Tips for Mexico

[MellieBellie]

Hi

We're off to Maya Riviera next week for an all inclusive 2 week family holiday. I've researched the area and the hotel, and I think I have a reasonable idea of what to expect. As this will be our first trip to this part of the world, I wondered if anyone has any useful tips?

Tipping seems to be very common. Should we tip everyone? Also, how safe is it to wander around? I love walking along the beach, will I be safe to go a few miles away from the hotel?

Thanks :)

I recommend xcaret as a day out. Dc loved it. We did tip. The AL hotels are often gated and so wandering out of the hotel is not that easy or safe really. We hired a car and went to Tulum which was great but it gets very busy. Some of the smaller beaches around there were beautiful. You will be fine at the beach of your hotel. We enjoyed it, food was good.

We just came back from Mexico.

You need to tip, we took $100 in dollar bills. Gave a couple to servers, bar staff, pool team, housekeeping etc. Most other guests were American so used to tipping. Is it a 5*? The hotel service was incredible, much better than any European all inclusive we’ve been too so we were happy to tip.

Try not to drink tap water, brush teeth with bottled water, the hotel will leave loads of bottled for you.

Some parts of Mexico have a reputation for being not all that safe atm. You will be ok in your resort and walking along a beach in the day. I would not wander around at night. If I wanted to go out, ask your hotel to organise a taxi, don’t use Uber. There is ongoing disputes between Uber taxis and local taxis and some Ubers have been targeted and tourists caught up in it. If you are planning day trips I would use an organised excursion through your hotel.

Do you have transfers sorted?

If you hire a car be really careful, read up on bribery and extortion. Police target tourists on the main tourist route that runs to the airport from places like Cancun and Tulum, they will pull you over for a made up offence and ask you to pay fines. Tripadvisor forums have a lot of advice on how to handle this. We weren’t very prepared and it cost us £150!

Whereabouts are you staying?

We found it all felt very safe - we were in Playacar/Playa del Carmen. No issues walking round. If you go into PdC you will have street sellers/shop owners saying "Hello I am a waiter at your hotel, do you recognise me?" - they aren't, they just click the wristbands, don't get sucked in.

We tipped in bars and restaurants when we went out - it's easier to run a tab then tip at the end. In the hotel we took $100 in $1 notes and tipped all the time the first couple of days, then every so often. Some hotels (Riu Palace) don't like you doing this though.

Check out a couple of the X Parks - they were great, but book online, now if possible, to get discounts. They cost a lot more from the hotel/excursion sellers.

it's really hot and really humid this time of year. Take some wardrobe & drawer dehumidifier sachets with you or your clothes will stink after a few days.

We bloody loved it last year, and will be back once we've saved again.

We went all over in the collectivo, basically a little mini bud that goes up and down riviera Maya.

We went to the adults only Bahia principe and was easy to get to local beaches and the Tulum ruins from there.

Tips as much as you can. Those people are pretty skint and really appreciate it.

I stayed at xcaret occidental before covid. The xcaret park was amazing. I rented a car and drove us to Tulum to Coba and to various cenotes.

organised trips were so expensive and car hire reasonable. Just don’t speed if you do this as the fines are meant to be big. Also there are no slip roads off the motorway you have to cross from the fast lane of one direction into the middle and then join the other direction fast lane which is interesting.

out of the hotel food and drink is expensive. I didn’t think the beaches were great. Tulum was ok. Playa del carmen beach was declared worse than Skegness by dd

in restaurants choose only stuff off the menu with prices. Don’t be tempted by recommendations for off menu stuff with no price. Safety has meant to have taken a nose dive lately but think it’s mainly gang and drug related. But some Americans apparently are keeping away.

coba is a must.

Thanks for all this info - it's really helpful. It's really useful. Our transfers are arranged and we aren't going to hire a car because of the risks.

Our hotel is down as 5 on the Tui app but other places have it as a 4 so I'm expecting it to be a reasonable standard.

I'd looked at the X parks, so I'll make sure I book online. Also, thanks to the poster who recommended the dehumidifier sachets. I've just ordered some online.

We went to Cancun Feb just gone.

Unsure if it's all finished yet but they were doing roadworks around the airport which added an hour to the transfer time.

Add that to the two hours it took us to get through passport control and baggage claim and we were in a pretty sour mood by the time we finally checked in!

I think my advice would be to wear very light clothing to travel, and don't drink too much on the flight. I was hungover then had to contend with all that I've just mentioned

I always thought it was worthwhile to book a private transfer down to Riviera Maya. The drivers are happy to stop at 7-11 for cold drinks etc, it's quite a long journey after a long flight.
We always took a taxi from Gran Bahia to Akumal Bay (different place to the Akumal section of Gran Bahia), it's a nice beach with shops, restaurants and water equipment hire.
Eat dinner as early as possible the first night as you'll floomp at some point and prepare to wake up very early the next morning.

The roadworks are still there but no one was working when we landed on a Saturday evening so it was fine. Cancun airport was much quieter than we expected after hearing lots of horror stories, in the past few weeks we believe they have installed new passport gates for American tourists to use so it was super fast for us, straight through customs passport control and bags came out quick, although we did fly business so were first off the plane. You no longer need any immigration paperwork, just answer a couple of questions on length of stay and hotel and your passport is stamped, this speeds things up too.

There is an exit tax that we paid online before we left however we needn’t have bothered as no one asked for it. Given we were just effectively robbed of the $200 on our way to the airport I wish we hadn’t bothered paying in advance! I guess it’s up to you how generous you feel. It’s meant to be a tourist tax to improve the region.

There are armed police patrolling beaches daily on foot and on quad bikes which you may or may not find unnerving. The beach at our resort was gorgeous, you may have heard rumours of sargassum problems but our hotel had a tractor to clear this and nets to catch it. We noticed when walking between resorts along the shoreline that in the places not owned by any hotels the problem was a lot worse.

Its super humid atm so if your hair is prone to frizz take a good serum and heat stylers 😀 I put some serum in as a last minute thought and it was a life saver! It’s also very hot so take plenty of suncream, if was very expensive to buy. We had to buy one more bottle and it was about $25, the same bottle was about a fiver in home bargains today.

Ah yes, the Mexico holiday snaps are plagued by my big pouffy hair! Spent the holiday looking like Noddy Holder!

We went to the Riviera Maya in October, we stayed at the Grand Palladium WHite sands. I would highly recommend the Tulum ruins, but if you have young kids it does get very hot as there isn't much shade. The cenotes are amazing, and you can have a lovely refreshing swim. There is a beach you can snorkel with the turtles for a fee which is also brilliant. We went to Xel Ha which is one of the 'theme parks' this was all based around a massive lake with snorkelling, zip wires, floaties through mangroves, assault courses on the water..it was honestly the best day out ever. We had a 10 year old with us and he absolutely loved it. When you are around the pool, zip up your bag, and dont leave any food around. The coatis will grab your bag and disappear with it if they can smell food. We saw many get stolen, and they took flip flops etc funny to watch but annoying if its your stuff. Also if you are going snorkelling/swimming with turtles make sure to take reef friendly sun cream. We used Nivea.

There is a very high chance you’ll come home with an upset stomach. Take Imodium with you and don’t eat salad if you can

@exLtEveDallas
we are going to the Palace on Saturday, is it good? why dont they like you tipping?
Also do you know the situation regarding smoking please?

You're into sargassum season, I don't know what it's like this year but it's good to be aware that it could be a major problem - or not.
Mexico is fantastic, we've been a couple of times to the Yucatan, although there do seem to be a few more problems lately. We took buses all over and they were brilliant. Taxi prices were all advertised and we had no problems with those either. We didn't tip anyone beyond what you would here - it's not like Egypt! Don't know the expectations at a 5 star resort though. Xcaret and Xel ha are fantastic - watch out for baraccuda! We ate all over including street food and at cheap taco bars and had no problems with food.

Tulum ruins are close but Chichen Itza is a thousand times more impressive. Coba used to be amazing as you could climb one of the pyramids but I think they put a stop to it now. There are a lot of amazing cenotes around - worth googling to check them out.

The exit tax will be covered in your flight ticket - it's been that way for years now, i'm sure. Have a great time and get out and explore.

We've never had a bad tummy from Mexico and I love the salads.

Egypt however

Unfortunately that was the case for me. I’ve been three times and always ended up with a bad stomach. Glad your experience was different

@Superdupes its a new tax they are trying to collect for Quintana Roo region

https://www.playadelcarmen.com/blog/visitor-tax-cancun/#:~:text=This%20new%20tax%20is%20different,pay%20the%20visitor%20tax%20yourself.

It wasn’t being enforced though so I wouldn’t bother. We didn’t have any tummy problems either although we were careful with the water.

@Sundaychiller
We stayed at the Riu Palace Mexico, there is also the Riu Palace Riviera Maya.

We loved the palace. The rooms were a good size, the food was amazing. The outdoor areas immaculate and the evening entertainment surprisingly good.

We tipped waiters a couple of times, but were told that it wasn't necessary and 'not always the done thing' it didn't stop us, but sometimes it felt awkward.

No smoking inside any of the buildings, but smoking was allowed beside the pools and in the outdoor bars. We didn't see that many smoking tbh, but those that were seemed to be considerate with it.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

We took lots of dollar bills to tip, tipping was big when we went.

I highly recommend chichen itza, xel-ha, pirate boat steak night and the water park. I wouldn't do the speed boats to be honest, I didn't really enjoy that. Coco bongos was brilliant but not for kids.

We went on the bus to get around.

I wouldn't hire a car but only because we found the local police corrupt and they would look for tourists - they even got on our bus one night and took the drivers money from ticket sales.

On a side note, Xel-Ha takes your suntan lotion off you and gives you mineral replacement which is great suntan lotion.

Armed police everywhere on the beaches, the airport, etc.

The 5star rating really is 5star. The place is incredible.

Go to Isla Mujeres if you get chance, it's beautiful and good fun. Travel by by boat from Cancun and tent a golf buggy. I'm Kil Cenote is stunning and worth a visit. Also definitely recommend Chitchen Itza. I thought it was better than Tulum. Recommend going early in the day to either - cooler and quieter. After feeling like we had no clue what anything was in Tulum, because the signage was poor (this was about 8 years ago though), we paid for a private guide at Chitchen Itza and it was so worth it.

We lived in Mexico for several years and the only place we ran into trouble with the police was in a hire car on route to a tourist destination there.

The police officer got about 2 pounds for his trouble as he was just making shit up and we all knew this but it still wasn't pleasant.

If you hire a car make sure you keep all your documents in the car and don't travel with much cash.

We took loads of dollar bills for tips when we went. The waiters seem to remember who tips and we got special treatment a few times once we’d been in a restaurant. The waiters would grab us out of the queue and get us tables with the best views.

Our resort was massive with loads of restaurants and bars so we didn’t feel like we needed to go off exploring. It was so hot we didn’t want to be traipsing about all day. We did do a day trip to Chichen Itza and the cenote/tequila factory which was great.

I agree with whoever said prepare for an upset stomach (take Imodium with you). I very rarely get plagued by stomach upsets abroad but spent a day feeling rubbish. I also assume it must have been the salad as I only used bottled water for teeth brushing etc. We were in a 5 star too so I didn’t expect it.

@exLtEveDallas thanks so much for your reply that is the same hotel that we are going to. When did you go? Did you go outside the hotel at all?