dana

We just returned from a wonderful ten day trip to the Yucatan peninsula -- which included visits to the major Mayan ruins, the city of Merida, Cancun, and Playa del Carmen. Here's the short version -- arrived in Cancun and spent the first two days at Sheraton Cancun. For $155 a night, it was very nice. Food is expensive and beach area is kind of sterile, but it was fine for relaxation. The pool is also very nice. From there, we drove to Chichen Itza, spent a night at Mayaland Hotel, a wonderful hotel in walking distance from the ruins. We had a little bungalow, it was all very charming. After a full day at the ruins, we drove to Uxmal, where we spent two nights at another very nice hotel, Hacienda uxmal, very near the ruins. We drove the Puuc route, a circle trip to some "minor" Mayan sites but they were awe inspiring, particularly Kabah. After a half day at Uxmal ruins, we drove to Merida, spent a day there. There's a nice Mayan museum there, and the city itself has some colonial charm, good restaurants, and pretty plazas. We stayed at Casa del Balam hotel, nice rooms for about $65. Our last four days were spent at Playa Carmen, far nicer than Cancun in my mind, at Pelicano Inn, on the beach, a small hotel with great service. We snorkeled in puerto Morelos and were able to have a long trip for a family of four for $60, which was the price we were quoted for one person on some of the trips leaving from Playa del Carmen. (name of operation is Expediciones Subaquaticas, a small business that does diving trips as well as the more tame snorkel trips) It was the high point of our trip, in fact, my 16 year old daughter gushed that it was just like a Disney movie. I would highly recommend renting a car in that part of Mexico, because there is so much to see. I'd be happy to give my opinion if you have a question.

barb

In your opinion, if I was just going to go on one excursion, which is the best one to go to? <BR>thanks

Weng

Hi, <BR> Thanks for your response to the Fodors' forum. <BR> We have booked our flight from Los Angeles to Cancun <BR>on 4/17/99 and come back on 4/25/99. We did not reserve <BR>the flight to Merida since it is much more expensive than <BR>to Cancun. However, we hope to visit the mayan ruins <BR>primarily than the cancun resort. <BR> Could you give us some suggestions of the followings <BR>1. We should take the bus or rent a car in Cancun? If we should <BR>take the bus to Merida, where can I obtain the bus schedule? <BR>2. Should we reserve the hotels in advance? <BR>3. Should we participate the local tour guide in Cancun or <BR>Merida to the mayan sites? <BR>4. How much time approximately you would recommend us to stay <BR>in each mayan site? <BR> Thanks so much for your kind help!! <BR> <BR> Sincerely <BR>

Kenn

Hi Dana: <BR>I felt great reading your posted message on your trip to the Yucatan! I'd like to visit Merida, and some of the Mayan Ruins of Quintana Roo in the fall of 1999. I've never traveled to this region of Mexico. Can I plan a 2 week trip and travel through that region comfortably on a budget of 750 US dollars? <BR>

Kenn

Hi Dana: <BR>I felt great reading your posted message on your trip to the Yucatan! I'd like to visit Merida, and some of the Mayan Ruins of Quintana Roo in the fall of 1999. I've never traveled to this region of Mexico. Can I plan a 2 week trip and travel through that region comfortably on a budget of 750 US dollars? <BR>

Dana

Barb -- I assume you are planning to be in Cancun and wondering about a day trip from there. If so, you've got a hard choice. Chichen Itza can be done in a day, but given the distance, the only way you can really get there and back is on a tour package. There are tons of them, around $60 a day for entrance to the ruins and a meal of questionable quality at one of the hotels near the ruins. The value of what you get for your money is not great, but it's really the only way to get there and back unless you can find some people with whom to rent a car for a day. Tulum, on the other hand, is easy to get to and back in one day. Bus to Playa del Carmen, transfer there to bus to Tulum. You can even spend a few hours in Playa and enjoy the beach either before or after tulum. (there are very frequent buses to Cancun from Playa). As between the two, it depends on what you think you would like more -- an extensively renovated large city (chichen Itza) or a smaller site on a spectacular promontory overlooking the ocean (Tulum) (by the way there's good swimming right at Tulum, so bring your suit). <BR> <BR>Weng -- I would strongly recommend a car, especially if you plan to go to some of the less touristed sites near Uxmal. Renting a car from Cancun is easy and rates are competitive. The drive to Merida is about 3 1/2 hours if my memory serves me well. This is on the highway, though, and the tolls are steep (about $20). In general, I think that driving yourselves to the sites and hiring a guide at the site is the best option. There are always plenty of them outside the entrance, and most speak Engish. Entrance to most of these sites is about $3 per person. As far as how much time to spend, I'd say Chichen Itza deserves at least a half day (and if you want a good meal near the ruins, walk out the back entrance and you'll come right to Hotel Mayaland where you can eat and cool off and then head back in for more ruins). You will probably want to spend that much time at Uxmal, too. The "secondary" sites near Uxmal, including Kabah, Sayil make a nice circle and would take a full day. Tulum is much smaller and you can see the entire site in an hour or so, but it's so pretty you may just want to stay and swim or gaze at the turquoise water. Coba is hot and jungly, lots and lots of walking and climbing. I would say you need at least a half day to enjoy it. About hotels, if you go in April or later, you will be in low season and should not have any problem getting rooms. Merida is a good stopping point for a night, it has a nice colonial center and is a lively provincial city. <BR>Kenn -- I think your $750 budget sounds reasonable, especially since you're going in low season. Bus transportation is very cheap and reliable, and you are not talking about huge distances. There are of course very expensive hotels in all of these places, but you will find plenty of options in the lower range, too. I'd check out the Lets Go book for cheap places to stay.

Candi

Hi Dana, <BR>I'm planning a Millenium trip to Mexico, primarily to see Mayan Ruins (we're looking to go very un-touristy). I know NOTHING about the area! Where's a good place to fly into and to stay near the best ruins? I'm not interested in Cancun, since it will be a madhouse then. <BR>

dan

You can do Chichen Itza in a day without a tour. Take the very early (7:00-8:00) second class bus or the later first class bus to Chichen Itza, tour, and buy a return ticket at the bus counter inside Chichen Itza. Or you can go on to Merida if you want to see more great ruins. You can easily spend five hours or more and then return without it getting too late. Make sure to check bus schedules when you get to Chichen Itza though, so you will make sure to make one and buy your ticket ahead of time to leave. <BR> <BR>The second class bus is more scenic but can easily take 4 1/2 hours to reach the ruins.

Diane

We took our two teenagers to the same area, but never made it to any of the ruins as we kept finding places along teh coast! I'd like to follow your route, it sounds really great. Agree with your Cancun appraisal, but it is fun to ride that bus and wonder at all the fancy hotels, one after another. Playa del Carmen was our favorite. We had a similarly priced snorkeling trip in Isla Mujeres. Just us and the captain, (age 19) who took a shine to our 19 year old daughter, and we got to snorkel some FANTASTIC reef areas where no one else was around.

fred

Candi, I've recently been to most of the ruins in the Yuctan peninsula and think it's a great place for "un-touristy" travel. Flying in to Cancun makes a lot of sense, even if you don't stay there. You can then go south to Tulum and some of the beaches in that area are really beautiful and uncrowded. Coba is also in that area, about an hour from Tulum on inland roads, quite jungle-like. Then back to Cancun and head west towards Chichen Itza, Uxmal, the Puuc route, and Merida. You didn't say whether you were going by bus or in a rental car. I personally think the car is ideal, especially for getting to some of the more out of the way ruin sites. An earlier post described the public transportation to Chichen Itza, from there you couldcontinue on to Merida, and from Merida you can get to Uxmal, and the Puuc Route. But if you had a car, you could continue on to Palenque, which may be harder to get to by public transportation, but I don't know.

Susan

Was happy to find all the comments about the Yucatan. We are planning to go in the fall, spending a week visiting the ruins and Merida, then going over to Cozumel for another week. Haven't done the peninsula before. My questions regard transportation and public restroom facilities. I had thought that driving your own car (rental) could be a problem in Mexico and was a good way to land in the local jail for undetermined lengths of time. Am I just a victim of old wives' tales? In traveling in the US, we do find rest areas along the major highways. What about in the peninsula area? Or are there enough places along the way to take care of nature's requirments? Is it better to use public transportation? On tour buses in the US and other countries, there is usually an onboard "facility". This is a very important consideration for a member of our group.

Dana

Susan -- We rented a car and drove around the peninsula for ten days without any problems at all. I think that the horror stories you have heard come from different parts of the country. It has been explained to me that the government exercises extreme care to keep Cancun and vicinity free from that kind of crime because of the tremendous influx of cash the tourism represents. We were on some pretty deserted roads and never experienced any reason to be concerned. As far as "rest stops" along the way, I know that the gas stations have bathrooms but that's about it. We saw one rest area between cancun and Merida on the major highway. But I think you will be better off in a car than in a bus, because I don't think that the normal inter-city buses tend to have bathrooms. You can get decent maps with all the gas stations marked (and they are few and far between in some places) and many of the roads go through completely deserted areas where bushes are plentiful. <BR>

dan

Road lots of buses and didn't see any restrooms. I really didn't find it to be that much of a problem though. But of course, if you have had lots of chili peppers the night before... Some buses stop at intermediate bus stations, where you can get off briefly, for example at Valladolid. I think Palenque is about 7 hours by bus from Merida. I wouldn't worry too much about driving, but be careful if you drive at night, since some of the roads can be a little rough, and many have big speed bumps whenever you come to a populated area.

santi

I had no problem driving in this area. It seems perfectly safe, no road bandits or anything like that. I would only second the comment about road conditions -- for instance, the road south of Cancun to Tulum and beyond is under construction. No towns marked, so we drove almost all the way to Tulum before we realized we had passed Playa del Carmen. Also, as of March, many parts of that road had no markings at all on the pavement. So even though the road is plenty wide, it's a bit unnerving not to see any lines. One other thing -- on the road to Coba, there are several unmarked speed bumps that just come up out of nowhere. But the hassles are all definitely worth it, the sites are awesome.

Susan

Thanks to Santi, Dan, and Dana for your advice on driving around the Yucatan. Sounds like the way to go.

Tracy

I'm researching a similar trip and am finding quite a huge difference in hotel prices. Do you think the Mayaland hotels are worth the $150 or so a night they charge?

matjaz

Need an advice about hotels in Cancun or Playa del Carmen. Which location is better and any good hotels there. <BR>Thanks! <BR>

Carol

<BR>My son and I spent 5 days in Merida at the beginning of May. I think it makes a good base for Yucatan exploration. There are nice, inexpensive hotels there, and Mayaland Tours has day van excursions to the Maya sites. On Sundays there are a variety of free public performances in the old city, and it's a pleasant place to be. The hotels at Chichen Itza and Uxmal are nice but isolated.

dan

Matjaz, it depends on what you are looking for in your travels. For nightlife, Cancun is better. For everything else Playa del Carmen is at least as good or better. It is less crowded, less Americanized, and actually closer to most of the best daytrip spots - Cozumel, Tulum, Coba, Xel-Ha, etc. Also, if you do care to visit Cancun from there, it is only an hour away by bus.

Claire

I wonder if any of you have been to the "eco parks" that are along the way from Cancun to Tulum. We drove in and picked up brochures on Xcaret and one of the others, and it looked like not much in exchange for a hefty $30 admission fee.(some of the "attractions" were things like a mushroom farm, bird cages, etc). Would appreciate hearing from people who have been there. <BR>