Cancun Mexico 2013

We set out on a journey this year to visit the amazing Cancun resorts in Mexico this year with my lovely wife, wonderful son, amazing dad, and incredible Tia Julie. It was a trip of a life time and I plan to give everyone some helpful hints, tips, and restaurants to eat at if you plan to go.

If you are interested you can view our vacation video here below to get an idea of what it is all about.

Flights

  • The cheapest way is to drive to TJ and get a one way ticket to Cancun. If you decide to fly out anywhere else your probably going to pay some bucks! We decided to go with safety though instead of cheaper tickets.
  • I would recommend getting a flight that lands into Cancun at night. We flew in at night and avoided the chaos in the middle of the day and had no issues going through immigration and such. Check with your hotel that you are staying at and make sure you arrange airport pickup. Its the best!
  • When you come home and leave from Cancun keep in mind that when you come back and land in the US you have to go through immigration and customs and then regular security again to check back in your bags to your connection flight. Allow at least 2 hours for your next connection if you have a stop over. It took us about 1.5 hrs to get through everything so good thing we had a 4 hour stop over!!!

Hotels

  • We were able to stay at a hotel called Sunset Marina Resort which you can view here http://www.sunsetmarinaresort.com it was a pretty nice resort that was on the marina side which was nice since it was so quiet. They have all kinds of things to do at the resort like kayaking, sail boats, jet skis, yacht renting, etc. Some are included in the All inclusive and some are not. The best thing about this place though is they have a speed boat that takes you to a sister hotel which is on the beach side to visit for the day so you can visit the beaches. They were beautiful!!!! Below is a picture of the Resort beach we visited.
  • Make sure you get the All Inclusive package for at least three days. We did that and on the days we went on tours we were able to eat during the tour or went into the city to eat with the locals which was great as well! So I would recommend getting a tour one day then the next day rest, tour, rest, tour, rest. For your rest days get the All Inclusive.
  • The Hotels we were in all had purified water and was totally safe to drink. We had no issues with water, ice, shower water, sink water, etc. All was completely fine. When we went into the city or on tours though we made sure to drink only bottled items.
  • So remember if you like the quiet scene then get a marina resort place to stay in since almost all of them have sister resorts on the beach front which will always include transportation to the other hotel. We loved doing this and didn’t have to be around all the crazy visitors that flock to the beach front hotels.

Tours

  • Our first tour that we went on was to Chichen-Itza which was absolutely amazing! It is a entire day thing though from 7:30am – 8:30pm but is a must. Its one of the wonders of the world so you have to do it. We got the tour package which included pickup, lunch, tickets, and of course the ride back to the resort. Well worth it! If you can also make sure you get the package that includes the Senota visit! You can swim in a all natural created sinkhole that is over 170 feet deep!
  • Our second tour was to visit the Island called Isla Mujeres. Our tour included a boat ride to a private spot on the Island where we eat lunch and could spend time in the beach or relaxing in the sand. From there they took us into the city where you can shop, rent a golf cart and drive around the Island, or go have fun at the beach! No matter what you do though it is all fun times!
  • Lastly the final tour we went on was called Xplor. This place has zip lines, cave swimming, jeep driving, and paddle boat fun activities. Our package included the trip there, lunch, tickets, and the trip home. This had to be my favorite thing we did out there so if you are fighting on what to do make sure this is the first place you visit! There is a lot of stair climbing, hill climbing, walking, etc so make sure you can hang with all of that physical workout! Our son was 10 years old and killed it all day so if you have a young one like that have no fear he/she will be fine if they are around 10 years of age. Also one thing to remember to bring is some water shoes and also some mosquito repellant. We had sandals and that sucked to walk around and hold them on the zip lines.

Food

  • Food is definitely something to think about on the trip. You will really have a good variety of foods to eat when you do the All Inclusive but what do you do when you have days that you don’t have the package?
  • I would recommend these spots that are in the city along the hotel strip that we went to. They are really good and close enough to the hotels. We would take the city buses to these spots and you can always take the R1 bus or R2 bus back and forth to the hotels. Just memorize where your hotel is and where the bus stop is at and always let the driver know your getting off. These people jump on and off so you got to be quick and pay attention.