Mexico in May with a 3 year old and a 1 year old

[Muddle]

Anyone done this? Any tips on ideal length of time, places to stay, places to visit, etc would be gratefully received!

What sort of holiday are you interested in? Independent travel or package?

Are you an experienced traveller?

Definitely independent travel - not all-inclusive.

Not sure what you mean by experienced traveller - DH and I have both travelled a bit in the past but we are looking for a good compromise where our children are comfortable, have fun and so do we. We would definitely like a few days looking at ruins, a few days at the beach, some nice child-friendly restaurants and a nice child-friendly hotel that is walkable to beach, restaurants and shops But we don't know much about Mexico, so advice on what else to do/ see would be great! (PS. we live in NY at the moment, so not worried about jet lague, etc)

mancmum, Chandra, belgo - anyone else who has been to Mexico?

hi, I was putting dd to bed.

I went to Mexico pre children.

The Yucatan penisula is very interesting re. ruins - for example Palenque was amazing, very atmospheric.

Tulum are ruins next to the sea, and are very pretty.

I would recommend Playa Del Carmen as a place to stay, less commercialised then Cancun.

We also went on a day trip to a place where they had man made swimming ares through caves - I remember there were loads of kids there - but I just can't remember the name. It also had miniture models of the ruins. There are a few places like this.

No advice on places to stay, we paid just a couple of dollars at the most per night when we went there - but probably not in places suitable for children!

I remember the food being horrible, not at all like Mexican restaurants here!

HTH!

The day out we went on was to Xcarat

here is a link to Xcaret

Hope you see this!

Thanks belgo! We have booked the flights now - 19th-30th May, so now we just need to choose accommodation and work out things to see and do

I remember going to Palenque back in the day and there being no safety features, we were up in one tower thingy and there was a small boy, about four, just wandering around with his parents (presumably) hoping he wouldn't dive off and plunge to his death. So worth bearing in mind. Palenque is great but quite a long way from the coast I think - you would need to stay somewhere else (Oaxaca?) to see it.

Playa del Carmen / Cancun - I wouldn't swim in the sea necessarily. I know lots of people do but it is a bit of a shark area.

Would agree with the Playa Del Carmen advice, Cancun is just like America. It is good for a day trip though, really good sea life centre.

We also visited Chichen Itza, which was really good but not sure how enjoyable it would be with small children. It was also incredibly hot as it was inland.

Recommend swimming with dolphins and xcarat.

Agree with you about the food Belgo, not what I was expecting!

Funny about the food, I lived in Mexico and I recall the food down in Cancun/Playa del Carmen being more like Mexican food here than 'normal' Mexican food!

tribpot - I'm sure the food in Mexico is more authentic then in Mexican restaurants here, I'm just saying it wasn't what I expected and I didn't really like it!

Also, we never went to any expensive restaurants, just stuck to the cheaper places.

No no - I know what you mean. Just funny that even the touristed-up version in Cancun wasn't touristed-up enough, maybe?

tribpot - I never went to Cancun. No way did our budget stretch that far!

I couldnt find anything remotely Mexican in Cancun, in fact I think I had a burger!

I loved Mexico so much, I had all these romantic notions of what it would be like to live there. We drove through some lovely places on some trips out, all crumbling pastel coloured houses. Then I saw one with a goat and dogs in the kitchen and thought maybe not

sounds like I didn't miss much then Kezza.

Yeah, I had the non-romantic reality including LARGE scorpion on the wall and cockroaches pretty much everywhere. (puke face not envy face).

we spent a couple of months in mexico (pre children, admittedly) but old enough to afford reasonable-ish places to stay. I guess it depends whether you're willing to move around or if you just want to find one place to stay? If you are willing to travel around a bit you could focus on the West coast and spend a couple of days somewhere up in the mountains like San Cristobel de las Casas (stunningly beautiful town, lots of accommodation optons, 'real' Mexico and loads of stuff to do around there) and then head south via Palenque to the coast. We stayed in El Panchan, which is in the middle of the forest, near the site and much nicer than the nearby town. There's a selection of accomodation options and I remember there being a lot of small children present! As for the coast, we didn't go there as it was too expensive, but I've heard nice things about Tulum and you should definitely stay away from Cancun! Mexicans love kids and I remember being asked a few times why us backpackers so rarely brought our children with us. I was 30 at the time and no-one believed that we didn't have any!!