Hi everyone

we would appreciate your advice. we are due to arrive in Meridaby bus from PAlenque then the plan was to stay 3 nights and on the last night hire car, spendone night in chichen iza and see the site and surrounding cenotes the next day then drive to playa del carmen.

we;ve enquired with easyway car rentals who seemed ot be cheaper and with full insurance it wsa $200 us for 4 days . but when I enquired with them they said there is a $100 USD one way drop off fee. which makes having a car more like a luxury for us at around $70-$80 AUD per day.

questions/options
1) dooes anyone one know copmanies that don't charge this fee or a lesser amount?

2)should we bus it to chichen iza? but then we cant visit the surrounding cenotes. then bus to playa? we are already spending ++ time on a bus so thought the car would be good to break it up

3)should we bus it direct from Merida to Playa then hire a car from there and do da trips with the car to tulum and chichen? to avoid the drop off fee. but backtracking

what should we do!!

thanks for your advice/input!!

Lots of choices here... IMO, if you want to save, take the early ADO bus from Merida to Chichen Itza. Visit the entire site and on your way out ask for the colectivo which is a smaller van (in same parking lot) to Valladolid, I forget the cost' I beleive it is around 50 pesos. He will drop you off almost next door to the bus station in Valladolid where you can take the ADO bus straight to Playa (appr. 2.5 hours). You can also take the ADO bus straight to Playa which is around 5 hours. If you do rent, you will not have any problems with the roads as they are very well maintained.

We enjoyed having a car in that area - allowed for more flexibility, but it definitely wasn't cheap when you factor in the insurance and the drop-off fee (we didn't find a company without that either). You can definitely do the trip with buses and taxis - and with the money you would have spent on a rental car, you can be pretty liberal in your taxi use and still come out ahead - LOL. Colectivos are a good option if you pack light, but since they are small vans, there isn't much (any) room for luggage.

thanks for your responses, yes the issue will be storing the two largish pieces of luggage if we do the bus options. i've already reserved an overnight stay in Chichen. perhaps I can ask the car hire company, if I pick the car up in Valladolid is the drop off fee any less? thanks for your help

You can store your luggage at your hotel, of course. And I am almost positive that there is luggage storage at CI. On ADO buses there is plenty of room for luggage. Colectivos are really the only issue with luggage.