Cozumel or Isla Mujeres for a day trip?
 

We are staying at the JW Marriott in early November for 8 days.

Is Cozumel or Isla Mujeres a better day trip and why? We are looking for beach, food, drink, snorkeling.

Should we consider going to both?

Thanks.

Since you are staying in Cancun, I would for sure make a trip to Isla Mujeres. Simply take a bus downtown, then a bus or cab to Puerto Juarez to catch the ferry. Ferry is about $3.50US per person. Playa Norte is beautiful. Lots of beach bars and restaurants. There are snorkel trips to Isla Contoy which sound like fun. Also Garrafon Park at the south end. Although, it's gotten fairly expensive, there is another venue next door which is cheaper.

The day we went to Cozumel last January it was too cold and windy to snorkel, so we just wandered around a bit, had lunch and returned to Playa Del Carmen. From Cancun, it's a much longer trip than to Isla Mujeres. First you have to get to PDC, then to the ferry to Cozumel. I understand that there are some awesome beaches on the far side of Coz. And the snorkeling is supposed to be wonderful.

When we stayed in Cancun a couple of years ago, we spent two days on Isla Mujeres. This year, we'll skip Cancun completely and just stay on Isla.

Jean

Absolutely you should do Isla Mujeres--this may become your new paradise.

I would do both. Eight days is plenty of time. Tough to beat Cozumel for diving.....although I'm not sure for snorkeling. Enjoy.

I would definitely do Isla Mujeres, but skip Cozumel. Couple reasons why: first, Isla Mujeres is close to Cancun and easy and cheap to get to while Cozumel, you're looking at a several hour investment in time just to get there, second, you said you're interested in the beaches. The beaches aren't that great in Cozumel -- the snorkling is wonderful, but they pale in comparison to Cancun, or even to Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres.

If you're looking for other day trips to fill the week, I could easily come up with another 7 that would beat out Cozumel for return on your investment in time, especially doing some of the Mayan ruins, like Tulum, Chichen Itza, or Coba.

Just my 2 cents.
Mark
www.tiogringo.com

Thanks for the input. It sounds like Isla would be a nice break from Cancun. Can you snorkel from the beach in Isla? Where can you snorkel from the beach in Cancun?

Sure.

There's lots of places to snorkel around Isla Mujeres. The most popular place is calle Garrafon -- it's a park towards the southern part of the island and they have lots of facilities geared towards the day tripper. Even better for snorklers is to hire one of the boatmen near the docks to take you out to the reefs -- but that's not a cheap & easy plan for most folks.

Hope this helps!
Mark
www.tiogringo.com

You can snorkel from shore on Norte Beach on the rocks that go out from the Avalon hotel. To the right is easy --to the left requires a small hike over.

When you land on the island look to your left at the boats. They belong to the Cooperative. They take people out on snorkle tours each day between 9 & 10 and return about 2. The tour includes a wonderful shore lunch of fresh grilled fish. Cost around $16US