Estado de Yucatán Travel Forum

hey all,

I've got 2 weeks off at the end of march and i'm trying to plan a last minute trip for myself. I've never been to the caribbean side of mexico and wondering if anyone can suggest the right place/s to go? I'm definately on a tight budget but i found a ticket to cancun for 600 bucks so i thought i could fly in and stay at some cheapy hotels somewhere. i have no desire for cancun and would rather something smaller. I would still like to be able to meet some people so not too small. Is tulum a good place to go for a few days? should i do playa del carmen? I want to explore the ruins as well and snorkel. any suggestions at all is great. thanks!

Made a similiar trip in November. Tulum i think is good for a couple of days, visit the ruins and just relax on the beach. A good amount of cabanas to choose from, some very affordable. If you are going to the ruins at chichen itza i would recommend staying a night in Piste so you can get to the ruins early and avoid a lot of the crowds which show up later, also affords you to see the light show(a little hokie)at night. May want to make a stop in Merida.
I would recommend picking up a Lonley Planet(or some other)travel quide. List sights, activities and accomodations. A recommendations would be to end in Tulum so that you can just relax and unwind before headinig back up to Cancun for the return flight. Enjoy the trip

You should try Puerto Morelos.
WE wen there last december and loved the place. It is located close to Cancun airport (between Cancun and Playa de Carmen).
Puerto Morelos is a smallfishing village, extremally safe with not too many but all kinds of tourist hanging out in all kinds of restaurants and bars.
Everybody can find there something for themselves.
You can snorkle for free just off the beach or go with fisherman for $25 to marine park.
You can rent a car right there and drive to ruins, or you can book the tour and they will take care of you.
We rented the car at the airport (via internet) and drove to Tulum, Coba, Chichenitza and Valladilid.
See my pages from Puerto Morelos, I have plenty of pictures so you can see if that place is your style or not.
Have fun in MExico!!!!

thank you both..this was helpful. i will start searching for cheap accomodations in all of the places mentioned!

We recently got back from a holiday to Tulum and loved every minute. Here are my tips and experiences:

Beach-wise there is a long stretch in Tulum from Maya Tulum hotel towards the south which is just to die for - really, it's paradise! And hardly any people. And pelicans and other big beautiful birds flying overhead and diving into the sea. The other stretch from the Tulum ruins is gorgeous too, but more people, so it depends on your preference. Accommodation-wise, there are lots of little hotels and cabanas all along the beach. If you keep heading south down that road you'll get to the Sian Kaan Reserve and you can do a tour there with a hotel called Cesiak (I think you can stay there too but it's very out in the sticks). My cousins did a kayak tour which they really enjoyed.

For cenotes (natural waterholes connected by underground river systems) you really must go to Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park - this was such a find - we had a great family day out there and it was good value for money. We did their whole day package but I think you can also just do snorkeling and diving tours. They take you into the jungle where you get to do 2 really cool ziplines as many times as you want (one of which lands you in a beautiful cenote and the other is high up over the jungle – this one really takes your breath away) and also a rappel through the ground into this dream-like cave below where the cenote is. You go snorkeling through the cavern with a guide through all these amazing natural rock formations – stalactites, stalagmites and columns and you can see the roots of the trees above. It was really cold in the water after a while but we soon warmed up again in the sun and the incredible experience was well worth a few goosepimples! Then they have a skycycle which they say is the only one in the world - It's like little individual bikes suspended from a cable over the jungle so you get to see the most stunning views, wildlife, flowers etc. You cycle along the trail to another cavern with more amazing natural rock formations and another cenote where you can go snorkeling. Then you get back on the bike and it takes you through caves and then back up over the jungle. I was traveling with my extended family (all ages and tastes!) and it was the one excursion that we all gave a big overall thumbs-up to. We visited various beautiful cenotes (you really can’t not if you’re going to that part of the world!) and the ones there at the Hidden Worlds Park were by far the most amazing we found.

A few people in our party went to Xel Ha too and had fun but that’s more your kind of tour bus filled commercial place that really doesn’t appeal to me so I skipped it. Likewise Xcaret – these places are advertised everywhere! The ruins in Tulum were also very touristy and heaving with people, but you can’t go to Tulum and not go to Tulum now, can you?! And apart from the hoards of people and the fact that you can’t actually go in the ruins themselves, it is beautiful and very interesting culturally, especially for it’s coastal location (our guide wasn’t great but we overheard another guide giving far more interesting info!) Lots of very cool iguanas hanging out there! We later heard that entry is free on a Sunday – I don’t know if that’s true or not, but that’s what I heard.

We hired a car and had a great day at the ruins at Coba – you can cycle around the site (or have someone cycle you around if you’re feeling lazy!) and you can actually climb the pyramid… the most amazing view ever! Also there’s a spider monkey sanctuary nearby but we were pretty stretched time-wise (there was so much to see at Coba!) and unfortunately we didn’t get to see any monkeys, but it was a beautiful place. And I’d much rather gamble on seeing wildlife in its natural habitat than go to one of the big zoo parks and see them in captivity. We did get to see a crocodile in the lake before the car park at Coba… wow!

Tulum town is very small (separate from the beach – a taxi or car ride away) and really nice. It’s basically one long avenue. It’s not the place for you if you want nightlife – we only saw a few bars, but there are lots of nice restaurants and souvenir shops. We had a delicious meal in a chic little restaurant called Ginger, but also had a few yummy meals in little local taco places – budget food at its best! There are lots of nice places to eat on the beach too. The town isn’t too touristy and has a really nice atmosphere. All the local people we met were lovely, really friendly and welcoming. The weather was amazing – so hot! Everyone was jealous of my tan when I got back!!

All in all we had a fantastic holiday and would love to go back there someday – I would highly recommend it! Hope you have as much fun as we did! :-)