adamore

Hi everyone, would love you r opinon on whether this is too much for the short amount of time for a couple in their late 20s who like culture, history, FOOD, jungle/nature/beaches.

Nov 11-16 Mexico City. May need to cut this from 5 to 4 nights, is this feasible still considering we need to do a day trip to Teotihucan? WE WOULD LIKE TO ALSO DO A COOKING CLASS is is best to do this in Mexico city or Merida?

fly from Mexico City to Tuxtla Guttierz airport (sorry for spelling!!) take bus to San Cristobal, 3 nights here including half day trip to canyon del Sumidiero.
what else can one do in San Cristobal?

Bus to Palenque, 2 nights here to see the waterfalls and palenque ruins
overnight bus to Merida. 2 nights here on the weekend . should we increase to 3 and visit UXMAL or just spend more time in the city?

3-4 nights in Tulum relaxing in a beach hut (3 nights if we do 3 in Merida, with Chichen Iza on the way- will rent car) , seEing tulum ruins, cenotes, maybe an eco park. I think Cozumel is not feasible unless we stay in PLaya.

last day drop off car in Cancun then flight to New York at 5pm.
Are we missing anything by spending all the time on the riviera Maya in Tulum not at Playa etc? We can do a drive up the cost on one of the days. Any other MUST DOSs on the riviera maya that don't cost an arm and a leg? have hear swimming with whale sharks is possible!!

thank you all very much!!

adamore

Should we leave out Chiapas with the time wehave and spend longer on MC and yucutan? We like jingles and non urban areas. Thanks

hopefulist

That seems like too many long bus trips to me; I understand that some folks like to travel that way but I am not 1 of them. Only you can decide the best bits to leave out. In 2010 we did a nice 2 week loop that included Tulúm, Valladolid, San Felipe (gulf coast), and Isla Mujeres (snorkeled with whalesharks but it won't be the season when you are there). My husband then flew home and I stopped briefly in Mérida before spending 2 weeks in San Cris with a weekend trip to Palenque. 6 months later we spent a week basing out of Playa del Carmen.

My photos with blog and travelogue links on the main page of each collection are below in case you're interested - all my recommendations are embedded there. Happy trails!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/staceyholeman/collections

kja

For San Cristobal de las Casas, I agree with CascadeBob -- visit the town itself as well as the nearby indigenous towns. I enjoyed the Sumidero canyon, but not that much -- with as little time as you have, I'm not sure it's worth while. I thought the Moon Guide provided very good coverage of the options for seeing Chiapas and the Yucatan.

You can see the waterfalls CascadeBob mentions from Palenque, too, and they are lovely.

Definitely plan on a full day for the ruins in Palenque. I didn't make it to Yaxhilan or Bonampak - I'm sure they are worth seeing. I did see Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc and thought them worth two full days (overnight along the Ruta Puuc, perhaps at the Flycatcher Inn).

Depending on your interests, two days might be fine for Merida itself.

You definitely do NOT have time for everything one might want to see/do in the Yucatan and Chiapas, so you'll have to pick and choose what most interests you.

Hope that helps!

adamore

"From San Cristobal take a van tour through Aguas Azules and Misol-Ha to Palenque"- do you mean a tour that can keep our bags on board then drop us off in Palenque from San Cristobal? dos anyone know of any such tours?

We are thinking now of dropping Chiapas and spending more time in Yucutan, do you think this is a bad idea and that the sights in Chiapas are not to be missed ? I really wanted to see Palenque. Perhaps we could fly to VillaHermosa airport which is closer to Palenque?

thanks!

kja

At least when I was there, one could NOT go FROM one city to the other by tour bus, only by regular bus, and there was no option for luggage storage at the falls. One can visit the falls by a TOUR that starts and ends in either city. Or at least I assume either city -- I did it from Palenque.

Palenque is magnificent. Agua Azul is beautiful. San Cristobal is lovely and charming. Only you can decide whether to skip Chiapas in favor of the Yucatan, which has its own share of worthy destinations. FWIW, I think your experiences will be more diverse if you include Chiapas, as the terrain and vegetation are quite different than in the Yucatan and because these sites and cities differ from those of the Yucatan. BUT there is plenty to see in the Yucatan, so you really don't have a bad option here.

adamore

for the record, what would you say is adequate budget for food per day, 3 meals a day in Mexico considering the places we are visiting?
thanks