Mexico 2026
Go back to the first part of our trip to Mexico
Tuesday
Tuesday was the day that I settled on to do my sea dives. The main aim was to dive with some of the Bull Sharks that congregate in the area of Playa Del Carmen at this time of year. They are, I believe, all pregnant females who come here to give birth.
The dive operator won't let you dive with them without a 'check out' dive of some sort, so I joined the morning dive on Shangri La reef to get that out of the way.
Bull Shark - You can see the video here, if interested
After that I returned to the hotel and had an early lunch before heading out for the early afternoon dive to hopefully catch sight of some of the Bull Sharks. {You can read about my diving here, if interested).
Mandy, meanwhile, headed to Xcaret, a nearby waterpark-cum-nature reserve. To me it seemed like an odd choice for her, especially as she decided not to take her swimsuit, but when she returned in the late afternoon, she was full of the butterfly house that featured at the venue and where, it seemed, she'd manage to wile away most of the day!
Butterfly at Xcaret
Butterfly at Xcaret
We ate in the Italian restaurant that evening, but it was probably our worst eating experience at the hotel. Again, the restaurant was freezing and the service painfully slow.
We both ordered Pizza and it took nearly an hour to arrive. The base was quite good, but the topping a bit sparse and, as with the food in the Japanese restaurant, surprisingly lacking in flavour.
Added to this, despite Mandy asking the woman manning the door to close it after people entered, she repeatedly left it open, leaving us (and others) in a draught!
We decided we wouldn't return to try another meal here later in the week.
Wednesday
For the final 3 days we decided to rent a car. The price seemed to be a remarkably cheap 66 GBP, but on collecting the car we were informed of a mandatory 115USD state liability insurance cost which we weren't aware of.
It still worked out cheaper than coach trips (which we really didn't want to do again) or taxis (eye wateringly expensive - Even the most local trip we took would have cost us more than the basic car rental for 3 days!), but was another unwelcome unexpected cost, something that had become a bit of a pattern.
On the plus side, the car was a nearly new Kia and, to get used to it, we took a trip to the Jardín Botánico Dr. Alfredo Barrera Marin, between Playa Del Carmen and Cancun.
This is a nature reserve and botanical garden featuring flora of the area and some from further afield as well as some Mayan village reconstructions (and a 'gum camp' - Chewing gum was developed from the local 'gum' chewed here).
Part of the replica Mayan dwellings
It seemed little visited at the time of year we were there as we only saw a handful of other people in the couple of hours we spent there.
This bridge was, thankfully, closed on our visit!
View towards Cancun across the Mangroves
Most of the site is dense forest, very similar to the grounds around the hotel and we saw in other locations, but the northern edge is a mangrove swamp that extends towards Cancun and we were able to climb a tall lookout tower to look over this, where we also ate some lunch we had bought with us.
The vegetation generally around here looks much like this where not cleared.
Walking through the edge of the Mangroves
Despite applying insect repellent, we both got bitten quite a bit here.
Mandy spots a butterfly!
We spent the afternoon back at the hotel, enjoying some sunshine on the beach and having a swim in the sea.
The beach at the hotel was lovely and meticulously cleaned each morning - I had a swim and a beer whenever we were back to the hotel before dark and on the final morning.
We ate in the buffet again in the evening and again found the variety good and, in many cases, the food having more flavour than that in the themed restaurants. Generally, we found eating in the buffet was more pleasant than the themed restaurants, both in terms of environment and quality of the food, which seemed counter to our expectations.
Thursday
Having found driving to be no problem the previous day, we headed off for a 2+ hour drive to Ek Balam, another Mayan ruin and particular of interest as (until recently) it was the only site where you could climb to the top of the stairs to look out from the top of the pyramid.
We took the faster toll road towards Valladolid and then minor roads towards Ek Balam, passing through a couple of small towns. Out of town, the roads were pretty good, but towns feature many speed bumps, some worthy of the ancient Mayans in their height and steepness, and so required significant slowing (even below the in town limits) and many vehicles (especially longer ones) had to slow to a crawl to avoid grounding out over these.
Map of the Ek Balam site
Once again, we were faced with the pay twice scenario to get into Ek Balam, but we were getting more used to that now and we found that Ek Balam on a weekday was a far quieter proposition than the more famous Chichen Itza on a weekend.
The ruins here lie more amongst the forest than the wide-open expanse around Chichen Itza.
The first ruin you see at Ek Balam
This made it pleasant to stroll between the trees (it rained here briefly, though!) as we walked to the main structure, passing some lesser ones on the way, to climb the 100 or so steps to the top and look back across the forest.
The climb up the 'Acropolis'
As you climb up there are two tombs either side, which feature a stylised Jaguar head opening.
Jaguar tomb
The view from the top is impressive and more than one person came down the steps on their behind (not us, I hasten to add).
The view from the top of the Acropolis
Mandy reads the information board - They were usually in Spanish and English, helpfully.
Sunlight changes the look of the Acropolis
More carvings on the Acropolis
The other ruins are not as imposing, but still impressive in their way, including another of the 'ball stadiums', although this was far smaller than that at Chichen Itza.
The steps up the Oval Palace
The view from the top, looking towards the Acropolis
We spent a good couple of hours leisurely strolling around the site, in stark contrast to the rushed time at Chichen Itza, and then started to head back.
The ball stadium
The toll road had been quite fast, but boring, and Waze (linked into our hire car's screen) was saying the slow road was only going to take 30 minutes longer and there was plenty of time left, so with no other plans we drove over the toll road, saved ourselves 15 GBP, and took the ring road around Valladolid.
For much of the route, I was barely driving more slowly than on the toll road, but there were a few small towns to traverse and those mountainous speed bumps reduced our speed to a crawl there, but overall, it was barely any worse than taking the really, rather dull toll road.
We passed the turn for Coba, but Mandy said it was too late in the day and we'd already walked a lot, so we left that for the following day.
The drive back from Tulum seemed to take longer in our car than it ever did on the bus or in the dive operations pickups, although I was driving at least as fast as everyone else, but we were back in time for me to wander down to the beach, have a paddle and a beer before dinner.
Dinner was Mexican at the beachfront restaurant that is themed in the evenings (not all the restaurants were open every day - In fact I only ate in the Tulum buffet for lunch on the day we left) and a buffet during the day.
Service here was a bit shambolic and the food OK, if not remarkable.
Friday
For our last full day, we decided to head to Coba, another Mayan site, about 90 minutes away and one where they pyramid has very recently been reopened to climb after closing back in the COVID period.
We knew the way well, having passed the turnoff for Coba the previous day, so we drove down to Tulum, turned right at the big supermarket, passed the 'Carwash' cenote (more on that later) and carried on until we reached the roundabout where we turned left to the archaeological site of Coba.
The site lies between two lagoons, although you only get to glimpse one on entry to the car park and a small section of the same one (I think) as you walk to one of the areas of ruins.
Map of the Coba site
Coba is a very spread out site compared with the others we visited.
Coba requires a lot of walking (or cycling, if you opt for bike rental) to see it all
A clue was the bike rental as we entered (I don't recall seeing anything similar elsewhere) followed by signs saying that sites within the park were 1KM away.
We had all day, the Yucatan peninsula is snooker table flat and we don't mind a walk, so we eschewed the bike hire and similar bike taxis, but clearly many people did not.
We headed, first, to the pyramid, Nohuch Mul, which is the highest pyramid.
Stock image of Nohuch Mul from above
On the way, we past a small example of the ball stadium, complete with the hoops.
The ball stadium at Coba
The pyramid is a very steep structure, which has (since December 2025) had a wooden staircase added to allow people to climb up the, otherwise uneven, stone steps.
The newly opened staircase on the pyramid, with our group waiting
Being relatively small, they limit 15 people to the pyramid at any time, for a maximum of 15 minutes.
The stairs make the climb and descent far safer, but it's still very steep
We had under 10 people and 15 minutes was more than enough. I started climbing too fast and was soon out of breath (although I wasn't the only one and people behind me were faring even worse!) and needed a short pause before the final 1/3rd to reach the top of the stairs.
Mandy tackles the climb - Nearly there!
It looks at LEAST this steep as you climb
From there, the view was unbroken jungle all around us - A couple of young women offered to take our photograph, so we have a photograph of us with the view, before we started descending.
After catching our breath, we were able to smile and see the view
We walked back to the point where the two paths had diverged and saw that it was another 1KM to the Grupo Macanxoc set of ruins.
These were a low lying, but extensive set of ruins, leading to the biggest one at the far point.
These decorated standing stones are common across the sites, featuring Mayan gods
One of the structures at the Macanxoc group
Another structure.
After exploring these, we headed back down the path, past the point where the path split off to the pyramid and then finally reach the Grupo Coba ruins.
Here there was a huge structure (another pyramid) surrounded by smaller ones, some possibly residential, but mostly ceremonial buildings, like most that remain.
'The Church' at the Coba group
The unrestored side of the Church
There was another ball stadium here, as well.
The ball stadium at Group Coba
Overall, Coba is a very extensive set of ruins and in some ways was my favourite of the sites we visited, although each had its own appeal and we're both glad we managed to visit all the sites on our trip to Mexico.
As Mandy had been so disappointed with the cenote swim on our trip to Chichen Itza, I suggested we stop into the far prettier 'Carwash' for a swim on the way back. It's not a deep hole, has lots of greenery around it, quite a few fish and even some terrapins. Even better, the water is clear, blue water. In many ways it's exactly how you (and definitely Mandy) imagine a cenote to be.
We arrived about 1PM and there were only a few divers there undertaking training with rebreathers.
We ate the snack lunch we'd brought with us and then changed and had a quick swim in the cenote.
Mandy enjoyed swimming in 'Carwash'
Sadly, there seemed to be fewer fish than I'd seen when I dived, but there were some and we also saw the terrapins, albeit mostly resting on dry land, rather than swimming as I'd seen them. Maybe the mornings are simply a better time for the life.
Mandy did enjoy this cenote swimming experience, though, so it was worthwhile to make the stop.
Swimming in 'Carwash'
We took the car back via Tulum and stopped in a petrol station just short of Playa Del Carmen, where the pump man realised I wanted to part fill the tank of my rental car (why give them free petrol) and made sure I had JUST enough to return it a fraction above the half tank we'd taken it with.
Our rental car for a few days
Returning the car was relatively easy, although I think I drove the wrong way down a one way straight briefly, judging from the wagging finger of the woman in the car coming the other way. To be fair, her reaction was far more relaxed than it would have been in most countries!
We had no problem returning the car and took a taxi back to our hotel, passing through the security checkpoint into Playacar and giving our room number to the security man on the hotel entrance as we had to do every time.
Dinner was in the buffet again, this being 'Mexican night' and, to be honest, the food was better than in the themed restaurant!
Saturday
And so it was time to leave, but we didn't have to check out of our room until Midday and were being picked up around 2PM, so Mandy headed off for one last hunt for butterflies and I headed to the beach for a last few rays of sunshine and a quick last swim in the sea.
I watched some pelicans fishing in the shallows. Mandy had been splashed while trying to get a close photograph of one doing so some days before!
Fishing Pelicans
There was also the unexpected sight of a police patrol pulling up on the beach in very Batmobile-like buggies.
Batman lent the local police his beach buggy!
We got back, finished packing and checked out of the hotel, paying the tourist tax bill.
We left our luggage at the front desk and went to the Tulum buffet (my only visit) and enjoyed a burger and some of the excellent ice cream the buffets offer.
Then it was time to head to the front desk and our, rather tatty, minibus arrived on schedule.
The driver headed for Cancun airport, but asked if we minded if he make a quick stop. Assuming it was something urgent, and with time, we agreed, but he pulled into a drive through MacDonalds and bought a meal which he then ate as we went along (it also took around 30 minutes to get through the drive through)!
We still made the airport with plenty of time, dropped our luggage and headed through security.
It was only as we sat at the gate that I mentioned to Mandy that we hadn't had to show our passports anywhere except at the bag drop/check-in!
Planes at Cancun airport
We'd hoped to get a Mexican stamp in our passports as we'd not got one on the way in, passing through an automated gate rather than a manned kiosk.
We had followed a link and downloaded a document and I can only imagine that that process was all we needed to do, but it is a bit of a shame that our passports don't bear a Mexican stamp.
The flight left pretty much on time and was overnight (At one point I saw the Florida coast), landing around 8:30AM.
Even the bad weather back in the UK looked attractive from above!
It took a while to get off the plane as someone had been feeling unwell on the flight (paramedics came on board at Gatwick to take them off first) and, even then, our luggage wasn't at the reclaim when we arrived, but ours came fairly soon and valet parking meant our car was ready to go when we arrived and we got home in good time.
Summary
So, did we enjoy our long-awaited trip to Mexico? Absolutely, but it wasn't all positives.
On the downside, we found it unexpectedly expensive (staying all-inclusive helped keep the costs down) and the unexpected costs we often incurred were frustrating. I'd have far preferred to have seen a higher price up-front and being ready to pay it.
The low acceptance rate of credit cards was a bit of a pain, too, for people used to no longer carrying cash, but we had no problem getting cash (using the Wallmart in town!) when we needed it. I think I only used the credit card a handful of times; for the hire car, for the trip to Chichen Itzac, one of the payments in Tulum and for some snacks at the airport on the way home.
The food and environment in the buffet restaurant was good (if a bit chilly due to being open sided, but the weather was unusually cold, everyone said), but the restaurants were disappointing. Food also wasn't as universally available throughout the day as we'd found, for example, in Cuba, but that wasn't a huge problem.
We enjoyed the short time we spent in Chichen Itza, but not the whole coach trip experience and would 100% get a hire car for the whole period if we ever returned.
I wasn't particularly impressed by my diving experiences with Dressel Diving either, especially the Bull Shark dive happening in a strong current.
On the positive side, the hotel was characterful and luxurious enough for us (it had plenty of facilities, too, that we never used) and the grounds were lovely, with Coatis, Agoutes, Peacocks, Monkeys (we never saw) and a couple of giant tortoises (in enclosures).
Coati in the hotel grounds
Agoute in the hotel grounds
Aside from the unexpected insurance cost, the experience of renting a car and driving on the Yucatan peninsular was good, driving standards weren't bad generally and the roads were in better condition than most in the UK today.
I was extremely impressed with The Cenote Guy operation that I did my cenote diving with and would recommend them to anyone who is looking to dive the cenotes.
The ruins were interesting and certainly very different to anything I'd ever seen before (Mandy has been to Machu Picchu and Ankor Wot, which I imagine are more similar) and we got the opportunity to see all those we hoped to.
So, overall, we had a good time.
We wouldn't rush back, partly because we felt we'd seen what we wanted to and partly because, as always, there are other places we want to see instead of returning.
Our tips for visting Mexico
- Take lots of Mexican cash
- Check carefully for extra taxation charges for attractions
- Rent a car - Driving isn't stressful and it will save a fortune on trips/taxis
- Avoid organised tours, especially arranged from your hotel - If you really want to go on a trip, book online for the same trip at a fraction of the price