My girl and I are planning a trip to Mexico. Most likely we are going to Cozumel. What is the better option, a package deal or getting the flight/hotel/meals seperately? Anyone have opinions on a good hotel and fun things to do?
Would you believe that I am the most Mexican dude in this board, yet I have NOTHING to offer you about this MEXICAN city? True story. Paging MoBalls... Paging MoBalls... "uhhhh... we're looking for MoBalls here? C'mon, everybody, I'd like MoBalls... someone get me MoBalls..." - Moe
i would recommend a package deal as that will give you a better rate. The problem in cancun is with the rates so low most travel agents wont even want to talk to you because there is no commission... of the travelocitys and hotwires of the world I would say for now expedia has best pricing ... I am about to have my agency set up or else I could help you..
Depends on whether you want to just stay in the resort or move around a bit... I personally did the hotel/flight package at Cancun, but not the "All-inclusive" thing that has meals and drinks because we had 8 or 9 days and moved about quite a bit in the neighboring area, ate and parties at various locations... but if you just want to relax on the beach for a 3-4 days, then the all inclusive places are nice, too.
havent been to cozumel, but just got back from a trip to the yucatan a couple weeks ago. flew into merida, went to chichen itza and cancun. i wish we had gone to cozumel, but instead we spent 3 days in cancun. i do quite a bit of traveling around mexico and am into the culture and history, which cancun is totally devoid of. it was really expensive there too. the highlight of my entire trip was a place called xel-ha, which is about 15 mintues north of tulum. you will be close coming from cozumel. xel-ha bills itself as the worlds largest natural aquarium. its a giant lagoon where a bunch of cenotes drain out into the carribean, so its half fresh/half saltwater. you can get snorkling equipment and swim all around with lots of cool fishies. there are little caves for speulunking and some nice little 12' - 15' cliffs to dive off. they also do dolphin swimming, but it costs $125 and i didnt like how they had the dolpins all caged up waiting to be pimped out. at least let them roam free in their own pool while they arent "working". of course, you will be in cozumel so im not sure if snorkling at xel-ha would beat it, but check it out. i thought the ruins at tulum were kind of lame. you can see it all in about 30 minutes. i would highly recommend chichen itza though!
I would recommend getting your flight and hotel in a package. I don't like getting meals included because you basically have to eat there since you've already paid for it, and they may not be all that great of resteraunts.
I challenge your statement!! I'm actually from Reynosa (crap city, think maybe a poor mans Oakland) Anyway Cozumel is a beautiful place to got to, I think you're able to go scuba diving not sure though. I also reccomend Monterrey, in the mountains...very nice and if you're driving pass through Cola de Caballo around Monterrey...they have a nice waterfall that you have to hike to.
Cozumel is better than Cancun. Go to Coconuts on the other side of the island. Its the highest point on the island and the drinks are great. So are the photos of the girls that have had too many drinks there. Stay away from the traps like carlos and charlies and senor frogs unless you are into watered down drinks. We stayed at the Melia Cozumel all inclusive and it was great. Top shelf booze. The bartenders would pour me half a bottle of Don Julio or Patron when the bar was closing at 3am so I could keep drinking with my frineds. Take a bunch of ones to tip people early and often and you will get great service.
I've only been to a resort near Tulum and loved it...Away from the craziness and more culture...Cancun will probably be cheaper, but I've been looking the past couple of months for a good deal and haven't found one...let me know what you find... I've tried Hotels.com, cheap carribean (msp?), hotwire, worryfree, funjet, you name it...I even tried site 59 and everything was about $600/pprsn on up and that was for crappy places...
Well worth it, but get there when it opens and sign-up ASAP. Also watch the 20's they give you...they gave me some 20's in change then when I tried to spend it at the same place they didn't wnat to take it back since it was counterfeit! ) We enjoyed the cave-stream at xel-ha too. The burger there made me siiiick.
What we've done a couple of times is get a package deal for the hotel and airfare, and then extended the hotel stay. If I remember right, we were able to get a discount on the extra nights. The return flight can be open-ended. Perhaps you should consider it. We even moved to another hotel one time that we did that, and still used the same flight back. Have a great time, I'm jealous!
never been to cozumel but if you have time take a ferry to playa del carmen (mayan riviera). while on mainland mexico check out 1. xcaret, they have this very cool "broadway style" night show about mexico entire history. awesome music and costumes. they also have this really nice underground river, takes about 2 hours to float down to the end which ends at the carribbean. all day trip. 2. tulum, cool ruins and can give you some history/culture instead of just a booz/party trip. also a nice sandy beach too. half day trip. 3. xel-ha, basically a huge natural water park, awesome. all/half trip. all 3 of those are within 20-30 minutes taxi from playa carmen i just went to cancun/maya riviera for a week. the highlights for me was xcaret and isla mujeres. mujeres is a real small island, 1x4 miles, we rented scooters and cruised around. alot of fun. maybe to far from you. chichen itza was also very cool but 2-hour drive(3-hour by bus) from the coast. so after you ferry you still have 2 or 3 hours to go. but also very very hot. very hot!!!! also no more climbing the main pyramid. some old lady fell and died. was really looking forward to climbing it. sorry don't know much about cozumel. try http://wikitravel.org/en/Cozumel
thats why it was closed! i thought it was b/c it was starting to get too run-down. i was there a couple weeks ago and we couldnt climb up the top either, even though in all the pictures there were tourists all over the thing. it was hot, but no hotter than if you are going to go hang out at herman park in the middle of the day in august. i did expect to be able to swim in the cenotes there and cool off, but twas not the case. however a native houstonian who is accustomed to heat and humidity shouldnt have too much trouble there. we did a package tour that took us from cancun to xel-ha than tulum. tulum was ok, but we had gone to chichen-itza right before that, so it was kind of a let-down. did you know that the center of the ball-court at chichen itza is where the world will start to end in 2012? monsters from the underworld will rise up right in the middle of the court.
Puuuhhh-leeze, homie. It doesn't get more Mexican than The SwoLy-D'ster. I am from "La Aquiles" EL PENAL and went to school @ Ignacio Zaragoza (matutina) and La Múgica. AND my hometown is NOT CRAPPY! Where else can you get tastier tortas than in El Pingüino? True story. Top that, rookie. I have only been to Teotihuacán near Mexico City and San Juan De Los Lagos in Jalisco. Dang, I want to go to Tenampa and Chichen Itzá so bad... Let us know how Cozumel was.
the best advice you'll ever get concerning a Mexican vacation: avoid Cancun like the plague!! carry on...
I guess it depends on how comfortable you are with Mexico and perhaps Spanish or foreign travel in general. If you are more experienced, Just get air from say mltvacations. or funjet. I have done practically all combos. Package to Cancun and Cozumel. Just flights several times to Merida or Cancun, whichever is cheaper and rent a car. If you like to drive I would actually recommend Cancun over Cozumel. If it is your first trip go to Cancun with or without hotels. If Cancun is your home base probably get the package. Take the ferry to Isla Mujeres. REnt a car and drive down to the beautiful ruins and beach at Tulum and Playa del Carmen which is better than Cozumel or Cancun, unless you are just into diving, which is probably best at Cozumel. Note rent your cars through Alamo, Hertz whatever here as the rate will much cheaper than what you can do down there. I find Cozumel to be a little too stiflling if you are into Mexico. So is the Island of Cancun, though the city of a couple of hundred thousand just across the bridge will give you as much Mexico as you desire. Whatever the trip,I envy you.
