather conditions (because of the hurricane season)

-Driving fast is normal in Mexico. Also, crossing the road at non-marked places 😀

Stay with us for more information! 🙂