Questions about vacationing in Mexico

behsco90 · June 2014

Hi ladies! BF and I will be heading to Mexico next week (Riviera Maya!) and staying at an all inclusive. For those of you who have been, I have a couple questions.

1. Did you bring pesos or dollars or both?
2. How much cash did you bring with you? Since we are staying at an all inclusive, we're thinking we'll just need cash for gas (getting a rental car), souvenirs, and not sure what else. We'll be there for 6 days.
3. Did you book any activities before or while you were there? I really really really want to go swimming with dolphins, and have checked out a few places, but am hesitant to book right now because I'm wondering if it will be cheaper if I book it through the hotel, or elsewhere, when I get there.
4. Any great snorkeling places you recommend?

Any other advice/tips you have would be great! Thanks!

Swazzle · June 2014

I've only been to Mexico once and it was years ago so I don't remember much that would be any help but have a great time and take lots of pictures!

[Deleted User] · June 2014

The last time I went to Mexico I went to Cancun in 2008 so I don't know how much help I will bring. I brought dollars with me and they would give me pesos back. I can't remember the exact amount of money I brought with me though. We stayed at an all inclusive resort and we went out to dinner a lot, dancing, and we did those extra excursions through the hotel. I want to say I brought about $400-$500 with me for the week maybe? We went jet skiing which was a lot of fun.

buddysmom80 · June 2014

behsco90 said:

Hi ladies! BF and I will be heading to Mexico next week (Riviera Maya!) and staying at an all inclusive. For those of you who have been, I have a couple questions.

1. Did you bring pesos or dollars or both?
2. How much cash did you bring with you? Since we are staying at an all inclusive, we're thinking we'll just need cash for gas (getting a rental car), souvenirs, and not sure what else. We'll be there for 6 days.
3. Did you book any activities before or while you were there? I really really really want to go swimming with dolphins, and have checked out a few places, but am hesitant to book right now because I'm wondering if it will be cheaper if I book it through the hotel, or elsewhere, when I get there.
4. Any great snorkeling places you recommend?

Any other advice/tips you have would be great! Thanks!

FI and I go every year to Mexico (except for this year ...)

1) We bring US Dollars

2) We fly down on a Monday and fly back on a Friday for that amount of time we bring $200. If you're renting a car, I would suggest bringing an extra $500 in US cash as a slush fund if the Policia feel like harassing you. Also DO NOT USE credit cards at gas pumps. My friend and her FI went donw there last year and filled up on gas at one of the stations on the way to the airport. Apparently their number got swiped from the machine. It could happen anywhere (it happened to me at my own bank ATM!) but it was kind of a pain in the ass to resolve. Are you completely sold on having a rental car? We use USA Transfers to and from the airport and get a cab if we want to do anything off the resort. Cabs are really cheap down there.

In regards to tipping: we're heavy tippers. We tipped our waiters at the restaurants and tipped our server on the beach $20 a day to keep the drinks coming. We don't use the whole $200 so any extra we use for souvineers for friends. Also, bring cash to the beach because the stuff that people are selling up and down the beach is nicer than the stuff in the souvineer shop. I got a bunch of beach-y jewelry from a woman selling them on the beach for myself and a bunch of friends and probably spent $15 for 20 items.

3) We don't do much when we're there. We go into town (Puerto Morelos) and check out the local scene. I would wait until you get to the resort just to see if there's something different out there.

4) Snorkeling is great in the Rivera Maya, the world's second largest reef is in the waters of the Riviera Maya! Any place that you go would be great. The resort we stayed at had a boat that went out twice a day for snorkeling that was included.

Where are you staying down there? Which resort?

Sakalicious · June 2014

DH and I didn't exchange our money when we went to Cancun a few years ago. Two places that I highly recommend are Tulum (great sight-seeing) and Xelha (snorkeling and other water activities plus restaurants and bars--really great day trip). http://www.xelha.com/
Other than those two places, we just hung out at the beach and did some jet-skiing and parasailing. We also stayed at an all-inclusive and it was amazing.

cu97tiger · June 2014

We went to Playa del Carmen for our honeymoon. We brought US$ and got change in pesos. We rarely left the resort because hello! free drinks and sunshine is really all I need.

We did go kayaking one day, did yoga another day. Our friends swam with dolphins (through the hotel) and loved it.

This was my view most of the week:

And there was also this view.

ENJOY!

minskat30 · June 2014

H and I love Mexico. We've been to Cancun three times. What resort are you staying at?

We generally bring dollars (for 4 days we will usually bring $150-200). We are heavy tippers because the staff there works so hard and doesn't make much money. We tip $1-2 for every drink, $5 for breakfast, $5-10 for lunch and $10-20 for dinner depending on the service.

I've swam with the dolphins before and it was fun. Wear a one-piece though...trust me. One lady who wore a two-piece had her bottoms fall off when the dolphins raise you out of the water and that is usually when the excursion takes your photo you can buy later. We also went to the spa....heaven.

doubleSS07 · June 2014

ohh vacation..so jealous right now!

We went to Rivera Maya 3 years ago and had a great time. We brought US dollars and we tipped the bartenders at the hotel to keep the strong drinks coming. We did a few different things but my favorite BY FAR was the day long trip that we did. It was about $150 a person but we did the Tulum ruins, zip lining, swimming in a cenote, snorkeling, swimming with turtles and they took us to a great authentic Mexican restaurant on the beach. They even stopped to get us beer after they picked us up at our hotel. Here's the link to the tour place and it was cheaper than doing any of that stuff through the hotel. You can also take a cab to Playa del Carmen and take a fairly cheap ferry ride over to Cozumel for the day.

behsco90 · June 2014

Thanks ladies! I'm also thinking of taking the ferry over to Cozumel, did any of you do that?

@Swazzle - there will be lots of picture taking!

@southernpeach89 - did you get a good exchange rate when you paid in dollars? I was reading that merchants can cheat you on the rate when paying in dollars vs pesos.

@buddysmom80 - We just feel like we will have more freedom with having a car. Plus our friends that went told us they spent around $30 for a 10 minute cab ride (maybe they just got a bad driver?) But we definitely will be using cash for gas. We are staying at Catalonia Riviera Maya.

@Sakalicious - we do have Tulum on our itinerary. I was looking at Xelha, was it expensive?

@cu97tiger - ahhhhh that looks so nice. I'm so excited to relax on the beach!

ETA: @minskat30 - great advice, thanks! I will make sure to pick up a one-piece.

@doubleSS07 - what did you do in Cozumel? I was thinking snorkeling, but wasn't sure what else there was to do.

doubleSS07 · June 2014

@behsco90 we actually went deep sea fishing. We went with 2 other couples and one of them really wanted to do this so they paid to charter the trip. It was ok...we caught a lot of fish but the girls enjoyed walking around in the little square area near the ferry terminal more. I'm sure we would have done more stuff if we didn't have the fishing trip booked.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

@behsco90 - Yes, the ladies who I was traveling with were very affluent with their exchange rate since one of their parents were from Mexico. I've never been cheated but I guess that would be something to look out for if you have heard of it happening.

[Deleted User] · June 2014

@behsco90 - I actually just booked a week long Riviera Maya vacation for H and I in August thanks to this post!

H and I have been to Riviera Maya once before (probably about 5 years ago) and loved it. We've always taken US currency and didn't have any problem. We purchased 2 excursions through our hotel and loved them; one to visit the ruins in Tulum & rappel/zipline and the other was a snorkel adventure. The tours were through Mayan Adventure and they were awesome. People of actual Mayan descent provided the tours and we had an authentic Mayan lunch. We loved these trips and would book them again. Not sure if it's cheaper to book ahead or not, but here's their website: https://www.aventurasmayas.com/tour.php?tour_id=6. Wherever they took us snorkeling was the best we've ever had...and I've snorkeled in Belize, at the resort in Mexico, Puerto Rico. We also purchased a roundtrip shuttle bus ticket to/from the airport to our hotel for $40 each. Cheaper than the cabs and super easy, aur conditioned and safe. I really think you'll find that a car will be a waste of your money. The hotels are very spread out, the roads are poor and there aren't a lot of great towns/markets worth driving to. Any excursions you book will include transportation...so you really don't need one. Just a thought.

Hope you guys have a great time!

behsco90 · June 2014

@allusive007 - glad I was able to get you a vacation!

As for the rental car, we've gone back and forth between renting and not renting. I've looked at shuttles, and the cheapest I've found was $120 round trip for both of us. Our resort is about an hour from the Cancun airport, and our flight back leaves at 1:30am and the shuttles don't run late (after 8pm). We still have time to cancel the reservation, but I'm such an indecisive person, idk what to do!!

eilis1228 · June 2014

Have you looked on websites like Travelocity for the airport shuttle? We're going to Cancun in August, and we're staying in the hotel zone so the hotel isn't very far, but I remember them having much cheaper options for shuttle transfer. They also had a few excursions you could book through them, although I think we're going to go through a different company to book ours.

Wish I could be of more help! Enjoy your trip and please post lots of pics when you get back!

buddysmom80 · June 2014

behsco90 said:

@allusive007 - glad I was able to get you a vacation! As for the rental car, we've gone back and forth between renting and not renting. I've looked at shuttles, and the cheapest I've found was $120 round trip for both of us. Our resort is about an hour from the Cancun airport, and our flight back leaves at 1:30am and the shuttles don't run late (after 8pm). We still have time to cancel the reservation, but I'm such an indecisive person, idk what to do!!

SITB:

If it was me, I wouldn't rent a car, it's such a hassle no matter where you go! USATransfers runs all the time here's there website: LINK

If you do a tour most of the time, they arrange to pick you up and drop you off at the resort too.

Now I'm looking at trips to Mexico in October, it's all your fault OP.

Sakalicious · June 2014

The all-inclusive pass it $80 and includes all-day access, breakfast, lunch, drinks, snorkeling equipment, and the key for a locker. We also had to pay for a shuttle to get there since we didn't rent a car. It was definitely worth it, especially since the rest of the trip was pretty low-key.

BreMR · June 2014

I'm a little late to the party, but I've been to Mexico 3 times in the past few years, I've never exchanged my money everywhere we went they took american $$. We took a catamaran tour in Cancun that I LOVED, it was a day trip that included an all inclusive buffet on Isle Mujeres. I also swam with the dolphins but it was on my resort specifically. I know that Isle Mujeres offers a dolphin encounter that seems pretty cool, if you buy the all inclusive business you can do ziplining and snorkeling there too! (You can take the ferry from Cancun for sure)

As far as using a credit card, I wouldn't do it. My bank wouldn't even allow us to authorize payments in advance, they suggested we call when we're at the store to authorize specific transactions, rather than okaying everything. Simply because of the fraud they see coming from there (gas pumps, merchants, etc). I usually brought about $300 in cash for a week for tipping mostly.. Once you go to Mexico enough times the little shops lose their excitement.

leia1979 · June 2014

1. Did you bring pesos or dollars or both?
Bring plenty of dollar bills for tipping. The staff doesn't care that you tip in USD. If you're staying in touristy areas, most places will accept USD.

2. How much cash did you bring with you? Since we are staying at an all inclusive, we're thinking we'll just need cash for gas (getting a rental car), souvenirs, and not sure what else. We'll be there for 6 days.
We didn't rent a car. We probably brought $100 for tips, a couple hundred for activities, and a bit extra for souvenirs. I did use my credit card in town, both in Playa del Carmen and in Puerto Vallarta.

3. Did you book any activities before or while you were there? I really really really want to go swimming with dolphins, and have checked out a few places, but am hesitant to book right now because I'm wondering if it will be cheaper if I book it through the hotel, or elsewhere, when I get there.
Go to Xcaret. It's amazing. Also, pay for the dinner that gets you VIP seating for the cultural show. We booked it as a tour with transportation through the Walmart in Playa del Carmen. However, we were told they would take credit card when they came to pick us up and they didn't.

4. Any great snorkeling places you recommend?
We snorkeled in the river at Xcaret. I think we actually went through twice. Snorkeling from the beach (at least in Playa) isn't very good. I've heard the area near Tulum is better.

I went to the same resort as Tiger. We only ventured off one day (other than some short excursions into town). We did snorkel a bit at the beach and rented a jet ski one day, which was really fun.

behsco90 · June 2014

Thanks everyone! I will see if I can convince the BF to skip the rental car. He's pretty set on it, we'll see if I can be convincing! I am also maybe hoping a little proposal might happen while we are there...but I'm not holding my breath.

Ollie08 · June 2014

I have nothing useful to add to this thread other than to say that I keep reading the thread title as "Questions about vaccinations in Mexico". haha

Questions about vacationing in Mexico

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