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mexico.md

Mexico

Summary

It's basically America, but with slightly more Mexicans and - if you eat street food - lower prices (just not if you eat in restaurants in tourist areas).

You'll see many of the usual American big chains, Walmarts, Sears, Office Depot... etc... never mind the junk food chains that have taken over the world all the way through to Asia.

You will need to learn some Spanish just to get by or you'll be on your Google Translate app every 10 seconds as many, if not most, of the people don't speak English, which is surprising for a country neighbouring America and with so much English speaking tourism.

Out of the 3 regions I've been to, I prefer the Yucatan Peninsula and Cancun the best as there is a good mix of terrain and things to see and do - although the "Hotel Zone" in Cancun is a tourist trap.

Oaxaca (Wahaca) is my least favourite as it's small and you can hardly find a restaurant that isn't a tourist trap - and the taxis are the worst there as the apps don't really work - drivers don't pick up requests).

Airline Check-in & Immigration Control

WARNING: the airline refused to check me in without proof of an outbound flight, I had to quickly find and book something out of Mexico just to check in with 10 minutes left until check-in closure since the check-in closes 1.5 hours before the flight.

The immigration officer didn't ask for this - the insistant woman at Madrid airport preventing me from speaking to the check-in desk was either just trying to ruin my day or it's the airlines policy, but it was not the immigration officer.

Spanish Crash Course

Most people in Mexico speak little to no English, surprising for a place that receives so much English-speaking tourism.

It greatly helps to know a bit of Spanish to get by, as you will struggle if relying on Google Translate for every little thing.

English Spanish
Yes Si
No No
Please Por favor
Thank You Gracias
Very Good Muy Bueno
Beach Playa

Mexican Food

It can be quite confusing with many similar names, so here is a few quick tips:

Food Description
Pescado Fish
Cameron Shrimp
Pulpo Octopus
Arrachera Skirt Steak / Flank Steak
Huervos Eggs
Aguachile Raw meat or seafood in a zesty lime-chilli-cilantro sauce, served with nachos or plain untopped tostas / tostadas for you to load it up on to - this is one of my new favourite dishes, although quite extreme by western standards in both lime and chilli, start with the mildest one!
Tacos Small soft round tortillas - these are actually overrated, I prefer aguachile and tostas
Tostas / Tostadas Toasted flat tacos topped with meat/seafood and chopped tomato like bruschetta
Tortas Sandwich - not to be confused with Tostas!
Volcane Toasted crispy tortilla base (aka tosta aka tostada) with melted cheese on it and topped with meat. Named because the cheese is like a volcano
Chilaquiles Crispy fried tortilla chips drowned in sauce and cheese, really good, but obviously fattening!!
Tlayuda Large tortilla with re-fied beans base and ingredients, folded and toasted until the cheese is melted
Tamale Filling wrapped and cooked in a corn husk or banana leaf - you eat the filling and discard the leaf
Drink Description
Horchata Traditional rice milk drink, ranges from bland to overly sweet depending on the restaurant
"Jamaica" water Hibiscus red still drink, slightly sweet
Tamarind water Slightly sweet drink with a salty aftertaste

Mexico City

The capital of Mexico is also the largest city in the Western hemisphere and largest spanish speaking city in the world.

While it has a reputation for being high crime, the police here are very well funded and visibly present - there are a lot of police all over downtown and other areas - they have nice cars like Toyota Camry and big pickup trucks.

The downtown area is pretty ghetto aside from the historic buildings, it's mostly locals. You probably only want to go there to see a few of the historic building or if you want to buy some cheap clothes from the street stalls.

Airports in Mexico City

Be careful which airport you are booking flying to.

You want Mexico City International Airport Benito Juárez which is actually in Mexico City and from which you can take a metro or shorter taxi ride.

I accidentally booked my flight into Felipe Ángeles International Airport not realizing there was more than one airport like London - this airport is 40km outside Mexico City!

From there it's difficult to get to Mexico City - the options seem to be:

  1. Taxi - could be very expensive (of course neither Uber not InDrive managed to find me a driver)
  2. Metro - was under construction/renovation,
  3. Bus - I was left with this as the only option, and even the ADO I've taken previously in Cancun refused to take my suitcase for some weird reason, they said they took luggage only from the second stop which made no sense to be (oh yeah, hardly anybody speaks English of course)

After trying several of the bus vendor kiosks, I managed to finally get a coach for 90 pesos to Mexico Norte but I had to wait nearly 2 hours until 9:15pm for it because the next one at 8:30pm was already fully booked up.

To make matters worse, the coach was delayed due to some confusion on the part of the vendor about which coach was actually taking people to Mexico Norte.

Thankfully the bus station has good free open wifi 138/144 Mbit/s and I had a good Chilaquiles with chicken while I was waiting!

Public Transport in Mexico City

Public transport is very cheap in Mexico City.

Use it whenever you can as it's much cheaper than Taxis and you'll destroy your knees trying to walk everywhere as Mexico City, like the US, is too big to get around everywhere on foot.

You'll need a public transport contactless card as their buses and trains do not accept cash or contactless credit card payments

This is probably because the fares are so cheap that the big financial card providers charge more in payment fees, making it economically unviable to use card payments.

This plastic pre-pay card can be purchased for 21 pesos at one of the major bus terminals, and probably at the metro too, and comes pre-loaded with 1 journey.

Chuck 40 pesos or whatever loose change you have on it.

In the metro the machines to top up the card seemed to only take cash (coins or notes) but I used contactless payment in one of the major bus stop terminals to buy the card.

Metro in Mexico City

You will need a public transport pre-pay card, see above.

The metro is similarly developed to most capital cities, but can be a bit more unintuitive to navigate interchanges.

The metro cost 5 pesos per zone travelled, which is extremely affordable.

Buses in Mexico City

You will need a public transport pre-pay card, see above.

Buses typically cost 4-8 pesos, depending on whether it's a smaller bus or one of those big bendy buses that look like trams that stop at fixed permanent terminals ports.

I found that the 9A bus did not come and Google Maps directions and schedule for this didn't materialize.

The major bendy-bus terminals do seem very good though with frequent buses and display of schedule.

Taxis in Mexico City

Uber worked better for me in Mexico City as drivers were either not picking up at the same price or offering higher prices.

Areas in Mexico City

These are the 3 gentrified areas in Mexico City:

  • Polanco - apparently the most expensive area in Latin America according to a local - international shops and expensive restaurants - the Mexican equivalent of Beverley Hills - more expensive than warranted
  • La Condesa - the best gentrified area in Mexico City, this is where the white people and foreigners are. It's full of gentrified cafes and restaurants charging 3-5x the street food prices, it's a leafy neighbourhood with the best park in the city. There is even a Muay Thai / Renzo Gracie Jiu Jitsu club opposite the park (not on Google Maps yet though), next to Santas Conchas Condesa. This is the Mexican equivalent of Holland Park in London
  • Roma Norte - the other best area of restaurants and bars where foreigners and yuppies congregate
  • Colonia Buenos Aires - much less upmarket than the other areas above but it does have Parque Delta Mall

Stay in one of them, or at least spend your time exploring them as first priority even if you stay somewhere cheaper (many hostels are nearer the Historic center of Mexico City).

Areas NOT recommended:

  • Historic center of Mexico City - it's a ghetto, just go for 2 hours to see a few historic buildings, then leave, don't stay there
  • Doctores - it's a ghetto, with hardly anything to see, or good places to eat, and you'll probably get mugged as it doesn't have the high footfall of the historic centre area
  • probably any other area of Mexico City

Attractions in Mexico City

There are lots of monuments, museums (too many to list) and other attractions befitting a large major capital city.

Restaurants in Mexico City

Restaurants are often tourist priced, especially if you're in one of the few decent areas where foreigners tend to be, like Roma North, La Condesa, or Polenco.

There is lots of street food around Mexico City though as a tiny fraction of the price - try it whenever you can as it's so cheap - it ranges from 15-30 pesos per taco, compared to hundreds of pesos per restaurant meal.

  • Roma North Market - daytime street food as well as market
  • Medellín Market - great variety of fresh fruit & vegs, chillis, meats, random products and a few good food stalls / semi-restaurants like the meat speciality Las Tablas Roma below and the seafood speciality La Morenita De Medellín
    • Las Tablas Roma - The arrachera skirt steak main dish is good, large, and very reasonably priced at 160 pesos - it comes with azteca (cactus, onions and chillis) - although you could choose salad or vegetables or quesadilla or huarache instead. It comes with 8 tortillas, a pot of beans with a some cheese in it, and 3 different chilli salsas - assemble your own combinations! This is a good full meal. They also have the usual mexican drinks - Jamaica water, Tamarind, Horchata (a touch to sweet IMO, but put out the chilli fire) Their Strawberries with cream dessert for 65 pesos was the best dessert I've had in a while, and while it comes in a plastic cup with the strawberries swimming in the cream, the cream itself has the perfect complimentary sweetness, I really really enjoyed this dessert! It's also 1/3 of the price of desserts in restaurants
  • Tacos "Don Chuy" - the best taco high quality acherera skirt steak, this can’t be beat for 30 pesos. The second time I went I tried the argentinian chorizo sausage on the advice of a local there, but I think this is less good as it has more fat and in general processed meat is not good for your health - stick with the lean aracherra steak next time, maybe try the chicken for variety. All 3 chili salsas were awesome when combined with lime, but one of the two red ones burnt my mouth so bad the first time I went straight to Oxxo to buy a yoplait drinking yoghurt!! The second time even the green chili did this to me, stick to the milder red chili on the right. It's only 2 blocks along from the big Parque Delta shopping centre listed further down
  • Sushi Zen Río Elba - the dragon roll was good, although not quite as good as Sushi Kona below which has the tempura bits sticking out of the sides, but this has better location and outdoor seating, and is popular for good reason, overall it’s a better dining experience. Good menu, big sushi selection and they have poke bowls and desserts too. The Google Maps pin is slightly off point, it was actually around the corner to what was shown, I've submitted an edit. There is no wifi unfortunately
  • Sushi Kona - small but good food quality - very good dragon roll for 140 pesos ($7.65), and they take card, but use Google Translate on the card machine to not accept their currency conversion as it'll cost you more
  • K-Bab - Korean restaurant, their stone bowl bi bim bap is a complete meal with lots of little side dishes including a miso soup for 230 pesos. The place is well decorated with a large TV playing K-pop and a selection of Korean products ranging from drinks to ramen packets. Wifi 141/113 Mbit/s
  • Cabanna - good venue in the upmarket Polanco area, with good music and good menu, upmarket boutique chain specializing in seafood - there are a handful of these restaurants. The menu is very well done - each section has a QR code to see pictures of all the dishes more than can fit on a regular menu, which helps you to choose. The mango aguachile was very mild despite a 2 chili sign on the menu. Even the more spicy green salsa wasn’t that spicy - everything is toned down. This is not really representative of Mexico - it's for tourists who have a false sense of their ability to eat chilli and don’t want to be shown up. The legit places in Cancun downtown I recommended are the real deal by comparison. They do have blue fin tuna tostada which is worth a try, and their chocolate savarin dessert is really good with a contrast of the hot chocolate sponge vs vanilla ice cream - one of the best dessert I'd had recently - totally worth the damage. Has wifi
  • Bobo Burgers & Café (Roma Norte) - there are two menus - a burger restaurant menu, and a cafe menu which also has an acai bowl. The spicy burger was good, like an good quality fast food burger. The beer fries (coated in beer batter and fried) are actually too crispy, I'd go with regular fries next time. The fries portion size is easily big enough for 2 people, I left half of it. The restaurant is open fronted with additional seating outside so it is cold in November, and people were sitting with their jackets on. Probably drops to 4.4 due to the cost which is similar to Western prices so expensive for locals. Wifi 48/48 Mbit/s
  • Sede Café Río Lerma / Sede Café Orizaba /
  • Sede Café Montes de Oca (Condesa) - decent coffee chain. I can't decide if their chai latte is perfectly sweet or 5% too sweet, it depends on how naughty I'm feeling. Similar with their taro latte, but I prefer their chai latte. One downside is that many of them have no seating at all. The one in Rome North (Orizaba) does have a small amount of seating. No wifi unfortunately. The guy in Lerma overcharged me by 20 pesos (75 on card instead of 55 on board), he said he thought I asked for oat milk which I clearly didn't, perhaps an honest mistake and language barrier, but something to watch out for though as many people in Mexico try to overcharge you if they can. He refunded this cash and the chai latte arrived made with normal milk at the same time anyway, hmmm...
  • Amorino - upmarket international ice cream chain
  • Reforma222 - decent mid sized mall with the usual clothing brands, a food court with good variety, and free toilets, their Nutrisa has a much smaller selection than the other ones though, and of course they have a GNC but it's more expensive. Just don't eat at the food court, it's all the usual lowest quality food chains
  • Parque Delta - good sized mall, includes a food court and a Nutrisa as well as a GNC (but Nutrisa is cheaper for supplements)
  • Pabellón Cuauhtémoc - small mall, but has a Nutrisa health food shop and useful if you need a free toilet stop
  • El Rincón Tapatío Bar - affordable food, good maracuya (passionfruit) juice. The arrachera (skirt steak) is served with cucumber and tacos as well as a selection of guacamole, limes and sauces. Ok for its price point at 180 pesos
  • Taqueria Las Rejas - 11 pesos tacos, not the best but at this price, it's no surprise that it is so busy!
  • Tacos Domingo - Pacheco - ~40 pesos for a taco and 50 pesos for a volcane - more than my favourite taco places in Cancun, but still ok. They forgot to bring me the frijoles charros (cowboy bean stew) unfortunately, but I went back to try it the next day, could skip that next time, it was nothing special. The aqua del dia (water of the day) was watermelon which was good, the next day it was tamarind. The watermelon was better. As of late 2025 there was only one of the, but a second one is due to open in Paseo de la Reforma. Has wifi
  • Tita's Restaurant - if you're near here you're in the wrong part of Mexico City - but if so, this is a reasonable pit stop of a small cafe. The "mole de olla" was a chicken thigh soup with potato and carrots - decent quality but I was still hungry after this bowl for 100 pesos. The chilaquiles verde with bistec (beef) for 105 pesos was ok too, quite a lot of cheese on it. The "sweet bread" was slightly too sweet as instead of a wholesome baked in sweetness it had icing. This is very much a small local place and had a TV on the wall with a mexican soap opera on it (where the actors and actresses looked european). This is not a great neighbourhood but if you happen to find yourself in this part of town then it's not a bad stop
  • Colima street in Roma North - several well rated restaurants on this road
  • Joe & The Juice Roma - international juice chain - slightly less overpriced here than in the West - its presence in Roma North is a sign of its gentrification! One of these would never be sustained in most areas of Mexico City
  • Oxxo - convenience stores throughout the central area of Mexico CIty, cheaper than Circle K or 7 Eleven - at least for my Yoplait drinking yoghurts!
  • JOi Dollar Plus | MB Durango - if you need a padlock, cable lock or similar for your luggage or hostel
  • Walmart Express Michoacán / Walmart Express Pachuca - convenience in Condesa
  • Body Performance Condesa - vitamin & supplement store
  • Latte Latte - decent, but slightly more expensive coffee shop in La Condesa compared to Sede cafe. I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Has wifi
  • Tacos de Ciudad - local taco restaurant in La Condesa - 30 pesos per taco. The bistec (beef) tacos are worthwhile, and there is a good rack of chili salsas and limes. The chilaquiles was too hot in both temperature and spice for me to enjoy, I'd skip that next time as not worthwhile, stick to the bistec tacos here. I wouldn't go out of my way to this place, but if you're in the area, it's a reason taco stop

Not Recommended:

  • Mr. Sushi - the Google Reviews are wrong, it was not closed, but they were right that it is low quality. The coco ramen chicken soup was tiny for 173 pesos - this is in a food court for good reason, the money is obviously going to rent and not food quality or portion size. It's also poor nutrition, being mostly cheap ramen noodles worth nothing, a few small pieces of chicken, and the highlight is a boiled egg, which is the best part, but which you could buy 100 of and boiled yourself for this price (and probably better quality eggs). I should have stuck to my guns and continued on to my second visit to Sushi Kona instead.

TODO:

Oaxaca City

Oaxaca de Juárez is the capital city of the Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca) region.

It has lots of restaurants and quite a few churches with nice architectural facades.

You can walk around the centre in around 2 hours, so you'll need 2-3 days depending on whether you want to go hiking for a day or not.

The restaurants are tourist priced though, typically 2-3x the price of locally priced restaurants in Cancun El Centro, more like the tourist trap hotel zone in Cancun.

The taxi apps also don't work, they don't find drivers.

There were also power cuts on my floor of the accommodation for 2 out of the 3 nights I was there.

Overall I don't want to spend too much time in Oaxaca.

Safety in Oaxaca

The reception had a sign to take taxis back if coming home late at night.

I asked the reception guy why - he said for safety. A couple years prior in 2023 he said there were muggings every night on the adjacent road.

Oaxaca Airport

Airport wifi requires a capture portal in Spanish.

The fields are; First Name, Last Name, Mother's Maiden Name (optional), Email address, Phone number (with +xx international prefix).

This worked better than the similar capture portal in Cancun.

Remwmber to download an offline Google Map while on wifi.

Travel from Oaxaca Airport to Oaxaca

You can get a taxi in the terminal, but they are quite expensive, quoting nearly 500 peses for a mere 7km.

InDrive has taxis for 180 pesos, but it didn't find a driver.

Or you can buy a shared transport called a "colectivo" at the taxi stand in the terminal for 135 pesos. It's a small minibus, that will drop you to your specific accommodation, but they can take a long time to leave as they wait for other passengers to fill up the minibus, and longer still as they meander around the city dropping off other passengers first. A 30 minute taxi ride can become a 1 hour 20 minute journey including the waiting time, driving time, meandering and dropping off other passengers.

I took a punt on the latter just to see what it's like. When arriving if not in a rush this is a good time to experiment and learn.

I wouldn't risk a colectivo or Tucdosa on the way to the airport as you might miss your flight so I took a taxi ordered by my accommodation to the airport. It should cost 200-300 pesos.

Taxis in Oaxaca

Both Uber and InDrive taxi apps failed to find me a driver from the airport, and also from the centre to Mount Alban.

You can see in InDrive only 2-4 drivers even saw the request, which is very low compared to other cities where it's more like 7+.

Both of these apps worked for me in Cancun but not in Oaxaca, leaving you to try to get a taxi off the street or ordered by your hotel.

You will need to grab a yellow taxi off the street or otherwise have your accommodation call one for you (such as when travelling back to the airport).

The taxi did not have a meter, so make sure to negotiate to fix the price first.

Attractions in Oaxaca

There are many churches, as well as a couple hiking trails and historic archaeological sites.

TODO:

Restaurants in Oaxaca

There are lots of restaurants in Oaxaca but nearly all of them I've seen are tourist traps similar to Western prices.

If I wanted to spend $25 on a meal (without alcohol) I could do that back in the West!

  • Mercado Sánchez Pascuas - locals market with a few cheap eats places you can try when you get tired of getting ripped off by all the tourist restaurants
    • Super Jugos Angelita - 1 litre fresh juice for 45 pesos and 2 tostadas for 60 pesos - one of the few local eats places I found that wasn't ripping me off for $25 for every meal.
  • Humar - seafood restaurant with good menu and moderate prices. The upstairs terrace seating is nicer, and where most people choose to sit but beware it can become a tad chilly in the evenings. The staff even bring nice fluffy warm blankets, which is a nice touch. You may need to reserve a table here, especially if wanting to since in the upstairs terrace. The best aguachile verde I've had so far in Mexico, with large jumbo shrimps and topped with half a sliced avocado. The octopus taco was interesting with a bean paste base and crackers in it. The shrimp soup broth is quite good too. The felix passionfruit drink is good, slightly sparking and not too sweet, served in a whisky glass with a giant ice cube. The horchata is not in the menu, but is surprisingly good, not too sweet like some other places. It's served in a large tall whisky glass, and contains small melon cubes and quite a lot of small pieces of walnuts. Wifi is open 5/0.7 Mbit/s
  • La Casa del Tío Güero - the mole negro (black mole) with pork was really good and came with 2 large lean squares of pork, sides of rice, tortilla and chilli sauce. The mole itself was slightly sweet (it contains chocolate) so add the right amount of chilli sauce to suit your tastes
  • Humito Cocina y Foro 8 Temblor - good quality and taste, would probably be rated higher than 4.5 if it wasn't Western priced. The Carnito Mixteco main was good, a mole containing shredded chicken pieces with sweet potato and white rice, a moderate sized portion. Their black mole with pork was 400 pesos which seems overpriced considering I had one the night before for 185 in the centre at La Casa del Tio Guero above, which wins on food vs price. Their ceviche (catch of the day) and passion fruit tostada was a medley of flavours and so loaded up you couldn't eat it without it falling apart. This was trying to be the michelin of tostadas on a crispy black tostada and too many ingredients and flavours, real overkill. At 150 pesos for a single tostada I doubt any average local would ever pay this consider I was getting seafood tostadas for 25-30 pesos in Cancun El Centro. I would skip this overly fancy tostada next time and just stick with the mole. The water of the day (mango) was very good, just the right about of sweetness and liquidity (70 pesos / £3). I dropped 500 pesos here, whereas elsewhere I was eating well for 150-300 pesos. Wifi 246/286 Mbit/s
  • Totopo Güero Cocina Istmeña - highly rated, upstairs off the street. Interesting menu, not as expensive as many other places in Oaxaca. The bean soup was quite decent, although the bean is the base of the soup, not a soup containing beans as a westerner might expect. The beef stew was too sweet for my liking, I would try something else next time. The passion fruit water was good. Wifi 98/104 Mbit/s
  • Piticó García Vigil - central grocery store

TODO:

Yucatan Peninsula

Cancun

Holiday city on the east coast, famous destination for US spring break students.

Cancun is a tale of two cities:

  • the "Hotel Zone" is what you'd imagine, touristy, Americanized, full of huge resorts, where people go to party in nightclubs etc.
  • El Centro - the centre / downtown - where the local mexican service staff actually live, a ghetto

In this sense, Cancun is a lot of what is wrong with the world - the K shaped economy that caters mostly to the rich while leaving everyone else's standard of living in the dirt.

Still, if you want to live like a rich person for a week or two before you go back to your tax slave democracy job, stay in a resort in the hotel zone.

I'm actually shocked what a 3rd world country Mexico is walking around Cancun central.

I had expected it to be more touristy and fancy, the tourists must be hiding in the resorts but walking around the regular streets in search of restaurants is jarring compared to coming from a 1st world city like Madrid on my prior stop.

Cancun Airport

Cancun Airport Wifi

Cancun Airport Wifi is not good, dont rely on it, set up your esim before you arrive.

Travel from Cancun Airport

There is a red bus stand call ADO Aeropuerto, which if you exit Terminal 3 is on the right. Google Maps tried to send me the wrong way, possibly to Terminal 2's ADO.

The ticket to Cancun costs 145 mexican pesos (£6), 170 pesos (£7) if you're travelling to the hotel zone.

I'm actually surprised it costs this much compared to even places in Europe I can travel to/from the airport for less.

I was told taxis cost around $30, but actually when I checked it was $20 on Uber and $13 on InDrive, so if there are 2-3 of you it's probably better to just take an Uber or InDrive anyway. Needless to say, don't try to take as a gringo without fixing the price up front.

I took a taxi on the way to the airport just for better timing control, see the Taxi Apps section further down.

Travel within Cancun

Even if you stay within the Hotel Zone, its still quite a long walk up and down, several kilometers.

If you decide to visit El Centro or save money by staying in a hostel in El Centro, you can forget about walking everywhere as it'll destroy your knees trying.

You will at some point need to either take taxis (see the section below) or learn to use the local buses.

Buses in Cancun

Buses are cheap (12 pesos) and there are lots of them as the locals use them extensively.

Taxis while not expensive by international standards are multiple times the cost of a bus.

If you want to live like a local for a more authentic experience, or are travelling on a budget, take the bus.

Unfortunately, Google Maps is absolutely useless as of late 2025 and has absolutely no section on public transport.

To make matter worse, the bus stops are often not well designated, sometimes just a bench at the side of the road without signage.

There are no timetables with bus numbers as you may be used to in 1st world countries.

Interestingly though, you can ask ChatGPT and it will tell you the bus numbers you need and roughly where to catch them down to the road (you need to figure out the direction you need to travel by looking at Google Maps).

Taxi Apps in Cancun

Sometimes the prices are comparable between Uber and InDrive but other times they are not, check both.

Uber quoted me 350-370 pesos to Cancun airport but InDrive took me for 160 pesos. This is a very good price considering the ADO bus was 128 pesos per person, so if there are two or more of you this taxi actually works out cheaper!

I'd guess that Western people sticking to Uber drove the prices right up during checkout time, they hadn't thought to spread the load to InDrive so I saved more than half the cost!

  • InDrive - bid your price, motorbike ride is half the price of a car ride but there were no takers. You will often get drivers sending you higher offers, ignore them, usually one takes your app recommended offer price
  • Uber

ATMs in Cancun

The Santander ATM in the ADO bus station charged 35 pesos (€1.60) commission when withdrawing 2500 pesos, which was reasonable compared to ATMs in other countries.

Banregio atm was charging 84 pesos, do not use that one.

Bancoppel fee was 36 pesos.

ATMs in Cancun often offer both Mexican pesos and US dollars. ATMs in Mexico City do not do this so consider taking the time to replenish your USD reserves as they are often accepted by street vendors, taxi drivers etc as a backup.

Attractions in Cancun

I'll inevitably miss some as there are so many...

  • Chichén Itzá - day trip to ancient mayan ruins, see section below
  • Tulum - day trip to Tulum, see section below
  • Zona Arqueológica de El Meco - take mosquito repellent - they will be on you the second you stop to take a picture
  • Hotel Zone:
  • Plaza Las Americas - south of El Centro / downtown - American brands mall with American chain restaurants, and a food court. You probably don't want to eat here if you have much in the way of standards and care about your figure.
    • Súper Naturista - expensive but good selection of vitamins, supplements and "healthy" snacks

TODO:

Skip:

  • Playa Tortugas - Turtle Beach - it's a small beach with just locals and only one low rated restaurant. There were no turtles, only Mexicans. Google Maps even has a phantom incorrect location for it, wasting your time and taxi fares

Restaurants in Cancun

  • Carbon Tacos y Miches - amazing strip steak burrito for 150 pesos (€7) and the most amazing chilli salsas I ever recall having to add to it, as well as plenty of limes. My first taste of Cancun & Mexico did not disappoint - this burrito and sauces blows Madrid's TKO Tacos out of the water. The strip steak burrito is the thing to have here, nice and lean. The strip steak taco and volcane are good too. All come with a condiment caddy with the following: a pot full of limes, lemon guacamole (mild), but the real stars are the chill salsas; chile de pasilla (medium spicy, light red brown, my favourite), chile de habanero (spicy, green), chile de arbol (spiciest, dark red-brown). I love to cut up a piece of burrito, drench it in lime and then pile on one of the chilli toppings - my favourite thing to eat in Mexico so far, I was eating here every 2 days afte this. The strip steak torta sandwich is decent quality but a bit small for the price compared to the adjacent offerings. The "jamaica water" is a nice sweet hibiscus still drink served in a big fancy cocktail glass. The horchata is one of the better quality ones I've had with a full cinnamon twig in it, although a bit sweet. Alternatively, the Guava water drink is nice too. You will need occasional sips of a drink if you are stacking the chillis like me, and also the paper napkins for the inevitable running nose from chilli! Skip the tacos though, even though they come doubled up, they are less tasty whole wheat tacos and they fall apart quickly regardless. Also avoid the chicken pieces - they're mediocre and too salty, while the pork chop is ~50% fat and too salty. The "pastor" is probably even worse since it's just shawarma meat from the rotating spit like in a kebab shop. The cheesecake is the only dessert on the menu but it's mediocre, for 158 pesos ($8.60) I'd skip this next time as it's not worth the price or the calories. Stay shredded. Their card machine always times out on apple pay touch (despite them having fast wifi) and I had to use my physical card with pin. Wifi 120/177 Mbit/s
  • Las Tostadillas Del Mar Ruta Nader - seafood restaurant with reasonable prices for tacos and tostas. The shrimp and tuna tostas are the best thing here. The red aguachile is actually surprisingly too spicy, considering I'd been crushing every level of chilli drowning at Carbon and had a green aguachile the night before at La Bamba the night before. Could do with a better drinks menu, the horchata was far too sweet, skip that next time. The wifi didn't work on laptop due to capture portal, but did on phone. Skip the tacos and go straight for the tostas next time. The tacos are cheap, but like at Carbon, are whole wheat, not so tasty and the ingredients were not properly handled. The fried shrimp was massive dough balls on a modest prawn, the white fish was a bit better but still way too much batter, and the octopus came burnt to a crisp due to all the small pieces of it. The mixed seafood toasta on the other hand came nice and crunchy base with excellent ingredient topping, shrimp and thicker octopus tentacle pieces, with lots of tomato making it like a mexican bruschetta. I would just get two or three of these next time. Because the tacos were a bit of a disaster I forgot to even try the 4 sauces. I also had to ask for limes, there is a small self-service area for this opposite the bar but you'll need a small plate from the staff. Wifi capture portal requires name and phone number
  • Tostadas de atun - cheap local taco and tostada rrstaurant that is always busy with locals. Closes relatively early at 7:30pm (Google Maps is wrong to claim it is open until midnighy). The pescado (fish) and cameron (shrimp) tostas are my favourite here. Their jamaica water was decent but their horchata was watery and overly sweet, I didn't finish it and would skip that next time

Chichen Itza

Chichén Itzá is the archeological ruins of a large Maya city with an iconic step pyramid - one of the seven wonders of the world due to its mathematical properties and the matroska style temple within a temple within a temple.

The easiest way to go is with a packaged one day tour that drives you other there and back again.

Your accomodation will likelt offer you one of these, but mine quoted me $90 so I asked a couple tourism vendors in downtown and got one for $60 instead.

It included a Mayan religious ceremony, followed by a buffet lunch with rice, chicken, beans etc., followed by swimming in a cenote (an underground cave lake), a stop at a tourist town Valladolid with a nice central park square, and finally the main event at Chichén Itzá.

The entry ticket for Chichen Itza was 571 pesos as of late 2025, and considering I paid 1200 pesos for the entire tour including this ticket, was a reasonable price.

The tour of Chichen Itza was 45 mins of tour guide history, and 45 minutes free roaming to take pictures.

If you have a short fixed schedule like this, do not stop to waste time on all the stall vendors trying to sell you trinkets as you'll run out of time and miss a lot of the city.

You will be getting heckled all over the place with "1 dollar, amigo" as they try to sell you something.

Isla Mujeres

Lovely island beaches with fine white sand.

Take the ferry from Puerto Juarez for $35 return.

The ferry usually leaves every 30 minutes and takes about 20 minutes, but there was a one hour gap from 2-3pm.

The ferry had two decks, an open top one and a lower air conditioned one with nicer chairs and a tv. I used the lower shaded air conditioned one on the way there to save my skin from the harsh afternoon sun, and the top on the way back in the evening.

The island itself is a tourist trap, ignore the vendors and restaurants and just do the beach. It’s bad enough to spend $35 on the ferry, but spending 2-3x on tacos or 1000 pesos on a tank top when you can buy one in El Centro for 130-140 is just insulting (even tourist price overcharged ones in El Centro are only 180-200 pesos).

The most busy area is the strip to the north of the ferry port, left as you exit the ferry.

The two main beaches are Playa Centro and Playa Norte. The first had a long straight coast on the North West side of the island nearest the ferry. I prefer the latter northern beach which has more of an alcove shape.

There are no public toilets or changing facilities, and in true 3rd world capitalist style you will be expected to pay to use a beach club.

To explore the island hire a golf cart. The first quote I got was 600 pesos, the second 475 and the third 800 for 1 hour 🤬. I went back to the 475 at Hotel Cabañas María del Mar so that I ended up exactly back at the beach I wanted afterwards). They say 1 hour isn’t enough to get to the south point of the island and back, but I did it in 40 minutes flat bombing it all the way, overtaking many other golf carts and standing up while going over speed bumps.

As the sun goes down the 6:30pm ferry will be so full you’ll probably have to queue and one will leave full without you, so expect an extra half an hour queueing time at that peak exodus time as the beach empties after sunset.

Tulum

Coastal town with a ruins of a Mayan port city.

TODO - I ran out of time to do a day trip to here.

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