Mexico🇲🇽

Mexico, the last country in our Latin America trip! We first had to get the ferry from Caye Caulker to Belize City, which left at 10:30am, getting us in an hour later. We then got the shuttle bus from Belize City, which left at 12:30pm, and it took us nearly 8 hours to get to Bacalar, our first stop in Mexico. The bus from Belize City cost us £52 for the both of us and we had to pay both an exit fee from Belize of 80 BZD and an entrance fee into Mexico (because we were staying for over a week) and this cost us £85. Overall, the transport costs were pretty expensive! Our process through immigration also took a very long time, with our bags getting thoroughly searched and I mean they took everything out of our bags! It was pretty ridiculous and they did this to all ten of us! However, it might have just been for us, as other people said they breezed straight through immigration without a problem. Once we were through, we had to drive another hour to Chetumal, where people got dropped off and then those going to Bacalar got changed into a smaller bus. A very long travelling day! In total we spent two and a half weeks travelling around Mexico, which was very fast paced as we were pretty tight on time, so had to breeze through some places.

Bacalar

🏨Che Hostels

We stayed in Bacalar for two nights, however, if you have the time, you should definitely stay for more! We stayed at Che Hostels which is a party hostel and more on the expensive side, but worth the price! It has three floors of dorms and private rooms, a lounging and rooftop area, big out door pool and has a bar and restaurant attached to it. Even though it is a party hostel, we had no problem with noise and we were on the first floor. Dorms were pretty good, very comfy, with lockers and shared bathrooms!

Los Rápidos
The main activity to do is visit Los Rápidos, which is a beautiful natural, lazy river, only a twenty minute drive away from the hostel. It has underground cenotes, crystal clear waters and is surrounded by mangroves and stromatolites.

To get to Los Rápidos, you can either book it through the hostel or get your own collectivo or private taxi. It is a set price and pretty expensive, so splitting the transport between four people will work out a lot cheaper. The taxis there and back cost 400 MX all together, which is very expensive! The entrance to Los Rápidos also cost 450 MX, which included 50 MX for a locker, making it a very expensive day!

The lazy river though, is beautiful and we had amazing weather for it, however, we were expecting the river to be a lot longer than a five minute float down. You can go as many times as you want and there are sun lounges and tables dotted around, so you can spend the whole day here and get your moneys worth! Life jackets are mandatory to avoid you from touching and standing on the stromatolites. We were here for a couple of hours before we moved on.

Lagoon Boat Tour
Another recommended activity is to take a three hour boat tour around the lagoon. We luckily only had four people on our boat and were automatically upgraded because the other couple had paid for a more extravagant boat. This also included a morning snack and three small beers each, which of course Ned took advantage of! We went to four different spots, a well known Cenote, bird island and two swimming spots. This cost us 1,100 MX for the both of us, which we think is pretty good for what we got!

Bacalar Lagoon
The boat tour company also let us use their kayaks for free, for booking with them. We also got 10% off and a free dessert or drink for a review at the restaurant attached to them, Casa China. We made the most of this and spent the next morning kayaking along the Lagoon before having breakfast at the restaurant!

Food
There are so many places to eat at in Bacalar, as soon as we arrived we went on the hunt for tacos! Two highly recommended places were:

Mr Taco - only a five minutes walk away from the hostel, you got to choose from so many different tacos and fillings and it was so cheap! We shared eight tacos and a burrito, they were that good!

El Loco Taco - This was recommended to us from our tour guide! They offer so many different tacos and fillings as well, but focus more on seafood dishes. The tacos we had included, sea snail, octopus, prawns and fish. It is a bit further out from the main town, but highly recommend!

Playa del Carmen

🏨Che Hostels/ Airbnb

We ended up booking four nights at Playa Del Carmen, which we kind of regretted. This is because in July, the Seagassum Seaweed is pretty bad, building up on the shore and beaches, rotting and making it smell very badly. This meant we couldn’t go to any of the recommended beautiful beaches and had to find a rooftop pool instead. If you are tight on time, we would recommend going straight to Isla Holbox and staying there for the majority of your time for a proper Caribbean beach experience. However, if you are flexible and want to explore a bit too, you could stay a couple nights in Playa del Carmen and do day trips down to Tulum (45 minutes away) or Cozumel Island (hour ferry), which is what we did in our four days.

Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is Playa del Carmen’s famous, pedestrian-only strip. This street is packed with international shops, local boutiques, lively bars, cafes and restaurants. We spent one morning walking through the strip, popping into different shops along the way. It gets very lively in the evening, with performers, giving the tourists a show.

Cozumel Island
We spent one full day going to Cozumel Island, taking the ferry across from Playa del Carmen, which took around an hour. We spent an hour walking around the town, browsing shops and stalls before meeting for our snorkelling tour. We decided to do a snorkelling tour from here because of how bad the sea was at Playa del Carmen. As mentioned the water was completely full of Seagassum, meaning we couldn’t swim at all. The sea at Cozumel Island though was incredibly blue and completely worth the day trip.

Our snorkelling tour took us to three different spots and ended with a sea picnic of fresh ceviche and guacamole. We went to two snorkelling spots where we saw turtles, sharks, rays and all kinds of fish, before relaxing at our third stop, which is where we ate. A very fun day for us and we got to see a lot of wildlife.

Tulum

🚎Day Trip

We got a collective from Playa del Carmen straight to Tulum, which cost us $120 MX for the both of us and took 45 minutes. We then spent the whole day in Tulum exploring and making the most of it! If you don’t have time, you can easily miss this spot, as the beaches are also missable because of the Sargassum Seaweed so there is only exploring the sights and town.

Tulum Mayan Ruins
As soon as we got to Tulum, we went to the Mayan Ruins, which opened at 8am. We then spent an hour walking around the different ruins and learning about its history. I would definitely go as early as possible as you will miss all the tour groups that get there at 9am, so we managed to beat the crowds and enjoyed having the entire place practically to ourselves.

Cenote Callavera / Cenote Dos Ojos / Grand Cenote
Across Mexico, there are over 6,000 Cenotes that you can visit. Cenotes are natural pools, which are formed when the porous limestone bedrock collapses. Different Cenotes can create underground caves and pools, giving unique opportunities to swim and snorkel in crystal clear water. There are so many to choose from, and they all have entrance fees of around 200 - 250 MX, so make sure you don’t get scammed, which of course we did! Some also charge you for an additional 200 MX if you want to use a GoPro, which is pretty ridiculous!

Aside from this, they are a really nice place to relax in, Cenote Calavera was a much smaller one, but it had swings and jumping ledges all around so it was pretty fun to spend the afternoon here.

Isla Holbox

🏨Hotel Akbal

Our favourite place on the Caribbean side of Mexico. We had one night but two days here to explore, so we made the most of it! However, we really wish we had five nights here instead because the island is pretty incredible, full of white sand beaches and crystal blue waters!

Beach Day
Spend the day lounging on the beach or at one of the beach clubs along the shore! There are so many to choose from but each of them are gorgeous.

3 Islands Tour
As soon as we got to Isla Holbox, we spent the morning sunbathing on the beach before booking this tour. It cost us 1,200 MX for the both of us for a three hour tour to three spots, Bird Island, Passion Island, and Yalahau Cenote. It was a pretty good tour, maybe not the best out of the trip, but worth it to see some of the beautiful islands! At Bird Island we got to see wild flamingoes, which was pretty cool!

Snorkel with Whale Sharks
Another popular activity to do is go snorkelling with Whale Sharks. It is a pretty expensive tour and the only reason I agreed to it was because this is one of the only countries, apart from Australia that does it ethically. I have done it before and they were sadly both not as ethical as I would have liked! For this tour though it is a very long day and I would actually recommend doing it from Isla Mujeres in Cancun! The sole reason for this is the place where all the Whale Sharks are is closer to Isla Mujeres, so the travelling time from there is shorter!

For us, from Isla Holbox, it included a three hour boat through the incredible open sea, with some very big waves, so it is very very hard on your body and back. The next day I was sore all over from experiencing the constant jarring of the boat from the waves. Bear in mind, that we were not told this when booking from Holbox. The companies explain the whole day, which was incredible, but they don’t tell you that you will be travelling three hours to find them and then back again. So please take this into account if you are not good with boats or sea sickness as it is a very rough journey!

Once you get to the main spot, you will be lucky enough to see maybe ten to fifteen if not more, Whale Sharks. They come to this spot naturally because of the plankton, which is what they feed on. At this spot, there are probably around twenty boats full of eight tourists each. Unlike other countries, you don’t all get in the sea and crowd the whales, if your tour guides spot one, you will go in pairs and get to swim alongside them until the whale swims off. Each pair will get two swims each (sometimes only one, as it can depend on how many there are). Life jackets are mandatory because of how many boats there are, so it makes it easier to see swimmers in the sea. You are also in very deep waters, so you need to have it on you for safety.

When you are in the water, you have to make sure to keep an eye on the Whale Sharks as they can swim away very quickly. If you see them swim towards you, make sure to stop and wait for them to swim past, you do not touch them. They are not dangerous at all so you don’t have to be afraid. We saw one tourist grab the whales top fin and our guide had a massive go at him, which we were impressed by.

After each pair has had their turn, you start the journey back towards Isla Holbox. You have a second snorkelling spot, but its got nothing on the Whales and then you have lunch on a beautiful island having fresh ceviche and guacamole. You have about forty minutes on the island until you start the two hour journey back.

We ended up going through the mangroves as our captain told us it would be a lot smoother than the journey on the way! This actually became another highlight as we saw so much wildlife including rays and flamingoes on the way back.

Valladolid

🏨Hotel y Hostel Valladolid 48
We stayed at this hostel and were bumped up to a private room after they mixed up our reservation! They could obviously tell we needed it after a long day of travelling.

We were only here for one night as the main sight to see is Chichén Itzá, one of the Seven Wonders of the World! So it was a pretty quick pit stop in Valladolid for us. If you have the time, spend at least two nights here, so you can properly explore the town too!

Chichén Itzá
With the hostel, you can book onto a tour to visit Chichén Itzá, which I think also includes going to a Cenote afterwards. However, it is pretty expensive and a very long day. We decided to do it ourselves and caught a local collectivo to and from Chichén Itzá. This cost us $200 MX for the both of us and was pretty easy to do.

We then spent an hour walking around the grounds, seeing and learning the history of the ruins, bought some souvenirs and then got another collectivo to a Cenote to relax in the afternoon. The price of the tickets for Chichén Itzá was £60 for the both of us and was an incredible way to start the day!

Ik Ik Cenote

There are so many different Cenotes to visit in Valladolid, we chose the most popular one (maybe we shouldn’t have), but it was also the closest to Chichén Itzá. We paid £20 for tickets and then spent another hour or so relaxing in the fresh waters and jumping off the ledges. Other Cenotes you can visit is Cenote Zací, Cenote Suytun or Cenotes X’keken and Samula.

Other things to do in Valladolid:

• Go to La Palapita de los Tamales Restaurant.
• Parque Principal.
• Iglesia De San Servacio.
• Calzada de los Frailes.
• Covento de San Bernardino de Siena.
• Ek Balam.

Merida

🏨Casona la Garra Charrúa
Most basic hostel, not in the best area, as was a twenty minute walk or so from the main part of town. However, it was cheapest hostel we could find and came with free breakfast, so was worth the conditions we stayed in!

If you are short on time, this place can be missable, it’s a lot of walking around the town and exploring, no big sights to see here. However, if you have the time, it is a nice place to spend a few days relaxing and slowing down! We originally were going to get the bus from Merida to San Cristobal, however, changed our plans last minute and ended up flying from Cancun to Oaxaca!

Explore the Town
Walk through the town, exploring Plaza Grande and Catedral de San Ildefonso.

Other things to do in Merida:

• On Sundays, Paseo de Montejo and other streets are closed so you can walk through the streets to explore the town.
• Cenote X’batun or Santa Bárbara.
• Monday Vaquería dancing.
• Saturday Maya Pok Ta Pok games.

*San Cristobal

We would recommend staying here for a couple of nights, a really cute, colourful town in the heart of Mexico:

• Iglesia de San Cristóbalito at sunrise.
• Santo Domingo Market.
• Free Walking Tour.
• Plaza de la Paz.
• Real de Guadalupe.

Oaxaca City

🏨Leveli Coliving & Hostel
A really cool hostel, in prime location, only a fifteen minute walk from the centre of town! The dorms are pretty decent, no air con but it’s not that hot in Oaxaca. It has two rooftop areas that you can relax on, has a good kitchen and eating space and work studio for expats to work in. We were here for three days and absolutely loved it here!

Explore the town
There are so many incredible plazas, cobbled streets, squares to explore full of incredible stalls, boutiques, indigenous art, cafes and restaurants! Main vibrant spots are:

• Mercado 20 de Noviembre.
• Zócalo and Santo Domingo squares.
• Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzmán.
• Jalatlaco Neighbourhood.
• Mercado Benito Juárez.

Terraza Los Amantes
We found this spot to grab a few cocktails and see the view overlooking the square. Go to this rooftop or the opposite bar for views over the city.

Mirador Cerro del Fortín
Watch the sunset from this prime spot, only a steep seven minute walk from the hostel, it is worth it. You can see panoramic views over Oaxaca City and see the sun begin to set over the hills.

Other things to do in Oaxaca City:

• Join a free walking tour around the city if you don’t do it yourself - can learn about the history and insider food tips.
• Monte Albán Zapotec Ruins.
• Food tasting to learn about the regions incredible foods and agave spirit.
• Day trip to Hierve el Agua - waterfalls and infinity pools surrounded by mountains.

Puerto Escondido

🏨Viajero Hostels

Puerto Escondido is another beautiful surf town, famous for its beautiful beaches, prime surf spots and relaxed atmosphere. If you are looking to break up your exploring, this is the perfect place to stay at for a few days. However, if you are sick of surf towns, this stop can be missed! We got the bus straight from Oaxaca City, which took three hours and was pretty straight forward, we then had two days here to explore, however, we do wish we had at least another full day here!

There are two main areas to stay at in Puerto Escondido, either in La Punta for a lively, backpacker vibe, or Rinconada, for a quieter more relaxed experience. As we were staying at Viajero, we were only a four minutes walk away from the main strip of bars, cafes, restaurants in La Punta, where everyone normally goes. To get around everyone hires mopeds, we hired one for the day and it cost us 600 MXD, which was cheaper than getting taxis everywhere. We then were able to drive to Rinconada to explore that area, other beaches and activities a lot easier.

Explore the town
Spend the day exploring La Punta Zicatela, the strip is full of all kinds of vibey cafes, restaurants, bars and boutiques, which ends leading onto Zicatela Beach. You could spend the whole day exploring this area or beach hopping to nearby beach’s like Playa La Punta.

Playa Carrizalillo & other beaches
There are so many beaches to spend your day at. The nicest beach to swim in is Playa Carrizalillo, which is a smaller beach, 200 steps down into a small cove, so it can get pretty cramped quickly. Another beach which is bigger, but the waves are pretty huge, is Playa Bacocho, which is also where the turtle release happens. I will go into detail about this in the next section. Other beaches also include:

• Playa Zicatela - not best for swimming, more for professional surfers.
• La Punta - more relaxed, backpacker beach, good sunset spot.
• Playa Manzanillo & Puerto Angelito - side by side beaches in small coves.
• Playa Coral - secluded, hidden beach.

Liberación de Tortuga, Playa Bacocho
One popular thing to do in Puerto Escondido is to release baby turtles back into the ocean. It is prime time to do it in July so of course we had to do it! The company does it every day and is quite a popular activity so the whole process was a bit long. This might have just been for our day or time of the year though! The company opens at 4:30pm, with huge queues forming outside, so you should aim to get there for 4pm as it can be first come first serve.

However, for us, because there was about fifty people if not more lining up, our day worked out in groups. They stated releasing a turtle would cost 500 MXD no matter what, if you want a turtle each you will have to pay 500 MXD. However, you can go in groups of up to five people maximum, meaning you would be paying 100 MXD each instead. Going in groups is completely optional, the pro of this is splitting the cost, which is pretty expensive on your own, the downside is you will be sharing the turtle and releasing it with strangers. We didn’t mind this so ended up splitting the cost of one turtle with another couple and released it together.

We also learnt a bit of the history of the Santuary, some interesting facts about the turtles and nesting periods. The whole process took nearly two hours as each group had to be checked in, had a briefing, got some photos before releasing them into the ocean and watching the babies find their way.

Other things to do in Puerto Escondido:

• Night time Bioluminescence tours to Manialtepec Lagoon, where you can swim in the glowing waters.
• Morning tours to spot dolphins, sea turtles and whales (depending on season).
• Punta Vida - Prime sunset spot, where you can watch surfers whilst having cocktails with a view.
• Mazunte - drive away to this hippie town to explore other beautiful beaches, browse boutiques and visit at another National Mexican Turtle centre.
• Chacahua Lagoons - explore the mangrove lagoons at the National Park.

Mexico City

🏨Viajero Hostels

Our last stop is Mexico City! We chose to stay at Viajero, which was a party hostel, but in prime location, only a ten minute walk away from the main centre of town. Overall, the city is gorgeous, full of Mexican history, gorgeous architecture and vibrant lifestyle. We were here for three days and loved it, but sadly the last day was ruined by food poisoning so we ended up not doing anything special to top off our Latin America adventure!

Palacio de Bellas Artes
Visit this gorgeous Fine Arts Institute, known as one of Mexico City’s most iconic architectural landmarks, with its stunning white marble exterior and colourful ceramic dome, that shines in the sunlight.

One prime spot is to go to the rooftop cafe, which overlooks the square, called Finca Don Porfirio, which is located on the 8th floor of Sears. You can easily take the lift up from the shopping centre, where you might have to wait a little for the queue as it is always busy. From the balcony, it is arguably the best view of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. When you are in the cafe, you can order any drinks or food, and then you wait your turn to sit directly on the balcony, which overlooks the square. You will get thirty minutes here before you have to leave so that everyone can see the views. It is a prime spot at sunset as well, so if you want to go for then, make sure to go early to grab a space!

Explore the City
Explore the city, walking down Roma and Condesa streets, Parque México and Centro Histórico for the main square, as well as Metropolitan Cathedral and old Aztec Templo Ruins. We of course walked through China Town and popped into the shops and street food stalls.

Lucha Libre
Lucha Libre is a big event in Mexico City, where you watch masked wrestling matches at Arena México. Viajero Hostel organises tours every Friday and Sunday, which costs 800 MXD with them. The price of this includes transport there, free wrestling mask and drinks. It is a really nice way to meet other travellers as it is a very popular activity so it is normally fully booked.

However, we decided to book it ourselves at a much cheaper price. We bought tickets on Ticketmaster for the £5 each, walked to the arena which took 25 minutes from centre of town and then booked a taxi back which was 150 MXD. The whole show was nearly three hours and we saw five different wrestling matches. We decided to leave a bit earlier than 11pm, to beat the crowds when leaving and making it easier for us to get a taxi back. It was a really fun evening though, so you should definitely do this if you’re in Mexico City and make an evening of it!

Other things to do in Mexico City

• National Museum of Anthropology.
• Chapultepec Castle.
• Frida Kahlo Museum.
• Food Tour.
• Free Walking Tour.
• Get the Cable Cars round the city.

Overall

Overall, Mexico was a great country to end our trip on! Sadly we had to rush through it in only two and a half weeks, so our recommended stops for a quick trip are Bacalar, Cozumel Island, Isla Holbox, Valladolid for Chichén Itzá, Oaxaca, Puerto Escondido and Mexico City!

We enjoyed ourselves a lot more once we got to Oaxaca City, we thought on the touristy, Caribbean side, we were constantly scammed and everything was ridiculously overpriced for what you got. No regrets though, just keep this in mind when visiting there and always double check the price of taxis, buses and collectivos before getting into them as they will always try to change the price once you have arrived!

Mexico rounds up our Latin America adventure, if you need recommendations for any other countries, you can check them out in the Countries section here.