jeepyland

Hello again. In all likelihood, I'll be in the Yucatan in late March and would like to spend some time both at a resort in Akumal and in the city of Merida. What's the best way to do this? Fly from NYC to Merida and then take an ADO bus from Merida to Cancun? Or round trip in and out of Cancun with a roundtrip bus ticket? I barely know how to drive so renting a car is not an option. Thanks very much.

kja

What is "best" depends on how the schedules work for you and on the prices -- and if your are thinking about a round trip, make sure you take the cost of backtracking into consideration.

jeepyland

Strictly logistically speaking at this point and I am not convinced that I know what all my options are. At this point, I'm thinking fly to Merida, ADO bus to PDC or Tulum, taxi from there to hotel. For the return, taxi from Akumal to Cancun airport. I don't see buses in/out of Akumal. Not interested in renting a car or hiring a private driver.

kja

Have you looked at rome2rio? If so, be sure to click through to the underlying links, as the main page is not sensitive to seasonal variation in schedules.

You might also check with your hotel in Akumal.

mlgb

The ADO bus website is www.ado.com.mx

You would be able to see the schedule although the website is in Spanish and you may not be able to buy the tix with a US credit card (but try a debit card before giving up).

You will at least be able to see the schedules. There would be several locations from Merida, depending on the bus timing you probably would want an Uber to the best departure station.

I agree best to contact wherever you stay in Akumal and ask about a transfer. Playa del Carmen would be closer than Cancun airport, and from there I don't think the public buses are convenient.

Tripadvisor may be a better resource for Akumal since TA tends to attract a lot of the resort crowd.

november_moon

Merida airport is pretty small, so there are limited flights in and out of there compared to Cancun - and it seems that flights in and out of Merida are generally more expensive than Cancun. So, you might save significant money or have better flight options (non-stop, better timings) if you go in and out of Cancun. Just have to compare flight options and see. ADO buses are pretty cheap and local taxis don't cost that much either. Flying into Cancun and taking the bus to Merida is pretty easy.

kja

True enough! But then there is the opportunity cost of backtracking....

november_moon

Of course that should be considered. The amount of time spent backtracking in comparison to taking a flight in or out of Merida may or may not be a lot. It really on the timing of flights to Merida vs Cancun. We can get non-stop flights to and from Cancun, but flights to and from Merida always come with a connection. Depending on the length of the connection, it may not take any more time to fly non-stop to Cancun and take the ADO to Merida than it does to just fly to Merida.

mlgb

MAYAir may not be on your radar, but they do have a few nonstop flights weekly between Merica and Cancun. However, they aren't cheap.

https://www.mayair.com.mx/#Timetable

kja

Yes of course! I didn't mean to suggest that YOU, november_moon, were not aware of this issue, and I'm sure it was something that YOU considered when commenting -- its just that I'm SOOOOooooo well aware of the many people who make plans without taking backtracking (or other positioning) considerations into account that I thought it worth mentioning. No offense intended!!!