Your Ultimate Guide to Cancún, Mexico 🇲🇽

Skipping Chicago’s bitter cold for few days was for sure a great idea. This was my and my best friend’s annual trip of the year. We try to do one trip a year just because we both love traveling and also need some break from real life. Originally we started planning for this trip over the summer. We knew we wanted to skip winter for a bit and had also confirmed that we would be going to Cancún, it was just a matter of time when we book the tickets and accommodation. I had my eyes laid on flight tickets but they were really expensive, around $400 round trip but suddenly on the 5th of October (2018), the tickets went down $100 cheaper which was phenomenal. I called my best friend and we booked the tickets right then and there and that’s what I love about us, we don’t really do the planning beforehand. We pick a place we want to see, we see cheap tickets, we book it, and then figure out the rest. When we told two of my other friends about this idea, they wanted to join as well and so instead of just us two, it was us four. All four of us booked our tickets that day and then it was the waiting game until we left for our first international trip.

---

---

1. Airport – Cancún International Airport – CUN

We flew Southwest Airlines from Chicago to Cancún with a quick layover in Indianapolis. Cancún’s Airport is very accessible from any part of the town. About 15 minutes to and from all the resorts and 30 minutes to and from the rural areas. The public transportation is not very good though, so booking a private taxi before getting there is always a good idea.

• 

2. Public Transportation to the Hotel

When you land at the airport and once you’ve gone through the customs, there will a lot of local taxi companies offering service. Before we go to Cancún, I researched how much should a taxi cost for a group. Since it was four of us plus 2 bags per person, we were okay with paying a little bit more. My research told me to pay around 700 – 900 Pesos for a group of 4/5 people. Luckily, we got the lower end of that. All four of us and our 8 bags for 700 Pesos ($30), you divide that by 5 and that’s $7.50. Super Cheap. I can’t remember the name of the company but their vans were bright red in color.

3. Hotel – All-Inclusive, Grand Oasis – 4 days

Depending on what time of the year you’re going, you may be able to find a cheaper all inclusive hostel but since we were going to Cancún during the holidays, lot of the all inclusive hotels were really expensive or either they were full booked. A few of my friends had stayed at The Grand Oasis and had recommended it to me so I took upon the chances and it was also very close to the airport, only about 15 minutes. When we go there, we had some problems with our reservation, for some reason, when I booked the room, I had 4 people and one room with 2 queen beds but when we got to the resort, it showed up as 2 people and 1 king size bed which obviously was not going to work out for the four of us. We had to pay extra but we got the room with two queen beds. We had to change out of that room as well, it was not made/cleaned up after the last guests left. Due to all this mess, they ended up giving us a room with a king size bed and a pull out bed but with the ocean view. You can open the balcony and you’ll see the never ending gulf.

• If you want to book or learn more about the hotel, you can do so here: Link
• If you do end up staying at Grand Oasis, you have to try all of their restaurants and especially, Dos Lunas. Amazing Italian food.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

4. Five things you HAVE to do/see in Cancún

When it comes to tropical destinations like Cancún, there are alot of things you can do and see. It’s just a matter of days you’re staying and what you’re interested in. From scuba diving to parasailing. They’ve got it all. We booked all our excursions with Cancun Riviera Maya tour and they offered some great service for the price.

Day 2 in Cancun was amazing, we were picked up by the tour guide around 10:30 from our hotel and were dropped off by 3:30 after parasailing. After coming back, we just relaxed by the pool with some music and drinks. Dinner was hard to pick because there were so many dinner restaurants and it was an all-inclusive resort, so we could potentially eat anywhere. We decided to go with Dos Lunas, AMAZING Italian food!! I know, it’s little depressing to say that were eating Italian even though we were in Mexico, but the food was just that good. It was so good that we ended up eating there, three days in a row and after dinner, we hit the dance floor.

Day 3 in Cancun was actually really fun, one thing I’ve forgotten to mention is that a day before we were leaving for this trip, it was showing rain the whole time we were going to be in Cancun but fortunately and surprisingly, the weather was super nice and hot. It was Xtreme Adventure day, we had a lot on our itinerary today, from Zip lining to ATVs to Jumping into a Cenote (a natural underground lake) from a cliff 21 Ft. high. I KNOW! If you know me or have read my previous blog posts, you know that 1, I don’t know how to swim and 2, I’m really scared of water but I did end jumping from the 21 ft cliff into the lake and I will tell you guys how in a bit.

• To start of the day, Swetal and I grabbed breakfast at that buffet, and to be really honest, that buffet breakfast is really good. They have everything and by everything, I mean EVERYTHING that you can probably think of for breakfast. We were set and ready by 12ish and were just waiting for our ride to pick us up for the excursions. The guy was about 4-5 minutes late but it was an hour ride to the excursions. I took a great nap, don’t remember a single thing because I was deep asleep. Once we reached there, they gave us all sorts of instructions and we also met a group of girls from Texas who were on one of their friend’s bachelorette party/trip. Since there was a huge group, they split it by 10 and 10, one group would start with zip lining first and the other started with ATVs. My group of 4 guys and the girls from Texas were in one group and we started with zip lining. I’ve done it before so it was a breeze except for my last zip line where we were supposed to “break” to stop the zip line in the middle and my glove slipped off because I braked the wrong way. After zip lines, it was our turn to do ATVs and I kid you not, that was so much fun! Probably one of the many things I liked a lot about this trip. We drove the ATVs for an hour or so and then it was time for the Cenote. There was a shuttle van that took us and the group of girls to the underground lake. We saw a bunch of monkeys and the setting was like India. Swetal saw people jumping from the cliff, he went and Devansh followed him. Dharmik and I took the stairs down to the lake and chilled in the water for a bit before I went and jumped as well. One of the girls from that group of girls insisted that I should jump from that cliff with a life vest on and then Swetal will be down there to bring me back to the shore if I need it. I said NO straight up and 2 minutes later, all I remember is that their whole squad and my whole squad were insisting me to go. It felt like I was some athletic star and going on my biggest game of the year and all my fans were telling me to do good and that I will be fine no matter what. After like 15-20 minutes of going back and forth, I said yes and jumped from that cliff and I’m not going to lie, I was really scared but with the life vest, I was a fine and it good thing I did it because I know I would’ve regretted and I’m all about adventure so why not. Once I jumped from the cliff, I jumped from a zip line into the lake and that was it, it hurt my legs after a while because of jumping from such height at a force. We all just chilled in the water for a bit after and once our shuttle was here, we left to go back to the spot where we changed to get our belongings, they also served us tacos but it wasn’t vegetarian so we didn’t eat but had fun otherwise. Once we got back to the resort, we pretty much chilled, went bar hopping, and checked out the nightlife.
• You can book your next adventure in Cancun here: Link
  • We booked: Link ($99 Combo, Promo Fly in Cancun:Parasail + Xtreme Adventure (7 Ziplines + ATVs + Cenote))
    • We did parasailing one day and then the Xtreme Adventure the next day.
    • There is a high chance you’ll make a lot of good friends all the way a lot of people book these excursions.

1. Parasailing

$80

It looks expensive but they pick you up from your hotel and drop you off.

Provide life jackets and everything else you need for parasailing.

The other thing I would suggest is checking with your hotel as well, sometimes they have good offers for the guest.

2. ATV

You can find a good package for ATVs. The one we booked was Xtreme Adventure for $58

We got zip lining, ATVing, and a visit to Cenote

3. Jumping in a Cenote

Again, we go this in a package with the ATV which was really cheap.

A cenote is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings.

You have to do this, even if you don’t know how to swim, put a life jacket on and just do it. I promise you. You won’t regret it.

I don’t know how to swim and I’m the most scared of unknown waters and I still did it.

4. Visit Chichen Itza

Ranging between $60 – $100

I’m a big architecture nerd and this would be my favorite place but since we were all on a budget, we could pick 2 excursions and so we didn’t end up going here but from what I’ve heard, it is amazing. Especially their night light show!

You can check out the prices here: Link

5. Visit the Flea Markets

Take a bus to the city center, which is about 10-15 minutes from the resort and you will have the best time of your life exploring.

Flea markets for souvenirs, cheap food, and a bunch of other authentic Mexican things.

The bus pretty much stops at every resort so it won’t be hard to get on one and then get off at the city center.

You will need CASH.

You can purchase your tickets here:Link

5. Public Transportation & Currency Exchange

Public Transportation

If you’re staying at an all Inclusive resort then you won’t need any kind of public transportation but if you do wish to explore the locals like we did, take the public bus to the city center. The bus come every 10 minutes and is very inexpensive (about USD$0.70 per trip).

The main routes are the R-1 and R-2. These buses run 24/7 but less frequent at night.

• The R-1 Bus turns right on Avenue Tulum, goes past city hall, and is where you can get off for the city’s main bus terminal (just past the Uxmal Avenue Traffic Circle). The terminal will be directly across Avenue Tulum. 
• The R-2 Bus is best for going to: Walmart (open 24/7), Sam’s Club, Market/Mercado 28, and the Hong Kong Restaurant. Most drivers will say when they get to this stop. 

Currency Exchange (Local currency is Pesos) – 23 Pesos = 1.03 USD

Do not do a currency exchange at the airport. You will get ripped off.

You have 3 options, I would normally only recommend option 3 but for Cancun, I would say, a combination of both option 2 and 3:

• Small restaurant in the city center, public buses and souvenir shops will not accept and kind of card payments and thus, you will need some cash on you. There are many currency exchanges on Hotel Zone strip (where all the resorts are). Just checkout a couple of them and see which one is offering you the best rate.

1) Open a prepaid card.

• This is the method I used and it had its ups and downs. I used Travelex Money Card that you can find here. It’s pretty much like a debit card. What you will have to do is, open the card for $10 and you will be able to link it to your bank account. Every time you feel like you want to convert some money onto your Travelex Money Card, you can use their app to say what currency you want to convert it in and within seconds, that money will be on your card and you can use it right away. It’s also contactless, so you can use it on public transportation and you can set a 4-digit pin so you’re safe as well. I did a lot of research when I went to open this card and I couldn’t find a better exchange rate than Travelex. So if you are planning on picking this option, you’ll get a good rate out of its competitors.

2) You can also carry around cash but I DO NOT recommend this option. When you’re exchanging cash, you won’t get a good exchange rate and there is a change of it getting stolen or lost.

3) Open a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. I recommend this option because when I left for my backpacking trip for the first time, I did not know such credit cards existed and so I never did my research. My personal favorite is the United Explorer Visa Card. I use this card pretty much anywhere I go abroad and since it’s a Visa card, it works almost everywhere. Another reason why I really like a credit card is that no one will give you a better exchange rate than a bank. It’s also very easy to use, simply use it as if you were to use it in the US, and when prompted to choose between USD or EUR, pick EUR. It’s also contactless, with no foreign transaction fees and you 2 lounge passes for United. So, if you’re in a place to open a credit card, I really recommend this option.

6. Food

Mexican food is my absolute favorite and I was really excited to try the authentic tacos in the city center. There aren’t specific restaurants that I would recommend. Everything is cheap and good. Just make your best judgment and sit down.

Tacos.

Salsa (Try and see how spicy you can eat)

Guacamole

Burritos

Rice & Beans

Spicy Candy (I know! But you have to try it)

Check out my Cancún vlog!

• 

• 

• 

•