Holidays in Cancun (Mexico) - 2021: our review and prices

We went to Cancun (Mexico). Liked it, but not without flaws. Let's tell!

When: March
How long: 6 days
Company: two people

Guys-ah-ah, such a sea as in Cancun, I have not seen anywhere else! It is so clean, and the waves are so transparent and turquoise that in the heat you literally want to drink from it :)
But in spite of the fact that the Cancun Sea has become for us the "reference" and the best, we would hardly return again. And it's not at all about the distance and the long flight.

So, about the rest in Cancun in detail: why do they sell guacamole in Starbucks and what places to avoid so as not to stumble upon a crocodile?

Mexico is open to Russians. And since May 2021, it has also been connected with Moscow by direct flights and charters: See the most profitable tours on Travelata or Level.Travel aggregators. Entry to Mexico is free, no PCR tests are needed.

Weather in Cancun

The tourist season here is like in Southeast Asia (for example, in Thailand):

• Good weather in Cancun lasts from November to May - in the air + 28 ° С ... + 30 ° С, the Caribbean Sea is heated to + 27 ° С.
• The low season lasts from June to October. At this time it is even hotter, but it rains.

As a person who has visited both Southeast Asia and Mexico, I will say: the feeling of the climate is very different! If in Tae on the street you are like a sticky napkin even in the evenings, then in Cancun after sunset you can wear jeans. There is clearly less humidity here, and, in combination with the constant wind, the climate is lighter and fresher (but this does not negate the evil burning sun from the 11th day).

These are the piers that go to the sea on the beach of the Hyatt Ziva hotel

You probably know that the regions of Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba are "famous" for hurricanes and storms. They rage in summer and early autumn. And this is another good reason not to go in the off-season.

We were in Cancun in March 2020. It seemed to rain only once and for half an hour. The rest of the time it is sunny, hot and windy during the day and pleasant, not bad in the evening.

Season in Cancun: when is the best time to go?

Green - high season
Yellow - transition period, bearable
Red is the rainy season, but if you really want to, then you can

Visa for Mexico

A little money was withdrawn immediately at the Cancun airport from the Tinkoff card / And this is how the forms for entering Mexico look like

For a regular tourist trip, Russians do not need a visa to Mexico, but an ELECTRONIC ENTRY PERMIT is required (for both independent and organized tourists):

- You have acting visa for USA, Canada, UK or any Schengen country? Then there is no need to bother with permission, you will be allowed through on the basis of this document. We had an American visa.

- If there are no visas, then: on the website of the Mexican consulate, fill out a simple form, in a few minutes / hours they send you an electronic permit by mail, print it out, take it with you. Single entry permit, valid for 30 days. You can stay on it in Mexico for up to 180 days.

Insurance is not included in the list of documents (it does not include anything at all except a permit or a visa), but you are a conscientious tourist, right? The policy can be bought inexpensively and quickly at cherehapa.ru.

Tours to Cancun

Abandoned boat at the lighthouse on Karakol beach

Cancun is a typical resort destination.
Very popular, but mostly among Americans, Europeans and Canadians. For us, Russians, a beach vacation in Mexico is still a super-exotic and even luxury occupation.

Nevertheless, the most adequate in terms of comfort and cost way to get to the Mexican coast is tours to Cancun. Charter flights only fly from Moscow, and the flight lasts 12-13 hours.

On May 29, 2021, the first long-awaited charter to Cancun departs. The flight program is scheduled until November, tours are already on sale, and, surprisingly, at reasonable prices.

All offers in Mexico from Russian tour operators can be viewed on tour aggregators - we always recommend them, because 1) it is really convenient, 2) we use it ourselves, the last 5 times we went to the sea, taking a voucher ourselves to:

• Travelata
• Level.Travel
• Onlinetours

What are the prices for tours to Cancun?

- A voucher for 10 nights for two costs from 130,000 rubles. This includes the simplest 2-3 star hotel without meals or breakfast.
- Tour to 4 and 5-star hotels in Cancun - from 170,000 rubles for two, and if you add a tick "high rating", then the price exceeds 200,000 rubles.
- Cancun and all inclusive are almost inseparable, and for Americans this resort is like Turkey for us. The cost of all inclusive vouchers is from 170,000 rubles for 10 nights for two people.
- You can save a couple of tens of thousands of rubles and choose a tour to Playa del Carmen or any other resort in the Riviera Maya region (a tourist zone adjacent to Cancun).

To Cancun on your own

We flew in on our own, from the USA, with InterJet
(it's better to fly from Russia on a tour - it's cheaper this way)

Does it make sense to go to Cancun "savage", without a tour operator?

Not now, as there are still difficulties with regular flights.
Our journey turned out just like this.
We bought plane tickets on Aviasales, booked a hotel on RoomGuru. But: our starting point was not Moscow, but Los Angeles. We decided that we would hardly ever agree to endure 13 hours on a plane for a ten-day vacation, and from California to Cancun - only 5 hours in the summer.

Arrived late in the evening, so we took a transfer from the airport to the hotel (kiwi taxi)

Interestingly, being on the same continent did not affect the cost of the trip for the better. I'll write down our budget at the end of the article, but if it's not cheap to fly to Cancun for the weekend from the USA, then what about Russia? :)

• Regular flight Moscow-Cancun, firstly, will be with a transfer (there are no direct routes), and secondly, from 70,000 rubles (!!!) for one round trip. So, right off the bat, already minus one hundred and forty thousand for two. By the way, you still have to contrive to find a ticket with a connection NOT in the States, Canada or London - because if you do not have an appropriate visa, you will not be allowed on the flight.
• But there are no problems with booking hotels - there are a lot of them in Cancun, for any wishlist and for a reasonable price. I'll tell you now.

Hotels

View from our hotel to Cancun city center

To begin with - what is Cancun, and where to choose a hotel?
The city consists of several zones:

• Zona Hotelera (hotel area) - a narrow and long strip in the open sea, where all inclusive resort hotels rise, and all tourists hang out (see the location on the map).
• Downtown - where do the districts where the locals live start from; such an ordinary, unremarkable city. There are no fewer hotels here than in the Hotelier's Zone, but they are cheaper - because they are either urban-type or hostels.

These two zones are separated by a 10-kilometer Boulevard Kukulkan (serves both for walking and for transport). Along the boulevard - on the side of the sea - there are beach hotels. Basically, inexpensive, by local standards, "treshki" and old "four". They are diluted with apartments and houses for rent.

Less popular, but also devoted to the needs of tourism, part of Cancun is another "offshoot" that goes into the sea, called Isla Blanca (look at the map). One half of it is built up with luxury hotels, the other is home to many kitesurfing schools.

The beach at the Hyatt Ziva is awesome! We walked from Karakol beach towards the lighthouse

Respectively:

- All tourists from the category “vacation should be a vacation”, “walking like that” and “I need all-inclusive” settle in the Hotelier's Zone and, less often, on Isla Blanca.
- Budget travelers (mostly independent) and backpackers stay in Downtown - further from the beaches - or looking for an acceptable option on Kukulkan Boulevard - closer to the beaches. We lived in Downtown.

Cancun hotels have a number of minor (and sometimes not so) problems. These are, for example, the clumsy knowledge of English on the part of the staff, aging rooms, the lack of basic amenities in city hotels (such as a kettle or mini-refrigerator), etc. I will leave the details in the last section of the text.

To the specifics and recommendations.

I made three hotel selections: two for tours (more expensive and cheaper) and one for independent tourists. If you want to relax in Cancun on a tour, search on the aggregator, for example, Level.Travel; If you don’t accept third-party help, book your hotel on Booking or RoomGuru.

Cancun beaches

The beach strip of the Hotelier zone (stretches for many kilometers)

Cancun in Mexico is a tourist paradise. Many kilometers of sandy white beaches, azure clear water. With one big "but". There are strong waves at sea at any time of the year. Well, well, if I'm afraid / can't swim, do I really have to hang out in the pool or stand at the edge and admire from the side? No, there is a way out.

Now I will describe all the main beaches of Cancun (there are not so many of them) - with photos and a list of features. Hope this helps you with choosing a hotel or just a place to swim.

But first, here's what you need to know:

• In Cancun public beaches... Of course, luxury hotels have fenced and guarded recreation areas, but if you, a stranger, somehow get to the beach, you will not be kicked out (as long as you do not take the sun loungers).
• At the same time, the entire coastline is so densely built up with hotels that it is not easy to get to the beach without being a guest of one of them. You need to know where the passages are. At first, this, of course, leads to a stupor.
• Periodically the Caribbean Sea throws up on the shore algae... There are few of them in the high season.
• To my surprise, in Cancun active underwater world! You can see living creatures - even without a mask - ranging from a garfish fish (so narrow and long) to ... a crocodile (oh, I'll tell you about this in the “what to see” section).

BEACH ZONA HOTELERA

Beaches The Hotelier Zone is a wide and long, uninterrupted coastline of 10+ kilometers. In theory, this is one long beach. When I first came here, I thought it looked like the famous Copacabana beach in Brazil (which I saw so far in the pictures).

Despite the fact that this hotel strip is surrounded by water on both the right and left, the recreation areas are located on the side of the sea (because on the other side there is a lake where crocodiles are found, you do not need to meddle there).

The main difference between this multi-kilometer beach:

• he is wide,
• with the strongest waves because of which it is impossible to swim - just jump or dive,
• with an even more turquoise color of the water (although it would seem much more beautiful ??), because ...
• ... the local white sand is denser, heavier, it is not like "flour" in Karakol. Rather, it is like crumbled coral, sometimes a bit peaked.

There is absolutely no natural shade on the Hotelier's Zone. It is very hard at noon in the open, scorching sun. You can rent sun loungers, umbrellas and ottomans (300-500 pesos per day ≈ 900-1500 rubles), but they are not on every corner.

Of the remarkable beaches - remember, there is no distinction between them, but there are names - I will single out Playa Chac Mool, as one of the closest to the Coco Bongo club (place # 1 for nightlife), and Playa Delfines, as one of the most popular due to mini - viewing and spot for pictures of Cancun Sign.

You can get to the beaches of the Hotelier's Zone through the passage to the left of the Coco Bongo club or through the Carisa y Palma hotel territory (there is a gate to the hotel near the Alamo car rental, the gate is usually open). I'm sure there are still loopholes. For example, you can go down to the far part of the beaches at the well-known letters CANCUN.

BEACH KARAKOL

Our favorite beach in Cancun!

And this is the best beach in Cancun in our opinion! Because it combines:

• azure color of water,
• unusual powdery sand, which is difficult to shake off from any part of the body,
• sandy entrance to the water (albeit with a sharp slope) and ...
• moderate waves, allowing you to swim and not knocking you off your feet when leaving the sea.

The entrance to Karakol Beach is across the street from Chedraui Supermarket, behind a bus stop.

Locals often gather here, because the beach is beautiful and clean, freely accessible, you can really swim without fear of waves. There is a cafe and a bar. There is no shadow. The Karakol itself is long, but narrow, and there are sun loungers with umbrellas for rent stuck in several rows.

The “for all” part of Karakol is compact. Both on the left and on the right, the beach areas of the hotels begin immediately. But we remember that we have every right to go anywhere along the coastline, right? Even in spite of the security. We smile, say hello and go where we need to :)

Friendly advice. Since everyone usually huddles together in the "free" zone of Karakol, we decided to look for a more free and picturesque place here. And they found it! Follow our route:

• Facing the sea, turn right. Crawl under the pier and walk to the stone platform where the grounds of the Grand Fiesta Americana begin.
• We are taking away! Yes, right to the platform. And do not pay attention to the guard, he is already used to it. You will need long legs or strong arms :) By this time, you will probably already get your feet wet, so when you climb up, you can throw off your shoes. Because the gentle snow-white sand will go further.
• We go around the sun loungers and wander along the sea to the mini-beach number 3 (you will understand that they are separated by breakwaters, although they are all the beaches of the same hotel), to which you also need to overcome several stone steps.
• We see two tall palms - you are there! We throw a towel under them (this is at least some kind of shadow) and go swimming, but already to beach number 2 or beach number 1 - there is a completely sandy entrance to the water.
• You can gently use the shower.

If you go even further, there will be the territory of the Hyatt Ziva hotel. There is also a cool beach with piers where you can take idyllic pictures. But you need to ask the security guard for permission - tell them that you are going to see the lighthouse (see the lighthouse, this is a local attraction), they will let you through.

LAGOON BEACHES (BOULEVARD KUKULKAN)

Boulevard Kukulkan, along which buses travel along the Hotelier area

Local beaches are the most "childish". I.e:

• no waves at all, calm water,
• very shallow - to swim, you have to go (literally) to the buoys.

Not surprisingly, most of the family tourists flock here. They choose a hotel on the first line, of which there are in abundance, and do not worry about a child peacefully sculpting Easter cakes by the water.

On the other hand, the shallow bottom is also a minus for those who like to cut the water surface with breaststroke, crawl, etc. From this perspective, the Karakol beach looks much more profitable (for both children and adults).

What to see in Cancun?

The most beautiful lighthouse in Cancun (I advise you to go and take some photos)

I remember how before the trip I looked about Cancun's reviews of tourists and was upset, because it turned out that there was nothing to do in the city itself except for beaches and clubs. And we are not particularly beach-party souls.

I thought, okay, we'll figure it out on the spot. Maybe they, tourists, were too lazy to leave the territory of their luxury hotel? But no. Cancun is really scarce in cultural locations. There are none at all in Downtown, and a few far-fetched ones can be found in the Hotelier's Zone.

Cancun attractions:
* I give names in English to make it easier to mark on Google maps

• Punta cancun lighthouse - a lighthouse on the edge of the land, next to the Hyatt Ziva. The operation to infiltrate its territory is described in the "Karakol beach" section.

The very letters "Cancun" by the Playa Delfines beach
(you can get there by bus) / And the aquarium

• Cancun sign - big multicolored letters CANCUN, a favorite place for photographs. In fact, they are also near the Coco Bongo club, but the most popular are those on the Playa Delfines beach. Waiting in line to take a shot can take up to half an hour, can you imagine?
• Interactive Aquarium Cancun Is a large complex where you can visit the open air aquarium, swim with dolphins or wander in a huge helmet on the seabed among the fish.
  Ticket Price: $ 15 to $ 160
• Museum Maya de Cancun - a small museum of Mayan culture. There is a closed room - with household items, etc., and an open one - with ruins and pyramids. A fallback if you are not going to the Mayan pyramids outside of Cancun.
  Ticket Price: $ 3.5
• Underwater Sculpture Museum (Underwater Museum) - it's like a museum, but under water. And no, you do not just walk through the tunnels, but naturally sink to the bottom of the sculptures - using a regular mask, scuba diving or on a boat with a glass bottom.
  Ticket Price: $ 47 to $ 115

There are many animals in Cancun - there are crocodiles and these are iguanas
(or lizards?), which are kind of harmless 🙂

• Crocodiles - Yes, there are crocodiles in Cancun: they live on Lake Nichupte, in this "pool" between the mainland and the Hotelier's Zone. It sounds scarier than it actually is - no one eats tourists and does not even bite (if not run into). Along the entire Kukulkan Boulevard, hazard warning boards are installed. But, of course, when the crocodile crawls out to warm up on the shore, a lot of tourists are going to take a look :) Driving by taxi, I caught a glimpse of such a fat individual ... brr.
• And look at the tops of the palm trees - I don't know why, but the Mexican people don't cut coconuts! If it falls, it will hurt.

Tours

We went on a tour of the Mayan sites - the most popular in Mexico

And it seems that we all came to Cancun so independent, but we took the excursion (yes, with a guide and by bus). Because we have little driving experience, especially abroad, and we don't have much time at our disposal. And the Yucatan Peninsula - where Cancun is located - has much more attractions than the resort itself. Here is something to see!

The main points not to be missed if you are in Cancun:

• Mayan pyramids - for this we decided to fly to Cancun. The most famous of them is Chichen Itzabut no less amazing pyramid in Kobe, you can climb it! And here ruins in Tulum (which also belong to the pyramids) left us indifferent.
• Cenote Are lakes in caves with cool water. Nice to swim, plus, very picturesque. Tours usually include cenote Ik-Kil.
• Xcaret amusement park (Shkaret) or Xel-Ha (Shel-Ha).

View from the pyramid in Kobe (it's not difficult to climb, but it's already scary to descend)

We went on this excursion on the Mayan pyramids with swimming in the cenote... It was great! We visited Chichen Itza, Kobe, Tulum and the town of Valladolid, bathed in a cenote and tasted tequila at the factory. The only negative is the long distances, for an hour and a half, between locations. Well, Tulum seemed nothing at all to me (if I had gone on my own in a car, I would not have wasted time).

We took the tour online on the Tripster service, I'll explain why.

- Firstly, the cost of $ 125 per person does not go beyond reasonable (all entrance tickets are included in the price), on the spot the excursion costs the same plus or minus.
- Secondly, it is in Russian. We know English, but most of the Cancun guides speak a mixture of Spanish and English (with a predominance of the former), and this, to put it mildly, creates a misunderstanding.
- Thirdly, the group is designed for only 10 people, and not for a 50-seat bus.
- Fourthly, we have already used the Tripster in Montenegro, and we liked it.

Cenote Ik Kil, which is also included in the excursion, and you can swim
(the water is cold, but tolerable in the heat) 🙂

Prices for excursions in Cancun (per person):
*Most Popular

• Three Mayan pyramids (Chichen Itza, Kobe and Tulum) + cenote - $ 120- $ 150
• Los Lagartos Nature Reserve and Pink Lakes - $ 100- $ 150
• Isla Mujeres day tour - $ 50- $ 60
• Park Xcaret with transfer from Cancun - $ 150- $ 200
• Shel-Ha nature amusement park - $ 120- $ 150

Entertainment

Well, there is still entertainment. Where to shop, where to dance, in which beach club to hang out for the whole day and stuff like that.

Also during the excursion we stopped by the tequila farm, it is made from agave / Ferris wheel in Cancun

• Nightclub Coco Bongo (Coco Bongo) - the center of orgy in the evenings, Cancun's Bangla Road or Walking Street, only on a smaller scale. All nightlife is concentrated in and around Coco Bongo. He, of course, promises to surpass the atmosphere of Las Vegas itself, but somehow we were not attracted :)
  Entrance ticket: $ 75 to $ 200
• Mandala beach club - sun loungers, pools, alcohol, food - good beach club.
  Entrance ticket: $ 25 to $ 70
• Ferris Wheel La Gran Rueda
  Entrance ticket: 299 pesos ≈ $ 13
• Forum by the Sea - a shopping center with a terrace on the 2nd or 3rd floor, from where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the beach and the endless ocean.
• Las Americas Plaza - it seems that every tourist from the Hotelier Zone travels to Downtown just to visit this shopping center!

Prices in a cafe

Our lunch at Natura restaurant (330 pesos - 1000 rubles)

A short excursion into the food world of the resort Mexico.
Having visited dozens of Mexican cafes in Los Angeles, we dared to think that Mexican cuisine has been studied for us inside and out. In fact, it turned out ... more precisely, half of the usual dishes for the United States from Mexico simply did not turn out to be :)

Yes, there are tacos, quesadillas, nachos with guacamole, but burritos - this fat "shawarma" stuffed with rice, beans, cheese, etc. - and no trace of it. And what I have listed is served in Mexico in completely different forms and tastes!

• Tacos - this is a flat cake + a few pieces of meat + a lot of greens, AND EVERYTHING, no complicated combinations and additives.
• Quesadilla - not a plump tortilla with a variety of fillings and a mountain of cheese, but a thin sandwich filled with 1-2 ingredients, such as ham / mushrooms and cheese.
• Popular enchiladas - rolls of stuffed corn tortillas, drenched in sauce, and something like fondue (queso fundido) - when floating in melted cheese chorizo - sausage.
• Okay, at least good old guacamole with chips (guacamole con totopos) pleases with the usual addition of lime and cilantro. This is downright cultural heritage, because the guac is sold even in Starbucks!

In general, Mexican cuisine is fatty and meaty, it is difficult to find vegetarian (I'm not talking about vegan) options on the menu. But tasty ...

About the cafe.
Prices in Cancun in a cafe are never low. Approximately at the level of Moscow. * I write the cost in pesos, it is denoted as $, for rubles, multiply by 3.

• Average bill in a cafe for two: $ 250- $ 350
• Serving of tacos (5 pieces): $ 90- $ 140
  * depends on the filling
• Guacamole with chips: $ 70- $ 100
• Mexican main dish: $ 110- $ 130
• European main course: $ 130- $ 150
• Combo lunch at McDonald's: $ 79- $ 94
• Milk fruit shake: $ 45- $ 60
• Bottle of beer, 0.3: $ 35- $ 45
• Cappuccino, 0.3: $ 55
  * Cancun is the place where more or less coffee is made only in Starbucks :(

Where to eat in Cancun?
Here's where we went and where it tasted good:
* authentic places, of course, are located only in Downtown

• Restaurante Natura (Hotelier's Zone) - an outlet for vegetarians :) For omnivores, the choice is also wide, stop by, do not be afraid. We took pasta with both tomatoes and pesto - very satisfying; guacamole and neck. Attention, gratuities are included in the check.
• The surfin burrito (Hotelier's Zone) - only Americans hang out here because this seems to be the only cafe with ... burritos! Burgers and tacos are also cooked in the kitchen.
• Ah Cacao Chocolate Cafe (Hotelier's Zone) - a cool place, they brew hot (or cold, if desired) chocolate on Mayan chocolate (butter, yes). It is spicy, spicy, unusual. I advise you to buy bars of this Mayan chocolate here as a gift for your loved ones (64 pesos).
• Rooster (Downtown) - a chain of coffee shops, there are like 3 of them, and everything is in the center. Average coffee, you can snack on a sandwich or something egg.
• Los Tarascos (Downtown) is such a real Mexican restaurant. Be sure to take tacos al pastor! They are bo-zest-ven-ny, I have never tasted such aromatic and rich taste anywhere. Our usual order consisted of tacos, guacamole, and a piece called vegetariano — tortillas and stews topped with cheese.
• La Playita Restaurante Bar Cancun (Downtown) - a grill bar with seafood. The average bill is higher than an ordinary cafe, you can have dinner once.

Hot chocolate at Ah Cacao Chocolate / Taco at Los Tarascos

Look carefully at the checks, they can easily cheat and throw too much, tourists ...

About groceries and supermarkets.
Of the small shops, Circle K, 7/11, Oxxo are often found. Selecta Chedraui and Superama are the big supermarkets. Everything is also in the Hotelier's Zone.

There are many places where you can pay with a bank card. American dollars are unlikely to be accepted in supermarkets, but in shops they can change small bills or give change in pesos (moreover, at the normal rate, it is written on a plate at the front door).

Food Prices in Cancun - 2021:

What's interesting in the stores? In general, the choice is huge. Every time we took Sanissimo cornbreads (tostadas), corn chips, avocado, mango. But guacamole is better to order in a cafe, it will be fresh and without preservatives. There are a lot of American brands' products - understandably, the main audience.

We also bought fruit in supermarkets. It’s too lazy to look for markets in the heat, and they weren’t in sight. In stores, the quality does not suffer - the fruits are ripe and juicy (mangoes, papaya are especially tasty, and avocados are simply gorgeous!).

Price per kilogram:

• Mini bananas - 27.5 pesos (84 rubles)
• Guava - 30 pesos (90 rubles)
• Sapota - 35 pesos (107 rubles)
• Yellow mango - 20-30 pesos (60-90 rubles)
• Avocado - 60-75 pesos (185-230 rubles)
• Watermelon - 15-20 pesos (45-60 rubles)
• Papaya - 25-30 pesos (75-90 rubles)
• Pineapple - 10 pesos (30.5 rubles)

In addition, the markets sell apples, tangerines, oranges, melons.

Transport

Traffic in the city is hectic, active, but more civilized than in Asia. It is very annoying and annoying that there are no pedestrian crossings, and traffic lights are extremely rare. Alas, we have to run across, including through large transport junctions.

How to get around Cancun?

1. R1 and R2 buses - the best friends of the tourist. They run from the back of the Hotelier's Zone to Downtown and back, that is, they cover the entire possible tourist route around Cancun. They run every 2-3 minutes - so often that you doubt their real earnings :) The fare is 12 pesos (37 rubles), paid in cash. The driver can issue a ticket, but more often than not.
They are guaranteed to stop at stops (it is hard not to notice them), but like this on the road - with a wave of the hand - not always.

2. Uber Is a lifesaver from greedy classic taxi drivers. In Cancun, as well as in Bali, Uber is banned - not officially, but by the same classic taxi drivers. Therefore, there are some difficulties with trips through the application.

- In practice, it is only possible to take Uber FROM Downtown TO the Hotelier Zone. Having thrown a tourist, the driver immediately drives back. Therefore, the application does not find cars in the hotel zone.
- The first time we waited for a taxi for about twenty minutes, of which for fifteen there was a search for a car. There are few drivers, as the demand is low.
- The prices are quite adequate, and compared to white taxis, they are generally “pennies”:

• From Las Americas Plaza (Downtown) to Caracol Beach - 105-120 pesos (325-390 rubles)
• From LAP to the back of the Hoteliers - 170 pesos (530 rubles)
• From LAP to the airport - 50 pesos (155 rubles)

- Uber drivers don't speak English. At all.
- They also keep a phone with a navigator on their knees, because if the taxi officers are "spotted", they will beat the car. A couple of times, in sign language, one of us was asked to sit in front, as if we were all friends and comrades, going to the beach :)

In Cancun, we took Uber, the local taxi is much more expensive

3. Official taxi (white cars with a green stripe around the perimeter) - our acquaintance with them was limited to a couple of phrases. "How much from Karakol to Downtown?" - "300 pesos". And we went to catch the bus.

Car rental in Cancun

Road from Downtown towards the Hoteliers zone

Judging by the number of tourists on four wheels, car rental in Cancun is in demand. Usually they book in advance online - for example, on RentalCars - and upon arrival they go to the rental office at the airport or wherever agreed.

• The cost of renting a car in Cancun pleases: you can take a Chevrolet Spark or Nissan Versa for just $ 12-15 per day! Insurance is already included in the price.

- Left-hand traffic.
- The condition of the roads is average, probably like in Russia.
- There are free parking lots near the beaches, but there are few places;
whoever did it took the whole day.
- A liter of gasoline - 20 pesos per liter (62 rubles).

Our review of Cancun

Reviews of tourists in Cancun are pouring out adjectives in the superlative degree of comparison, and ours is no exception. But a couple of spoons of "fly in the ointment" should be mentioned.

+ There is a really clean and beautiful sea here (watching its overflows is a meditation for me), the whitest sand that beautifully lies on tanned skin, a pleasant climate without sultry heat.
+ The cost and ripeness of the fruit makes you want to cry with tears of happiness, and the widespread availability of tacos and guacamole makes the heart beat faster.
+ Mayan pyramids - and these are new wonders of the world! - a few hours away.
+ The infrastructure is developed: small shops and large shopping centers, exchange offices with an adequate rate, pharmacies, boutiques, entertainment - all this is present.
+ And yes, despite the fact that Cancun is Mexico, reviews about security are neutral. First, the criminal territories are located on the border with the United States. Secondly, who would think of scaring away the main source of income?

On the other hand, Cancun has its own small (and sometimes big) problems.

- There is absolutely nothing to do here, except for the beach and parties in the nightclub.
- The locals can barely cope with the English language. Although it would seem that the States are close at hand, and the resort is under the Americans.
- Many hotels, shopping centers, establishments were built during the period of frenzied development of tourism in Cancun (and this, for a minute, 80-90s) and remained there. No, they are being renovated, of course, but the "soviet" plaque cannot be erased.
- In city downtown hotels, the rooms are tiny, and there is no kettle, no refrigerator, no separate shower gel and shampoo, and the WINDOWS DO NOT OPEN! Horror, be sure to check this point when booking. It is unpleasant to drive the air with the air conditioner back and forth. And don't forget the adapter, American sockets.
- With regards to authenticity, this slightly disturbing spirit of Mexico ... the only truly Mexican thing that can be found in Cancun is food. Everything else is tourist, resort, tuned in to the flow.

What else did you forget to tell?
Many, and we ourselves, are sure that Mexico is South America. In fact, this is still North America, just like the United States. The time difference with Cancun is 8 hours ago. That is, when it is 20:00 in Moscow, in Cancun - 12 days.

How much did our 6-day trip cost?

• Air tickets - 40,000 rubles for two (flew from Los Angeles)
• Hotel number 1 - 12,500 rubles
• Hotel number 2 - 5000 rubles
• Transfers from / to the airport - 1500 rubles
• On-site expenses - 10,500 rubles

Total: 70,000 rubles.