TRAVEL GUIDE TO MEXICO (YUCATAN PENINSULA)

We had a crazy desire for Mexico for several years. We were always attracted to its culture and its people, and why deny it, its gastronomy. So we had to remedy it and prepare a first trip to Mexico. And what better area than the Yucatan Peninsula? We toured the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Campeche for about three weeks, and we were delighted! It is a super complete trip and highly recommended. So if you are also thinking about knowing this area, here we leave you our Mexico travel guide (Yucatan Peninsula tour) with lots of information to plan a trip for free.

Some basic information to get you a first idea of ​​the trip:

• Start and end point: Cancun
• Total days: 21
• Total KM by road: 2,614 km
• Type of transport: car rental (economy class is sufficient, better automatic).

The ideal would be to have 3 weeks to make a very complete tour of the Yucatan Peninsula. In this way you will be able to discover its main charms: beaches, cenotes, Mayan ruins, colonial cities ... The trip would start in Cancun, where we would rent a car and start a circular route, passing through the states of Quintana Roo, Yucatan Y Campeche.

We chose to do it counterclockwise, leaving for the end all the part of the Riviera Maya, and ending on the island of Holbox. This is a base itinerary for a 3-week trip to Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, identical to what we did:

• Days 1 and 2: Cancun
• Days 3 and 4: Isla Mujeres
• Days 5 and 6: Valladolid
• Day 7: Chichen Itza and Izamal
• Days 8 and 9: Merida
• Days 10 and 11: Uxmal and Campeche
• Day 12: Edzná and Calakmul
• Days 13, 14 and 15: Bacalar
• Days 15, 17 and 18: Tulum and / or Playa del Carmen
• Days 19, 20 and 21: Holbox Island

You can expand the information in our 3-week itinerary article to the Yucatan Peninsula. We also tell you the details of each stage in the articles of each destination.

The budget of a trip depends a lot on the style of each traveler, the type of accommodation, the season, the flight offers ... Here we summarize thebudget per total person of a trip to the Yucatan Peninsula, taking as a reference a trip for two people of 3 weeks. In total, we calculate that it comes out by less than € 1,500 per person (although it can be reduced a little).

We give you all the details in our article of How much does a 3-week trip to Mexico cost?

For us, it is the best way to travel through Mexico and take a tour of the Yucatan Peninsula. It allows you greater freedom of movement and gives you the possibility of reaching many places, where otherwise it would be really complicated and more expensive.

In addition, this area of ​​Mexico is very safe to drive and the roads are in very good condition (with a couple of exceptions: the one that reaches Calakmul and the one that goes up to Holbox). We do not find almost traffic, there is a good service of gas stations and in general we can say that there is nothing to worry about.

Where to book a rental car in Mexico and with what company? We always recommend using a car rental comparator like Autoeurope, it is the one we use and we never had problems.

Here we detail the rental process of the car:

1. First you will have to enter your website, put the city ​​of collection and delivery and the dates. In our case we will put Cancun, and an example period of 18 days. Remember that if the delivery time is longer than the pick-up time, you will be charged one more day of rent.

2. You will instantly get the options with the different agencies of rent, classified from the cheapest to the most expensive and by the type of car. For a trip like this we recommend an automatic car, and it does not need to be high-end, it is enough with an economic or medium.

It is important that you compare several of the first agencies. For this look in the "rate details”Of each of them and check the amount of the franchise, which rates are included and which are not, basic coverage, etc.

3. At the next point, you may be given the option of hiring a extended insurance. The basic rate usually has insurance with an amount of franchise, which will be the maximum money you pay in case of accident or damage to the car. If you take out additional insurance, you can go quieter.

There are usually two options for these additional insurance: reimbursement of the franchise and Super Cover:

• Franchise Refund: In case of accident, theft or damage to the car, the full amount of the expenses incurred is returned. But it does not include moons, ceilings, floors and wheels, so it is the cheapest.
• Super cover: franchise return, including damage to all elements of the car.

This option given by Autoeurope is external to the agency itself of rent. They will offer you their own insurance options, which in many cases are more expensive. These should include the reduction of the deposit with the credit card, or its total elimination.

In the two previous cases the service of roadside assistance. This is usually offered by the rental agency itself apart from the rest of the insurance.

Here also the optional equipment, such as chairs for children, GPS, etc. All with an extra cost.

3. The rest of the process is to introduce personal information and make the payment. The reservation will be confirmed and paid, so in the agency in principle you will not have to pay anything else. But it is important that you carry a credit card (not debit) to make the blocking of the amount of the franchise. By the way, it has the Spanish driving license and the international license that you can take in a simple procedure in any DGT (by appointment).

Oh, and another important thing, this reservation is cancelable and modifiable Up to 48 hours before pickup.

Although you can enjoy a trip to Mexico without incurring too many expenses, beyond accommodation, transportation and food, it is really advisable to allocate part of the budget for tickets to the main Mayan archeological sites and other activities. These are the ones that, for us, are really worth it:

• Chichen Itza: 254 pesos. More info.
• Uxmal: 234 pesos. More info.
• Edzna: 60 pesos. More info.
• Calakmul: 188 pesos. More info.
• Tulum Ruins: 70 pesos. More info.
• Coba: 70 pesos. More info.
• Bacalar Lagoon Tour: from € 13. More info.
• Ferry to Isla Mujeres: 300 pesos round trip. More info.
• Ferry to Holbox: 300 pesos round trip. More info.
• Suytun Cenote: 70 pesos
• Other cenotes: between 50 and 150 pesos.

In three weeks in Mexico you will have time to see lots of things, and ranking the best of the Yucatan Peninsula is not easy. This isour top10, with the classification of what we liked most personally (not necessarily in order) on our three-week trip through Mexico.

1. Chichen Itza
2. Bacalar Lagoon
3. Suytun Cenote
4. Holbox
5. Uxmal
6. Edzna
7. Valladolid
8. Tulum
9. San Francisco de Campeche
10. Calakmul

If you want to expand the list, here we leave you the 20 best things to see and do in Riviera Maya and Yucatan Peninsula.

Finally, we are going to give you a few tips to plan the trip to Mexico, visiting the Yucatan Peninsulaand that you can enjoy it to the fullest! It is always advisable to take a look at all these tips before starting the trip, as some of them are as important as what visa do I need? What SIM suits me? What care do I have to have?

We have written a post with all these recommendations: these are our tips for traveling to Mexico (and not shit).

Up to here our Mexico travel guide (Yucatan Peninsula tour). We hope it can help you plan your free trip to this incredible area of ​​Mexico. And you know, if you have any questions, leave us a comment!

Video: Exploring Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula - Lonely Planet vlog (April 2024).