Yucatan Trip Report
May 6th, 2003, 10:42 PM
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Yucatan Trip Report
Hi,
I just retuned from a eleven day trip on the Yucatan Peninsula and would like to thank everyone from this board for their suggestions and advice. I will attempt to write a trip report and am willing to answer questions if it will help others on their trip. Please bear in mind that this report is probably very biased and only based on my opinions.
I was traveling with my six year old daughter and it was our first trip just the two of us. We arrived in Cancun at 10:00pm a half an hour earlier then our scheduled 10:30pm arrival. Because of our evening arrival we had arranged transportation through our hotel (which I would not recommend since there are better deals on the internet for airport transport- I was trying to give the business to the hotel, but ended up waiting 45 minutes for the other person who would be riding in the van with us). We took the van to our Hotel Kinmbe in Playa del Carmen. We spent our first night there and stumbled around in the morning getting breakfast, visiting the ATM and figuring out how to make a phone call. Then we repacked and made the long, hot walk to the bus station and caught a bus to Tulum.
In Tulum we stayed at La Vita e Bella. It consisted of ten small bungalows in a beautiful location, all ocean view and very private. The only drawbacks for us were that the floor was cleaned with a solution that left it sticky and it never dried and the staff was not very friendly. The beach here is perfect- powder soft, very white, with little flecks of pink. The restaurant was on the beach as well, with a beautiful location. We liked the pizza but felt that everything else we ordered was not very good and took an extremely long time to make it to the table. This made things a bit difficult for us since we had not rented a car and my daughter is hypoglycemic and needs to eat regularly.
What had prompted our trip was that I had helped some close friends with their wedding plans, suggested Tulum and found the Cabanas la Conchita for them to stay in and to have their wedding ceremony. We spent several days with our friends visiting different beaches and just hanging out. The wedding was amazing and on the crescent beach at Cabans la Conchita. By the way, the Cabanas la Conchita were very nice and everyone raved about the breakfast of "all you can eat": French toast, pancakes, eggs, fruits, juices and coffee. It made our included minimal Italian Breakfast (toast, juice and coffee) pale.
After the wedding and dinner party at Ana y Jose, which was very well done, we were headed off to Akumal. We were planning on taking a taxi but a HUGE storm blacked the sky and sent down rivers of rain; so we decided to wait it out with our luggage in the bar. Out of the storm popped the bride and rescued us with a van full of friends. They gave us a ride to Akumal but could not stay long because one of the crew was quite ill from too much fiesta-ing.
In Akumal, we stayed at the Akumal Bungelows. They were not fancy, but very comfortable and clean. The staff was very friendly and nice. In fact all the people we saw in Akumal were very nice. We happened upon a fisherman's restaurant, Cueva del Pescador, for lunch and it was so good that we came back for dinner. The carne asada tacos and club sandwiches were great. For desert they have the best coconut ice cream served with either Kaluha or maraschino cherries. The beach in Amukal was very nice, the pool was fun and the lagoon for snorkeling was terrific. Akumal was fairly easy for us because the bungalows very centrally located and we could walk to restaurants, shops, small grocery stores and the beach.
Our last morning in Akumal we checked out and picked up some zucchini bread, coffee cake and cinnamon roll from the very delicious bakery, Turtle Bay Cafy. We walked to the highway and easily caught a minibus to the Tulum bus station. From Tulum we took the bus to Chichen Itza (2 1/2 hours).
We were both amazed by Chichen Itza. It was a great experience for us although we did not climb to the top of the pyramid. We also enjoyed the small museum. It was very interesting to see drawings of Chichen Itza at its rediscovery. We ate lunch at the cafy (worst food of the trip) and waited for a bus to continue on to Merida (3 1/2 hours)
We stayed at the MedioMundo in Merida. It was by far the prettiest hotel on our trip. The rooms were beautiful and the pool a true oasis. Merida was difficult for us. We had to walk quite far to reach any of the restaurants and it was very, very hot. The LP guide book highly recommends several shop and I had planned to do lots of shopping in Merida but the shops we visited were very disappointing. We did buy lots of custom Guaybera shits from Guayabera Jack. The shop was terrific- very air conditioned filled with the most helpful and accommodating staff. We took the carriage tour around town which was interesting but was a bit marred because a man had attached himself to us, would not go away and thought that he was our guide (pointing out the obvious, for a fee). While in Merida we ate dinner at Restaurant Amaro which was very good. We also ate at Giorgio's and Cafy Havana. We decided to cut our trip short, it was just too hot in Merida for my daughter to be trekking around and very big city. We stayed two nights instead of five. Our bus ride to Cancun was five hours, with my daughter very ill for most of it.
We finally made it to Cancun where I had made a last minute reservation at the El Presidente. I tucked my very sick daughter into cool white sheets, turned on the ac and let her watch four hours of Nick Jr. (which she never gets to do at home). We lounged around and ordered excellent room service (I am mortified to say that this was the best food of our trip). Then she felt well enough to take a dip in the pool and ocean.
We flew stand by the next morning and in eleven in a half hours we were home.
I just retuned from a eleven day trip on the Yucatan Peninsula and would like to thank everyone from this board for their suggestions and advice. I will attempt to write a trip report and am willing to answer questions if it will help others on their trip. Please bear in mind that this report is probably very biased and only based on my opinions.
I was traveling with my six year old daughter and it was our first trip just the two of us. We arrived in Cancun at 10:00pm a half an hour earlier then our scheduled 10:30pm arrival. Because of our evening arrival we had arranged transportation through our hotel (which I would not recommend since there are better deals on the internet for airport transport- I was trying to give the business to the hotel, but ended up waiting 45 minutes for the other person who would be riding in the van with us). We took the van to our Hotel Kinmbe in Playa del Carmen. We spent our first night there and stumbled around in the morning getting breakfast, visiting the ATM and figuring out how to make a phone call. Then we repacked and made the long, hot walk to the bus station and caught a bus to Tulum.
In Tulum we stayed at La Vita e Bella. It consisted of ten small bungalows in a beautiful location, all ocean view and very private. The only drawbacks for us were that the floor was cleaned with a solution that left it sticky and it never dried and the staff was not very friendly. The beach here is perfect- powder soft, very white, with little flecks of pink. The restaurant was on the beach as well, with a beautiful location. We liked the pizza but felt that everything else we ordered was not very good and took an extremely long time to make it to the table. This made things a bit difficult for us since we had not rented a car and my daughter is hypoglycemic and needs to eat regularly.
What had prompted our trip was that I had helped some close friends with their wedding plans, suggested Tulum and found the Cabanas la Conchita for them to stay in and to have their wedding ceremony. We spent several days with our friends visiting different beaches and just hanging out. The wedding was amazing and on the crescent beach at Cabans la Conchita. By the way, the Cabanas la Conchita were very nice and everyone raved about the breakfast of "all you can eat": French toast, pancakes, eggs, fruits, juices and coffee. It made our included minimal Italian Breakfast (toast, juice and coffee) pale.
After the wedding and dinner party at Ana y Jose, which was very well done, we were headed off to Akumal. We were planning on taking a taxi but a HUGE storm blacked the sky and sent down rivers of rain; so we decided to wait it out with our luggage in the bar. Out of the storm popped the bride and rescued us with a van full of friends. They gave us a ride to Akumal but could not stay long because one of the crew was quite ill from too much fiesta-ing.
In Akumal, we stayed at the Akumal Bungelows. They were not fancy, but very comfortable and clean. The staff was very friendly and nice. In fact all the people we saw in Akumal were very nice. We happened upon a fisherman's restaurant, Cueva del Pescador, for lunch and it was so good that we came back for dinner. The carne asada tacos and club sandwiches were great. For desert they have the best coconut ice cream served with either Kaluha or maraschino cherries. The beach in Amukal was very nice, the pool was fun and the lagoon for snorkeling was terrific. Akumal was fairly easy for us because the bungalows very centrally located and we could walk to restaurants, shops, small grocery stores and the beach.
Our last morning in Akumal we checked out and picked up some zucchini bread, coffee cake and cinnamon roll from the very delicious bakery, Turtle Bay Cafy. We walked to the highway and easily caught a minibus to the Tulum bus station. From Tulum we took the bus to Chichen Itza (2 1/2 hours).
We were both amazed by Chichen Itza. It was a great experience for us although we did not climb to the top of the pyramid. We also enjoyed the small museum. It was very interesting to see drawings of Chichen Itza at its rediscovery. We ate lunch at the cafy (worst food of the trip) and waited for a bus to continue on to Merida (3 1/2 hours)
We stayed at the MedioMundo in Merida. It was by far the prettiest hotel on our trip. The rooms were beautiful and the pool a true oasis. Merida was difficult for us. We had to walk quite far to reach any of the restaurants and it was very, very hot. The LP guide book highly recommends several shop and I had planned to do lots of shopping in Merida but the shops we visited were very disappointing. We did buy lots of custom Guaybera shits from Guayabera Jack. The shop was terrific- very air conditioned filled with the most helpful and accommodating staff. We took the carriage tour around town which was interesting but was a bit marred because a man had attached himself to us, would not go away and thought that he was our guide (pointing out the obvious, for a fee). While in Merida we ate dinner at Restaurant Amaro which was very good. We also ate at Giorgio's and Cafy Havana. We decided to cut our trip short, it was just too hot in Merida for my daughter to be trekking around and very big city. We stayed two nights instead of five. Our bus ride to Cancun was five hours, with my daughter very ill for most of it.
We finally made it to Cancun where I had made a last minute reservation at the El Presidente. I tucked my very sick daughter into cool white sheets, turned on the ac and let her watch four hours of Nick Jr. (which she never gets to do at home). We lounged around and ordered excellent room service (I am mortified to say that this was the best food of our trip). Then she felt well enough to take a dip in the pool and ocean.
We flew stand by the next morning and in eleven in a half hours we were home.
May 7th, 2003, 07:26 AM
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thanks for your trip report!It was nice of you to take the time to write. We've been thinking about Akumal this summer,maybe renting a villa there, or in South Akumal. Did you see any places in Akumal you thought would be very nice to stay in?
May 7th, 2003, 08:57 AM
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Sparkle, I'm glad you had a reasonably successful, if not perfect, trip.
Did you regret not having a car?
Considering the time waiting for a bus and the cost of the bus, would you have rented a car if you had to do it all over again?
Did you regret not having a car?
Considering the time waiting for a bus and the cost of the bus, would you have rented a car if you had to do it all over again?
May 7th, 2003, 10:34 AM
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Hi Frankie and Rover,
To answer Frankie's question:
I only saw the main playa in Akumal and places on the way to the lagoon. We visited with some people who were staying in a condo elsewhere in Akumal (?) and they said that their beach was unswimable because of rocks unless you had reef shoes. Locogringo.com seems to have a good list of lodgings in Akumal, with pictures. We booked through them and it went smoothly.
Rover,
I would definitely rent a car. The bus was easy, cheap and we did not spend too much time waiting but it would have been so much better to be able to drive around and go where we wanted- restaurants, day trips etc. Usually when we travel we stay in one spot, have a rental car and take little outings when we feel like it. This trip was much more difficult because of changing locations and not having a car. Next time we will definitely go back to our usual m.o.
To answer Frankie's question:
I only saw the main playa in Akumal and places on the way to the lagoon. We visited with some people who were staying in a condo elsewhere in Akumal (?) and they said that their beach was unswimable because of rocks unless you had reef shoes. Locogringo.com seems to have a good list of lodgings in Akumal, with pictures. We booked through them and it went smoothly.
Rover,
I would definitely rent a car. The bus was easy, cheap and we did not spend too much time waiting but it would have been so much better to be able to drive around and go where we wanted- restaurants, day trips etc. Usually when we travel we stay in one spot, have a rental car and take little outings when we feel like it. This trip was much more difficult because of changing locations and not having a car. Next time we will definitely go back to our usual m.o.
Jan 3rd, 2004, 09:00 AM
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Hey Sparklegem, I just posted on your first post about la vita y Bella in Tulum. After reading your travel report I am wondering if you have any additional info about the whereabouts etc. of La Vita Y bella. Thanks for any info you can give!
Jan 4th, 2004, 04:21 PM
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From November to June Yucatan is in the "sequuia," or the "drying." It is cooler in Dec, Jan, Feb but them the weather gets its hottest and there is no rain.
Beastly time of year.
On the other hand, the Maya farmers depend on this season to dry their slash so they can burn just before the Junes rains.
Beastly time of year.
On the other hand, the Maya farmers depend on this season to dry their slash so they can burn just before the Junes rains.
Jan 15th, 2004, 06:00 PM
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Hi Zocaloarts,
Sorry I did not see your other post. Different World (.com) has great info and pictures. My friends did all their bookings (they rented all the cabanas) throught them and loved them.
I will look for your other post or feel free to ask more specific questions here. I will check back!
Gem
Sorry I did not see your other post. Different World (.com) has great info and pictures. My friends did all their bookings (they rented all the cabanas) throught them and loved them.
I will look for your other post or feel free to ask more specific questions here. I will check back!
Gem
Jan 28th, 2004, 07:34 AM
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Hi again sparklegem!
Counting down the days til' our trip. Less than 2 weeks! Icant wait. We have decided to stay in a fairly new place in Tulum called Posada Margerita. Ever heard of it?? We are a bit nervous since we cant find out much about it besides the website. But I do have another question for you. Any suggestions for Merida? Should we stay right around the zocalo or farther away? Any info you can share would be great! Thanks!
Counting down the days til' our trip. Less than 2 weeks! Icant wait. We have decided to stay in a fairly new place in Tulum called Posada Margerita. Ever heard of it?? We are a bit nervous since we cant find out much about it besides the website. But I do have another question for you. Any suggestions for Merida? Should we stay right around the zocalo or farther away? Any info you can share would be great! Thanks!
Feb 9th, 2004, 03:03 PM
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Hi Zocaloarts,
I have not heard of Posada Margarita.
I would definitely recommend staying near the square in Merida. When we were in Merida it was a very hot and rather unattractive walk to the restaurants and shops from our hotel. Where are you planning to stay?
Gem
I have not heard of Posada Margarita.
I would definitely recommend staying near the square in Merida. When we were in Merida it was a very hot and rather unattractive walk to the restaurants and shops from our hotel. Where are you planning to stay?
Gem
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