This Tips, are the stuff we did with our guests before the wedding. It can be a little confusing what to do on a place you have never been before., I live here!.. so I wanted to show my friends the amazing places around... I wish we had more time together so we could go to more places, but this 2 "tour" days were amazing, and everybody was so happy and had so much fun, including Matt's Grandma... so I felt happy too... here it goes:
Sunday Night: Dinner at Aca los Tacos – Delicious tacos and quesadillas, very chilled place located in the corner of 5th avenue and Constituyentes., they have options for Veggies too.
Monday: Isla Mujeres. From Playa del Carmen we ride the bus to Cancun, the terminal ADO is located in 5th avenue esq. Juarez (1st street) there are buses departing each hour to Cancun and the price is aprox $5 usd.
Once in Cancun (1 hour ride) take a taxi to Gran Puerto, that’s one of the Ferry terminals to Isla Mujeres, round trip ticket to Isla is $14 dollars. Make sure you ride on the roof, the water between Cancun & Isla is the most absolutely amazing turquoise blue I ever seen, and feeling the breeze and the waves is a liberating experience, I love it so much.
When you get to Isla, move to the dock at your left, and you will see some guys offering the “snorkel tour”, make sure they belong to "La cooperativa" (this is the association of the local fishermen at Isla) they take you in little boats, not so far to the coast but you will see beautiful beautiful colorful fishes, lobster, and other marine life., the boats have capacity for 10 people so we got 2.
Price per person varies depending on the season, we paid $23 usd each. The tour was about 3 hours. , they will take you to 2 snorkel spots, we got lucky and they took us to a third one, the most amazing…. Is a little ways out in the open water, 30 feet deep, the name is “Manchones” is a diver spot, you get to see a croos at the bottom of the ocean that was donated by Jaques Cousteau years ago, some of the guys dive down to the bottom and took some pictures, I couldn’t do it… but I certainly saw it from the surface. The water is super crystal clear, you have miles ahead of visibility, and the reefs at the bottom are beautiful. It’s a rule to wear a swimming vest, so you will be safe. (they provide the vest, fins and snorkels)
After this exciting snorkeling “diving” experience, our guides took us to lunch, they prepare a “Tixinxic” fish, imagine a big fish, as fresh as it can be…, grilled, and spiced up with a local flavor “achiote” , this is a local dish, absolutely yummi, everybody stand up and have a second, and even a third round of fish. They served the fish with pasta and coleslaw and tortillas. At the restaurant where they prepare the fish you can buy your own drinks, and other stuff as ceviche, and cocktails, guacamole etc., the fish is included in the price you paid for the tour… is these a deal or what??...
Going back to downtown isla, there are mopeds, golfcarts and bicycles available for rent, we were tired from the swimming, so we decided to chilled at the beach.
Playa Norte is the place to go, calm waters, long and wide beach, picture this, we were chilling in hammocs, under palm trees, and drinking pina coladas…, the amazing sunset was the cherry on the top of the cake…
We took the Ferry back to Cancun at 6:00 pm, then a taxi to the bus startion and the bus back to playa. A long day, but so worth it… I’ve been in Isla thousands of times, everytime is a very enjoyable trip.
Tuesday: Mayan Ruins, Cenotes & Tulum Beach. For this day we have more people aprox 35 joining us for the adventure., some have cars, but we needed transportation for those who doesn’t. , I did some research and found a deal… so write this down, it may become handy to you in the future:
SINAL TOURS – They offer transportation, you can choose from cars to a Van for either 10 or 14 passengers, the drivers are super nice! And the price is unbeatable.
Email: sinaltours@hotmail.com - Mr. Antonio Loeza. (They also provided us with the transportation on wedding day)
We wanted a full day tour, we choose going to Coba, which are Mayan Ruins aprox 1 hour away from playa, very close to tulum..
Once in Coba, (admission ticket is aprox $4 usd ) I hired a personal guide to give us the explanation of the site, he spoke perfect english (It was $30 usd) . He gave us a 30 mins explanation of the site. , after that we rented bicycles to go to the other end of the site where the main castle is. We had Grandma Mimi with us, she was SO Excited!!!, she have read an article on the National Geographic about the Mayan Culture, and that day she was right there, inside the picture she saw on the magazine., she didn’t have to walk at all, inside the site you can rent a “taxi” which is a tri-cle, so you are comfortable sitting, while a guy is driving you… super nice!!, Grandma couldn't stop smiling!!
The whole Archeological site took us a couple of hours, we climbed the highest pyramid and took photos…
After Coba we headed to a “Cenote”, this was AMAZING!!!, our driver took us to this one located in the highway Between Coba & Tulum, don’t remember the name, but there are several along the way, anyone will be amazing.
I had sandwich material with me, so I prepare sandwiches to feed my crowd…, it was nice., but I know this may not be a possibility for everybody. A good place to have a quick lunch is a “Fish tacos” stand, located in the highway that comes from Playa to Tulum, very close to the intersection that goes to the beach in tulum, I’m sure your driver will know where to take you.
We were in the cenote a couple of hours, inside you can rent snorkel and fins, looking at the underwater formations of stalactatites is a unique experience. Cenotes are found only in the Yucatan Peninsula, this is the only place in the world where you will swim in a place like this, in the middle of the jungle, crystal clear water, with underwater caves, really amazing.
After the Cenote, we headed to the beach in tulum, we stopped at this place “Don Cafeto”, besides the beach, you have a restaurant and a bar, this was pretty convenient, the sandwiches were some hours in the past and people was hungry again., we had delicious nachos , ceviche, and guacamole. Accompanied by margaritas and beers… how perfect was that!!!... We ended the tour having a wonderful sunset and fun photos at the beach. Our driver took us back to Playa.
The price for a 14 passengers Van was $190 usd., full day…. Of course the driver got generous tips from everybody…
Later in Playa some people went out to dinner at: Madre Tierra, a restaurant located in 5th avenue corner with Corazon street, we meet them there in time for dessert and a shoot of tequila.
After dinner, we went to Basico, a very cool bar, on 5th avenue on the roof top, this place has beds, so I was very happy just chilling…, this place is famous for their martinis, the “tamarind” flavor is delicious!!
I was very tired so we went back home, but our friends stayed and went to party at the “Blue Parrot” this is a bar where drinking and dancing goes all night long… they have shows, as fire dancers, you can literally watch sunrise being there, is on 12th and the beach.
Wednesday: I took all morning and early afternoon to finish my wedding preparations, family & friends, went to the beach and did some shopping.
In that afternoon we had our “Welcome Dinner” at our favorite place in Playa: La Cueva del Chango: La Cueva del Chango Restaurante Mexicano en Playa del Carmen
This place is very unique, really good prices, and the food!!!... this is a MUST.
That night we check in the hotel were many of our friends were staying : www.hotellatortuga.con
Thursday: Wedding Day!!!! Review from wedding day & vendors will be another post.
I promise to update this one with photos..., but in the mean time I hope that my descriptions and information helps anyone looking to have some adventure and fun at affordable price here in the Riviera Maya.
