Hiring a car and driving ourselves worked really well on our Mexico family holiday.
The Yukatan peninsula is Mexico's most popular area for tourism. But many people hardly leave the coast at all. Our four week Yukatan itinerary took us to ancient temples deep in the dense jungle, crystal clear swimming holes, gorgeous colonial towns and perfect azure seas.
How to plan a Yukatan family holiday
Over this four week adventure we stayed in nine different places. We felt we got this one just about right with enough time to see everything, plenty of relaxation and not too much time driving.
For a shorter three week trip drop Tulum and Palenque.
We pre-booked accommodation - that way we knew exactly where we needed to be when. This takes a lot of the complexity out of the trip. We used Booking.com for most of the bookings.
Flights to Cancun from the UK are available direct with British Airways from London Gatwick. Cheaper options are available via the USA. Search on Booking.com for flights to Cancun.
We hired a car in Cancun using a local company called Avant Rent a Car. It was great value at around £20 a day with no extra charge for a second driver. Customer service both online before we arrived and in person was very good. The car was a basic manual with aircon.
Driving on the other side of the road took a little getting used to. Roads were absolutely fine except in Chiapas state where they were quite deformed in places and we had to really watch out for potholes. Compared to Europe fuel is cheap at around £1 a litre.
It's really easy to buy a local SIM in Mexico. Just get one over the counter at most convenience stores.
Ready then? Let's hit the road on our Yukatan family adventure!
Days 1 to 5 Holbox Island
Whilst the coastline around Cancun is very developed, further round the tip of the Yukatan peninsula on the north coast it's far quieter.
After we picked up our hire car in Cancun we drove around 2 1/2 hours to Chinquila on the north coast. You have to leave your car here because Holbox island is officially car free. There are loads of places in the town where you can pay to park your car. Typical cost is 100 pesos a day.
In the daytime, ferries run every half hour. There are two ferry companies and the cost is 330 pesos per person. The trip takes about 45 minutes and it's really pleasant. We sat up on the top deck so we could look at the scenery and feel the breeze against our faces.
Holbox was slightly more developed than I expected. But we loved our time here. Cheap however, it's not. Prices for food, drink and accommodation were similar to south Europe.
Five days here was ideal for unwinding after the flight. We did however explore too. The end of the island is an extensive nature reserve.
There's the most spectacular sandbar, a glistening slither of perfect white sand to a backdrop of shallow azure blue water. It's idyllic and you often see crowds of pink flamingos.
They are mangroves too. We paid for a guided kayak tour along some of the glassy tributaries in the late afternoon. We paddled for around two hours and spotted all sorts of bird life as well as a lazy crocodile.
Beaches along the Cancun coast can suffer from awful seaweed pollution. It's called sargassum. If it washes up on shore, it decomposes and stinks. (See Tulum section below!)
There were small quantities on Holbox, but generally the beaches were clean and the sand shimmering white.
We swam late at night and saw amazing bio luminescence in the seawater. It literally sparkles as you wave your arms and legs around.
Where to stay?
We loved Puerto Holbox. It's really relaxed with a nice pool, decent breakfast, palm fringed sea views and an easy walk into town. Perfect - though as with everything on Holbox a bit pricy at around £200 a night for a sea view villa.
>Check out Puerto Holbox on Booking.com or search for Holbox hotel deals.
Days 6 to 8 Valladolid
Returning to the mainland, it was a three hour drive south and west to Valladolid. This busy regional town is a perfect jumping off point for visiting the most famous Mayan temple on the Yucatán peninsula: Chichen itza.
We'd probably stay one night less next time. There's not a huge amount else to do in the town. It does have an interesting old monastery and some great vegan and vegetarian restaurants - something which is quite unusual for this part of Mexico.
Chichenitza is a 40 minute drive away. It gets over 2 million visitors a year. The park opens at 8am and it makes sense to get there as early as you can.
We took packed brunch and found ourselves a shady log to sit on right next to the lesser pyramid (El Osario) and munched in silence soaking up the unique atmosphere with hardly another person around. By mid morning as we explored further, it got much busier.
Read more: Exploring Top Mayan Temples
One of the reasons the Mayan civilisation was so successful was water. The Yucatán peninsula is totally unique in that it's peppered with limestone sinkholes full of natural water called 'cenotes'.
A 10 minute drive from Valladolid are the Samula and Xkeken cenotes. One entry fee covers both. They're truly spectacular - vast stalactite spankled underground water caverns pierced by shards of light from the sunlit natural skylights above.
There are decent changing facilities and life jackets are provided. The water is a little chilly and incredibly clear. Little fish flit around your legs as you float.
Where to stay?
Casa San Roque is well located close to the centre, but nice a quiet. The rooms are a little dark, but service is friendly and breakfast good. They did us a great take away breakfast for our early trip to Chichenitza.
>Check out Casa San Roque on Booking.com or search for Valladolid hotel deals
Days 9 to 11 Izamal
It's a short of hours' drive west and north to this gorgeous little town.
At its centre is a huge fortified monastery, painted in bright mustard yellow. Against the bold azure skies it looked amazing. On either side of it are two sleepy squares with colonnades, little shops and restaurants.
There are a several old Mayan ruins in the town to explore too.
Where to stay?
The Rinconada del Convento is a beautifully restored hacienda with pools and gardens. It's amazing value too. We'd opted for a premium room (which as still very good value) and this meant we stayed in the Villa San Antonio de Padua buildings just next door. They were just lovely. We had the whole place almost to ourselves including the pools and garden. Avoid rooms that look out on the street. They are lovely but noisy!
>Check out Hotel Rinconada del Convento on Booking.com or search for Izamal hotel deals.
Days 12 to 15 Campeche
En route to Campeche we visited the Mayan site of Uxmal. Like Chichenitza this is well on the tourist trail. It's a big site though so it didn't feel too crowded. The unusual spherical pyramid is the most interesting element along with some really detailed carvings on the Governors house. We took packed lunch this time which worked well.
Campeche is an attractive town full of old colonial houses painted in faded primary colours with the inevitable colonnaded square and cathedral at its centre. It feels almost frozen in time.
There's a gaggle of interesting museums to explore which recount the colonial and Mayan history. You can walk them in a day with lunch at a cafe as they're close to each other: the Museum of Mayan Architecture is in the Baluarte (Bastion) de la Soledad. Casa No. 6 and the Cathedral are right on the town square and the City Museum is a 10 minute walk away in the Baluarte de San Carlos.
You can walk around small sections of the old city walls at the museums housed in the bastions. It's hot and there's little shade so take a hat and some drinks.
Where to stay?
We stayed at Casa Piedad, a great little apartment in a friendly hostel with a pool. Self catering now and then really works for us. It's nice to cook your own food and unpack completely!
>Check out Casa Piedad on Booking.com or search for Campeche hotel deals.
Day 16 Isla Aguada
We broke our rule of at least two nights in each place we stop. We needed to break up the long journey to Palenque from Campeche.
The reason we chose this little place was... dolphins!
Isla Aguada is located on a calm, wide river tributary which is home to pods of dolphins at most times of year. It was surprisingly easy to hop aboard a boat, head out into the waters and see them. They don't come that close but you're almost guaranteed sitings!
The town is a little strange. It's a big truck stop due to the toll bridge that crosses the river.
Where to stay?
Whilst Cabanas Laguna was a little pricey for what it was, the welcome was super friendly and the rooms quite fine. There's a pool and a communal fridge too. There's little else in town, so this is a great place to stay.
>Check out Cabanas Laguna on Hotels.com or search for Isla Aguada hotel deals
Days 16 to 19 Palenque
Today was a long 5 hour drive to Palenque in Chiapas state.
The roads up to now had been fine. But once we hit Highway 186 things changed. This is a trunk route full of trucks and often the carriageway is quite degraded. It was a challenge avoiding potholes and scary overtaking the slow moving double trailers.
But it was worth the slog as the ruins at Palenque are some of the best. And due to its distance from touristy areas in Yukatan, it gets fewer visitors than Chichenitza or Uxmal.
We stayed close to the ruins so we could get there early again.
This time we munched our breakfast sat on top of a mighty temple looking out at more majestic ruins and jungle canopy.
We built in some slack here to give us a break from driving and we needed it.
We did fit in a daytrip to some cascades where we swam and jumped in the crystal clear waters.
There are several to choose from, but we went for Roberto Barrios. The local community has it really organised. You pay a small entry fee but it's well worth it.
There are five levels of falls and pools to explore and it's clean and there are safety ropes and well marked trail trails. You can even hire lifejackets if need be. Again, the drive was intense dodging potholes and overtaking slow moving trucks.
Where to stay?
Hotel Villa Mercedes is set in landscaped grounds with two pools and a decent gym. You often hear and see howler monkeys in the trees. It's a little way out of town, but we found the restaurant decent value and the food really good, so that was quite fine. It was the ideal spot to relax.
>Check out Hotel Villa Mercedes on Booking.com or search for Palenque hotel deals
Days 20 to 22 Calakmul
It was another long drive of an out 6 hours to our next stop Calakmul.
We had to drive back up Highway 186 again. However, when it branched right to head east, it was much better. Maybe something to do with crossing the state border back into Campeche state?
Accommodation options are interesting around Calakmul.
We opted to stay our first night and hour down the road in the little town of Xjupil. It's a one strip place and very basic.
We stopped at one of the much smaller temples which are dotted along this highway close to the town. in some ways it was one of the most atmospheric trip.
We were the only people at Chicanna which features a cool doorway in the shape of a face with gaggles of busted teeth and crazy eyes.
The ruins at Calakmul are quite probably the best in the Yukatan. And that's why it's worth making the trip. Three huge pyramids rise many metres high above the jungle.
For now, at least you're allowed to climb them too. They are dizzyingly steep. But wow, the views from the top were otherworldly. You can see for miles and miles across an undulating sea of jungle, the other huge pyramids just poking above the canopy like little islets.
It's an hour or more drive off the highway down a single track road to reach the Calakmul ruins.
The massive Tren Maya project has brought a brand new railway line and along with it a huge new luxury resort hotel. It's right in the middle of the jungle and nature reserve. How it got planning permission is anyone's guess.
Despite recent reviews suggesting lots of teething problems, we decided to try it the night after our visit to maximise our time at the ruins.
Whilst others had to start leaving soon after 3pm to make the long drive back up to the Highway we could explore almost alone for another couple of hours. It was magical.
The hotel gave lots to think about in the context of tourism development. It's a hugely ambitious project. The site will change radically if the number of visitors they are clearly catering for is ever achieved.
Where to stay?
For our first night little Hotel Villa Calakmul in Xpujil was amazing value. Simple but clean and well maintained accommodation.
>Check out Hotel Villa Calakmul or search for Xpujil hotel deals
For our second night the brand new Hotel Mundo Maya was hit and miss. The location is brilliant, right near the ruins. The rooms and pool were lovely but food in the restaurant was expensive and really poor. We managed to get a low cost rate so it felt like a fairly good deal.
>Check out Hotel Mundo Maya on Booking.com or search for Calakmul hotel deals
Days 23 to 26 Bacalar
We broke up the 3 hour drive with a quick stop at the Temple of Kohunlich. There are some well preserved stucco faces here but not much else to see.
The site was almost empty. Wear insect repellent! There are lots of mosquitos among the trees.
Reaching Bacalar meant we'd arrived back on the east coast. It's located on the shore of an azure inland lagoon. The little town square is up on a hill so you get nice views across the water.
In the evenings people set up craft and souvenir stalls around the square. It's perfect for strolling. There are some decent bars and restaurants around it too although the prices felt a little high after being inland.
All sorts of boat tours are on offer for exploring the lagoon.
We did a 3 hour sailboat trip on a little boat. Captain Hector piloted us gently down the lagoon, pointing out cenotes and mangroves. We stopped to swim at shallow spots, sipped cool beers, munched ripe mango and pineapple and lazed in the sun.
Much of the lake shore is taken up by private beach clubs which is a bit disappointing. However at the far north end of town there's a lovely public boardwalk.
You pay just 20 pesos to stroll between mangroves and along a shallow shoreline of crystalline water of ever shade of blue imaginable. You can swim here too, but bring a rash vest as sun lotion is not allowed.
We also did a fun but rather touristy day out to Los Rapidos - a stretch of lazy river through mangroves and stromatolites. The water is surprisingly warm.
For the 200 peso entry fee you get a life jacket and can drift down the half kilometre or so as many times as you want.
We got there at lunch time and it was pretty busy. Later in the afternoon it did quieten down. It was fun - just about worth the money.
Where to stay?
Our Aqua Viva apartment was huge bright modern space, really well equipped too. There is a great pool for relaxing after exploring. The only downside is the location. It's further out of town than we realised and the last km or so is down a bumpy dirt track. Driving home in the dark was a bit of a scary experience.
>Check out Aqua Viva on Booking.com or search for Bacalar hotel deals
Days 27 to 30 Tulum
Tulum was very much a case of back to touristland.
We really didn't like it. It's a mass of pricey beach clubs, busted backstreets and scary traffic.
But what really disappointed was the beach. In theory it's powdery white, but as is increasingly the case on this stretch of coastline, seaweed covered the beaches. Rotting black swathes of the stuff. It stinks too.
There was some weird irony in the way these swanky, expensive beach clubs were completely ruined by nature's whims.
Even Tulum temple is a bit underwhelming and expensive. We did a cenote trip which was fun but pricy. The ones we did close to Valladolid were way better value!
So. Avoid Tulum!
Where to stay?
The only upside? For our final few days we'd rented a lovely rooftop apartment with amazing sea views at Tulsayab luxury development. Sipping a cold beer in the rooftop plunge pool watching sunset was the ideal way to end our amazing adventure.
>Check out Tulsayab Luxury Development or search for Tulum hotel deals
