blondiepopo

Going to Cancun in 2 weeks with my 21 y/o old son. I've been there 3 times but he has never been there. Interested in a tour from Cancun to Chichen Itza for the day. Also, want to find a snorkeling tour from Cancun to Cozemul for the day. I went on one years ago and it was so much fun but of course can't remember the name of the tour. I just want a tour from Cancun to Chichen Itza - no other stops. Any ideas of reasonable transportation from the airport to our hotel in Cancun?

sharie

Hi there! We used Cancun Vista. They were very personable and professional.

http://www.cancunvista.com/

succeed

There are a lot of tour groups that offer a Chichen Itza tour. But all of the bus tours seem to stop at a cenote, souvenir shopping, and lunch. If you want to bypass all of that you might have to opt for a private tour. I believe Entertainment Plus (amongst others) offers a private tour. Entertainment Plus also offers airport transfers and a snorkeling tour to Puerto Morelos (which is a location highly recommended for snorkeling). And they're willing to pick up in Cancun for that snorkeling tour. Entertainment Plus has a good reputation.
http://www.entertainment-plus.net/
I'm wondering if you can actually find a snorkeling tour for Cozumel that leaves from Cancun? I'm thinking you'd have to find your own transportation to Playa del Carmen. And take the ferry across. (Maybe someone else knows of one).
Anyway, if you're willing to make your own way to Playa del Carmen (easy to do), then I'd highly recommend Manta Raya Divers - http://www.mantaraya.com/ - you'd take the ferry across and meet them in Cozumel. My day of snorkeling in Cozumel with them was the best of both of my Mexican vacations this year.
I also snorkeled with Mexico Blue Dream (who are also amazing). You'd meet them in Playa del Carmen, and ferry across together - http://www.mexicobluedream.com/snorkelCozumel.html
Also, Mystic Snorkeling is also well liked - http://www.islacozumel.com/
I always recommend Best Day for airport transfers. I've found them to be reliable and professional (and their rates are reasonable).
http://www.bestday.com/Transfers/

RAC

For snorkeling, you may want to consider catching the public bus to Puerto Morelos and doing a snorkel trip to the national marine reserve there. The reef snorkeling is supposed to be fantastic, and you can find operators in town that'll do it for about $20/person or so. Probably much cheaper than hiring a private tour out of Cancun.

CancunWithMe

Hello there. I doubt you will find a public tour from Cancun to Chichen Itza and back. The full tour of Chichen Itza usually take less than 2 hours, 3 if you go at a slow rate. It is hard to sell a tour that requires about 6 hours of travel time, to only spend about 2 hours at one stop. Most tours to Chichen Itza have at least one stop at a Cenote, (usually Ik Kill or Suyan).

If you wanted to go from Cancun to Chichen and back, your best option would be to rent a car. Car rental should run about $30 to $50, toll road about $45, and about $10 usd per person admission at Chichen. If you want a guided tour of the site, you could contract one for about 600 pesos.

If renting and driving yourselves is not an option, the next best alternative would be to contract a taxi for the day, and have them take you to Chichen Itza, wait for you, then drive you back. If you try to make a deal with a taxi inside the hotel zone it will cost you much more. If you try to make a deal with a driver outside the hotel zone they might charge you as little as 600 pesos. The taxis inside the hotel zone are usually newer and have AC, something that not all the taxis outside the HZ have.

Another option would be to hire a private tour guide, but if all you need is a ride to Chichen Itza and back, I doubt any tour guides will charge you less than a local taxi driver.

As far as the Cozumel snorkeling trip, again I doubt there is anyone running it from Cancun. They do have "re sellers" of tours in Cancun, which basically pick you up at your resort, take you to a bus that goes to PDC. In PDC you take a ferry or private boat over to Cozumel, and then the local tour operator takes over. My best advice would be to make your own arrangements to get to PDC and get to Cozumel via the ferry, once there you can make deals with the local "lancheros"

Another place you might consider visiting for snorkeling is Puerto Morelos as the other poster mentioned and Isla Mujeres. One tour that offers a good value is islandertour.com/Islander/all.htm A tour like this is not esential in order to enjoy Isla Mujeres, but it is an inexpensive way to visit IM.

Manny

succeed

Manny,
There are definitely public tours from Cancun to Chichen Itza. I booked mine through my hotel when I was there, but many people do the tour with Gray Line and love it too:
http://www.grayline.com/Grayline/des...xico/cancun.go
It's a 12-13 hour day, but it's comfortable, informative, and a stress-free way to do it.

CancunWithMe

succeed, yes there are public tours to Chichen, but I can't remember last time I saw a tour from Cancun to Chichen Itza, then Chichen Itza back to Cancun without doing ANY OTHER stops. Most, if not all public tours include additional stops, usually at a cenote and/or market place.