Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Isla Holbox, Cancun, Isla Mujeres

What to see: 

We spent time in multiple different cities, so there is plenty to see. In later posts, I will break it all down by city. Overall, you can see plenty of beaches (with and without tons of seaweed), beautiful ocean life, tasty food, marquesita stands, plenty of tourists, souvenir shops, dancing, and more.

What to do:

Go snorkeling or diving. The reef is so close and there is diverse wildlife to see. Although we were not lucky and saw no whale sharks, we saw jumping dolphins, lots of turtles, manta rays, beautiful coral, and brightly colored fish. Walk along the beach. The water is so blue and beautiful. It’s just a peaceful place to be. You can also do plenty of partying in Playa del Carmen or Cancun. Walk along Quinta Avenida in Playa. Take a ferry to an island. The water and views from the islands are better than the mainland. This is a place for letting go and partying it up or just simply relaxing. There aren’t any amazing museums or anything to check out but the nature is what makes it so special. Our favorite thing was going to ride ATVs, swim in a cenote, and zipline. Go with the flow and enjoy it. Check out our map for ideas under Maps and Routes.

Who to bring:

This area is mostly known for partying (Playa, Cozumel, Cancun) and relaxing (Isla Mujeres, Holbox, Puerto Morelos). You can visit for a solo trip, family, friends, couple, anything. The area caters to tourists of all types so you can definitely live it up however you desire.

How to get around:

We rented a car since we were there for 2 weeks and went to several different areas. Everyone will warn against this due to scams upon arrival that hike up the price. They are right. It’s very stressful and we recommend just renting with a company that is trusted to know what you’re really getting into right away. We thought we did enough research and chose America Car Rental but upon arrival they doubled the price and said our credit card wouldn’t work for the hold even after we called the bank and they said no charges were attempted but it was clear for use. It was clearly a scam and we spent 2 hours dealing with it before going elsewhere. We HIGHLY recommend going with Avis which is who we ended up with and there were no struggles with them at all. Super close to the airport that you can just walk instead of being driven to the car rental site and they are trustworthy. No gimmicks, just an easy rental with a nicely maintained car.  

What we did: 

We spent most of our time exploring on foot. We ate mostly street food and items from the grocery store that we prepared in our airbnbs. If you want to splurge, there are PLENTY of ways to do so. This can be a very luxurious vacation. However, that wasn’t why we went. We love the vibes of this area. We went to relax and clear our heads after a long school year. We had fun driving a golfcart around an island, playing at the beach and the pool, walking around town together, and chillin. We did book 4 different activities. 1) snorkeling in Cozumel 2) 3 Island Boat Trip in Holbox 3) ATV, Zipline, Cenote 4) Swimming with Whale Sharks (no whale sharks were seen, so it was really just a very long and sea-sick boat ride that ended with some beautiful snorkeling and delicious ceviche) We went shopping and went out a couple of nights. We took goofy pictures and laughed at other tourists who were probably doing the same to us. It was the refresh we all needed.