After my trip to Israel, I was trying to figure out where to head next. For the past year, I’ve been meeting so many travelers who have been raving about Colombia— and no, it’s not because of what it’s most popularly known for ;). I thought it would be a great idea to go back to Latin America— I’ve always loved the vibe in this specific region. A couple of my friends thought of joining me on this trip, but they can only take a few days off from work. Mexico was suggested due to its proximity to the US— Cancun specifically. I have already been to Mexico— twice to Mexico City which were basically extended layovers, and a couple of times to Tijuana because it’s just across the border from San Diego. Inexplicably, I have never been to those famed Mexican beaches. So yeah, Cancun seemed like a really good idea. And after such a long time I wouldn’t be traveling alone, I’ll be traveling with friends! I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve become so used to traveling on my own.

Turns out they had to leave 2 days later so I did end up starting the trip alone. From the airport in Cancun, the cheapest way to get to the city center is via the ADO bus. A one way ticket only costs 91 Mexican Pesos (about 5 USD). There’s an ADO ticketing counter with a huge sign before you exit the arrival hall, you can’t miss it. And yeah, thankfully credit cards are accepted. There’s an exit on the left that leads to some sort of bus terminal/ parking lot. You’ll usually see an ADO bus parked somewhere there. If you don’t see any buses, just look for the table with an ADO sign. The bus would park right in front of it. Take note that the beach/ hotel zone is quite far from downtown where the bus station is. From the bus station you’d either have to take a cab or take a local bus for 1 USD. Yeah, they accept US dollars in Cancun, some establishments even prefer it.

From the airport, there’s an ADO bus departing roughly every hour from 8:15 AM- 11:45 PM. If you’re arriving after midnight, taking a cab from the airport would set you back 50-60 USD. You can book online in advance and some sites offer cheaper rates like this one. (please take note that I took the ADO bus so I can’t comment on the service of these private taxi companies).

Where should you stay? Hostels are either located downtown or near the beach by the hotel area. I only stayed at one place, it’s called Mezcal Hostel. I’d recommend it for several reasons. First, it’s really close to the bus station— it’s only about 10 minutes away by foot. You can easily take a local bus to the beach/ main hotel area anyway. Since it’s downtown, you’re close to grocery stores and there are lots of cheap places to eat. Not that you’d have any problem with meals. Book online via their website and you’d get free breakfast AND dinner! It’s very cheap too. Book via their website and dorm beds are cheaper. The cheapest dorm bed would only set you back 8 bucks a night!

I’d say Cancun is the perfect place to base oneself in the Yucatan Peninsula. For one thing it’s the closest city to the airport. Other popular destinations like Playa Del Carmen and Tulum are easily accessible from here, either by driving a rental or taking a public bus from the main bus station. And if you want to visit Chichen Itza, Cancun is the closest major city. In fact, tours to Chichen Itza are the most popular ones in Cancun.

One can easily take public transport to get there. There are ADO buses leaving at 8:45 AM daily. The price of a one way ticket depends on the demand, but from what I’ve heard it can go anywhere from 200 to 300 Pesos each way. The bus from Chichen Itza back to Cancun leaves at 4:30 PM. A one way trip lasts for about 3 hours, so there’s plenty of time to explore Chichen Itza if you choose to take an ADO bus. An entrance ticket to Chichen Itza now costs 480 pesos (about 25 USD).

So by taking the public bus, you’re gonna spend at least 880 Pesos if you managed to score cheap bus tickets. That’s if you’ll be packing your own lunch and you won’t be buying snacks or souvenirs. That’s about 46 USD. If you’ll be spending that much anyway, you might as well go with a tour group. Why? These tours to Chichen Itza from Cancun costs about 50-75 USD on the average. Most of them include a lunch buffet. Entrance to Chichen Itza is included. On these tours, it only takes about 2 hours to get to Chichen Itza so they’re able to squeeze in other stops like a cenote and a small town. You’d get to see more for about the same price.

Since I was traveling with friends we chose to rent a car. Once we factored in the price of gas and the amount we paid for lunch, tolls and parking, we spent around the same amount. This allowed our schedule to be flexible though so we were able to see things at our own pace. If you’re traveling with friends, renting a car is the way to go. Otherwise I’d go with a tour group.

Is Chichen Itza worth the price of admission? To be honest I was kinda underwhelmed. I was way more impressed with Tikal in Guatemala and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. If they still charged only half the present amount like they did last year I’s say definitely. If you’ve seen a lot of ancient monuments, it’s not something I can fully recommend. But if you’re one of those people who are ticking off each of the Seven Wonders off their list (a list I find overrated to be honest), then go for it. If you haven’t seen a lot of ancient monuments especially on these parts, I’d bet you’d be amazed.

Luckily there are more things to see in the Yucatan Peninsula. There are a lot of beautiful cenotes in this region! Cenotes are deep, water filled sinkholes. If you make it a habit of browsing through travel pages on social media, surely you’ve seen a lot of them already. In Chichen Itza you’d see some cenotes but you can’t swim in those. Cenote Ik Kil is a very popular one and it’s only about a 10 minute drive away. It can get really crowded because it’s close to Chichen Itza and it’s part of those Chichen Itza day tours. It’s big enough though so the swimming area doesn’t really get packed. It’s really beautiful and it only costs 80 pesos to enter so I highly recommend stopping by this place after visiting Chichen Itza. It’s the perfect place to cool off after roaming through the ruins!

Another cenote I’d recommend is Cenote Suytun. This one is a bit hard to get to if you don’t rent a car because it’s not included in most day tours. The more expensive tours include it. I saw one tour that included stops to both Cenote Suytun and Ik Kil and it costs 90 USD. This cenote is closer to Valladolid, an quaint little town where we stopped to have some lunch. If you’re heading there on your own, the entrance costs 70 pesos. Life vests are mandatory here so you’d have to pay another 30 pesos. We went at around 4 PM and luckily we had the place to ourselves for about 20 minutes so we were able to take a lot of sick pictures— I only wished our cameras were better equipped to take pictures in low light.

Since Tulum and Playa Del Carmen are easily accessible from Cancun, we decided to just stay in Cancun for the entire duration of our trip and just do a lot of day trips. It turned out to be a good decision. Initially we wanted to spend a couple of nights in Tulum but the entire cycle of packing and then unpacking could get tiresome. One local I met in Cancun told me that if we planned on hanging out on the beach we’d be better off staying in Cancun because the beaches in Tulum sucked. Turns out he was right. When we were in Tulum we visited a lot of popular beaches and they were all full of seaweed. There were lots of seaweed on the shore and on the water, and the ocean reeked of this fishy odor. This problem occurs all year round. Do a google search if you don’t believe me. We love hanging out on the beach so we would have been miserable if we decided to stay in Tulum.

Luckily Tulum has a lot more to offer, so if swimming on the beach isn’t your priority there’s still a lot to see and do. There’s an abundance of cenotes in the area, the Cenote Dos Ojos and the Gran Cenote seem to be the most popular. Even the less popular ones look unique so you’d never get tired of taking pictures for the gram.

If you’re looking for history and culture, Tulum has its own share of ruins. It only costs 65 pesos to enter, and the Tulum ruins boast spectacular views of the sea. The beach is accessible so you can choose to bring your swimwear— if you don’t mind all the seaweed that is 🙂 When we were there, some people were swimming to cool off. Most people though understandably stayed away.

The nightlife in Tulum is pretty sick too especially on weekends. Though we didn’t spend a night in Tulum, I’ve met a number of people who were raving about it. The nightlife in Cancun is already pretty awesome though so I didn’t see the need to spend a couple of nights in Tulum just to party.

From Cancun day tours are also offered to Tulum. They’re more expensive than those day trips to Chichen Itza though, tours would set you back around 90 USD. If you’re traveling with friends it would be way cheaper to just rent a car and drive down south for about 2 hours. If you choose to take public transport there’s an ADO bus departing every hour from the Cancun bus station. A one way ticket costs 80-150 pesos, depending on what time you’re leaving.

If you want to swim on more beaches and you want a change of scenery, head on over to Playa del Carmen which is only about an hour away from Cancun. To be honest Playa del Carmen is pretty similar to Cancun though it feels a little more upscale. You’d see more expensive and fancier hotels, you’d see more beach parties and I heard the nightlife is livelier. A lot of people actually choose to base themselves in Playa Del Carmen when exploring the Yucatan Peninsula because of these reasons. It’s farther from the airport but still easily accessible. From the airport an ADO bus ticket to Playa Del Carmen costs 208 pesos. From the Cancun bus station it costs 78 pesos.

I haven’t explored much of Mexico but the Yucatan Peninsula left me very impressed. There’s a lot to see and do, and with such gorgeous scenery you can just pick any random spot and relax for days. It’s perfect for both sightseeing and relaxation, it’s no wonder a lot of people keep coming back. I’m guessing I’ll be one of them— especially since there are still a lot of places within the peninsula I haven’t been to.