At the end of January 2022, Ryan and I traded in our skis for bathing suits and scuba gear and flew south – to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico! We were in search for sun, beaches, and scuba diving. And Mexico delivered!

In this post, I’ll talk about our travel experience, our accommodations, and the tours we did. In the next post, I’ll tell you all about the amazing scuba diving on the Yucatán Peninsula.

TRAVEL TIP: You will need cash! Most vendors and restaurants in Mexico prefer that you pay in cash (pesos). Unless you want to carry way too many pesos as you travel, we recommend the Charles Schwab Debit Card, which allows you to withdraw cash internationally with no foreign transaction fees. In other words, you can withdraw cash as you need it. Make sure you research safe ATMs, as well. We preferred the HSBC ATMs in Playa del Carmen. Finally, don’t accept the currency conversion suggested by the ATM. Instead, decline the conversion and you’ll get the conversion provided by Schwab, which was always a better deal for us. *This is not sponsored, we just really like the card.*

Getting to Mexico

Traveling from Denver to Cancun is easy, quick, and affordable, making it a favorite beach destination for many of our landlocked neighbors. From there, you can stay in Cancun or you can drive south to Playa del Carmen or Tulum or you can take a ferry to Cozumel (from Playa del Carmen). We stayed in an AirBnB in Playa del Carmen and did day trips to Cozumel, Tulum, and Chichén Itzá.

Since it’s taken me seven months to write this post (sorry about that…!), the COVID travel information is likely out of date. But I will tell you anyways! In January 2022, neither COVID tests nor proof of vaccination were required to enter Mexico – they just let us in! Honestly, it was nice to have such a “normal” travel experience. We did, of course, have to wear masks in the airports and on the airplanes.

TRAVEL TIP: Kings Canyon and Sequoia are connected by the Generals Highway. You can enter Sequoia from Kings Canyon and vice versa. I highly recommend accessing Sequoia through the Big Stump Entrance in Kings Canyon, rather than through the Ash Mountain Entrance in Sequoia. That way, you can avoid the tedious road from the Ash Mountain Entrance and get to the fun stuff much faster.

Regarding flights, Denver has quite a few affordable, direct flights to Cancun. Frontier, United, and Southwest all offer frequent flights. We chose Southwest, because our scuba gear is bulky and we love those two free checked bags! We used points to book this flight, so it was very affordable! The flight is about four hours, just enough time for a nap and a movie.

From Cancun, it is about an hour drive south to Playa del Carmen. We booked a private ride with USA Transfers from Cancun to our AirBnB in Playa Del Carmen. We paid $125 for a private round trip transfer, which was well worth the money. Our driver was waiting for us once we exited customs and the pickup at the end of the trip was just as easy.

TRAVEL TIP: If you don’t book a transfer in advance, you will be bombarded with cab drivers as soon as you exit the airport in Cancun. I found that to be very overwhelming and was glad that we had a plan, instead of trying to figure out which cab driver wasn’t going to rip us off.

Accommodations

We tried to make this trip as affordable as possible – and we got $500 in AirBnB gift cards for our wedding – so we ditched the resorts and chose to stay in an AirBnB near Fifth Avenue in Playa Del Carmen. Overall, the AirBnB was great – it was in an excellent location and it was very comfortable! We didn’t spend much time here, as we were up early every day for diving or tours and we didn’t return until after dinner. It was probably more space than we needed, but it was nice to have a private space to relax and unwind after busy days in the sun.

If you’re looking for a local experience or to save some cash, this is a great option. If you want resort amenities like filtered water, on-site restaurants, or a concierge, this may not be the option for you. We had a lot of activity planned while we were in Mexico and we knew that we wouldn’t use many resort amenities, so we didn’t want to spend the money. However, the filtered water would have been nice. We both ended up with Montezuma’s Revenge at the end of the trip, which likely would have been avoided if we’d stayed in a resort. While we didn’t drink the water at the AirBnB, we did use the water to shower and to brush our teeth. Apparently that was enough! Could have lived without that particular experience!

Tours

We wanted to see as much of the area around Playa del Carmen as possible, but we weren’t sure we wanted to rent a car. Instead, we found a few tours through Trip Advisor and both ended up being well worth the money.

Local Food Tour

We spent our first day in Playa de Carmen exploring the area around our AirBnB and getting acquainted with the local neighborhood. And there is no better way to get acquainted with a new place than to take a food tour! We booked a Local Walking Food Tour through TripAdvisor and we loved every second!

The tour made seven stops – all local holes-in-the-wall – including several taco shops, a fruit and vegetable market, and an ice cream shop.

All of the food was delicious. In fact, we went back to a few of the restaurants over the next week. We never would have been brave enough to check out these restaurants on our own, but I am so glad we didn’t miss out! These local restaurants not only have delicious, authentic food, but they are also way (way) cheaper than the tourist hot spots. This was such a fun way to get a more authentic experience in Playa del Carmen.

Tour to Chichén Itzá

Since you can’t scuba dive 24 hours before you fly, we used our last day in Mexico to visit Chichén Itzá. We considered renting a car and driving there ourselves, but we ultimately decided to take a tour with Mayan Riviera Tours. Not only did the tour take us to Chichén Itzá, but we also visited Cenote Ik Kil and the Coba Ruins. It was a full day, but every stop was well worth it.

Our first stop of the day was at the Coba Ruins, Mayan ruins about an hour and a half southwest of Playa del Carmen. Coba is not a tourist hot spot, so we had the place to ourselves. It is known for its extensive network of stone causeways – over 50 are known to exist and 16 are open to the public. This was a fun place to stop for some history and solitude. Climbing on the pyramids is not allowed, because tourists tend to ruin things they get to touch. No pun intended.

Our next stop was at the Ik Kil Cenote. If you aren’t familiar with them, Cenotes are natural pits filled with (usually fresh) water. The Mayans used them for drinking water. Cenotes are popular for swimming and scuba diving because they are beautiful! We had a chance to swim in this cenote and it was one of the top experiences of our entire trip. The photographs do not do this cenote justice – it was stunning! The tour also fed us lunch at this stop – although we ate it as fast as we could to maximize our time in the Cenote.

The final stop on this tour was the famous Chichén Itzá. It was as specular as I expected – but twice as hot! There is no shade, so be prepared to cook! And we were there in January… I can’t even imagine how uncomfortable it would be during the summer months. The grounds surrounding the main pyramid were huge and fascinating – there is so much more to see than just the main pyramid. One thing that surprised me was the number of vendors trying to sell you trinkets. Of course, they claim to sell “authentic, hand-made” trinkets, but I can’t help but doubt that claim… It was easy enough to walk by the vendors, but it removed some authenticity from the experience. I would still recommend the trip, just expect a “touristy”-vibe.

Even though you can drive yourself to Chichén Itzá, I enjoyed having a guide explain the significance of certain landmarks to us. It made the visit much more engaging. We paid $278 for this tour and it was worth every penny. The guide was personable and knowledgeable – able to answer even the most obscure questions. I’d highly recommend a tour like this one. Why hassle with a rental car when you can have someone drive you – and buy you lunch?

Day Trip to Cozumel

While this wasn’t a formally organized tour, we did spend a day on Cozumel. We took the first ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel early in the morning. We initially planned to stay the night and do one more Cozumel dive the next morning, but the weather did not cooperate. The harbor closed to all boats due to wind, so we returned to Playa del Carmen that afternoon.

Two companies run ferries from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel: Winjet and Ultramar. One way tickets are $10.50 per person.

TRAVEL TIP: Buy your tickets from the ticket windows at the pier, not from the people on the street. Otherwise, you’ll pay more for the same ticket.

The ferry is 45 minutes each way. The first ferry leaves Playa del Carmen at 7:00 a.m. and the last ferry leaves Cozumel at 10:00 p.m. Plan accordingly!

Once we arrived in Cozumel, we walked to a local breakfast place (El Abuelo Gerardo, highly recommended) and enjoyed an amazing (and cheap) meal while we planned out our day. Our plan was to rent a car and drive around the island, stopping at our leisure. That plan didn’t *quite* work out because we ended up getting pulled over by the Mexican police (we were lost and apparently going the wrong way on a one-way), who shook us down for $50 (or 1,000 pesos). That experience left a pretty bad taste in our mouths, and it may have colored how we felt about the rest of the island. Overall, I don’t think much of Cozumel. It was fine, but nothing special. We ended up spending a few hours at an empty beach club and grabbing a snack at a Bob-Marley themed bar before heading back to Playa del Carmen.

If we go back to Cozumel, we will stay on a dive resort and dive all day. I probably wouldn’t venture too far from the resort, because we just didn’t love the island. But maybe we should give it another shot – maybe we just caught it on a bad day!

Check back for Part 2!

If you’re here for the scuba diving content, check back in a few days for Part 2 of our Mexico post, where I’ll tell you all about the diving!