Road Trip Around the Yucatán Peninsula

Taking a road trip has always been one of my favorite ways to travel. It lets you plan how slow or quickly you want to adventure through your destination, gives you room to make changes to your itinerary, and can be a cheap way of transportation when traveling with multiple people. While I have done road trips in the United States before, taking a road trip around the Yucatán peninsula was my first in a different country. For this road trip, my friend and I planned a two-week loop to six different places. Here is a description of our plans in each city and how we navigated them with a car.

It is important to note that on our road trip we did this route backwards. However, we realized during our travels that it would have been far better, and cost-effective, to complete it the way that I explain below.

Cancún

We started off our road trip in Cancún since that is where we were flying in to. It’s a great place to start because it gives you a taste of Mexican culture and lets you burn off some of that new trip excitement through the parties and the nightlife.  Also, bringing a car to the city lets you check out some of the more local shops and restaurants all over.

Since we were on a budget, we didn’t book our stay in the hotel zone of Cancún.  Our Airbnb was in the downtown area, which meant we had to drive and park in the hotel zone when we wanted to go to the beach or out partying.

The roads can be a little crazy in Cancún at times, you seem to be constantly moving from one traffic circle to the next! There are also a very limited number of free parking lots in the hotel zone, and they usually fill up quickly. However, there are a lot of free parallel parking spots that you can find if you just drive along the main road. (There is free street parking in the local area of Cancún as well.) We parked in one of those spots in the hotel zone and only had to cross the street to get to a beach. We also parked in the same spot that night and it was a 5-minute walk to Senior Frogs. (If you have never been to Senor Frogs in Cancún, trust me you need to go.)  If you are staying out late to party and don’t have a designated driver, then we recommend just getting a taxi and not driving. The cost is minimal as long as you negotiate the price before getting into the taxi. Once you reach the hotel zone, many of the bars and restaurants are within walking distance of each other.

One important thing to note is if you do not stay in the hotel zone, you usually can’t use the beach chairs that are laid out on the beaches of Cancún. Those chairs belong to the hotels and are for guests only.  However, you can still set up your own beach spot and there are a few areas that are open so that anyone can set up there. If you do choose to stay in a hotel, then make sure to double-check they will have parking available for your car.

Playa Del Carmen

After two days in Cancún, take an hour’s drive down to Playa Del Carmen. The road between the two cities is easy enough to navigate. There were no tolls, and the roads were in good condition.

Once we got to Playa Del Carmen, we parked our car and didn’t use it for the time we were there for two reasons. First, we were staying in a hotel very close to the center of everything, so we could just walk to the restaurants, bars, shops, and beaches. Secondly, many hotels have parking garages underneath the hotel and the ramps to get into the garages are downright scary! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the angle of the ramp was far closer to 90 degrees than I would have ever liked. Driving up and down that ramp was one of the scariest things I did the whole trip, so I am glad I only had to do it once. We were also pretty sure that getting over the top part of the ramp when leaving the hotel dented the underside of our car. Thank you, full car insurance!

While in Playa Del Carmen we had a lot of fun walking along La Quinta Avenida and stopping in the check out the shops. This is the main street of the city that has a lot of great restaurants and nightlife as well. Make sure to catch the street performances during the day and at night.

Quinta Avenida is also only a few blocks from the beach! The beaches here were nice, but we didn’t like them as much as Isla Mujeres. We were there during sargassum season, usually around May – October, and there was plenty of sargassum seaweed in the water and washing up on the shores. The sargassum was far worse here than in Cancún and Isla Mujeres.

If you have the time, make sure to venture out a little further from Quinta Avenida to find some great coffee shops, like Wow Cafe Art and Boutique, and local eateries, like Birria Tacos y Consume. There are many great places to grab a bite that are within walking distance and not on the main strip. Eating at these places will also help to keep your spending down if you are a more budget-friendly traveler.

We only spent an evening and a full day in Playa Del Carmen, but we were able to do a lot to get the feel of the place.

Akumal Bay

When driving from Playa Del Carmen to Tulum, it is a great idea to split the hour drive in half and stop at Akumal Bay. We only spent an afternoon in Akumal Bay, but it was well worth the visit. This bay is where turtles come to lay their eggs between May to November. You can stop by and book a tour with a guide who will take you out into protected waters to swim with the sea turtles. It is important to note that there are swimming areas where anyone can swim, but if you want to swim with the turtles in the protected area, you need a certified guide to take you out and it will cost you money. We booked with a guide through Airbnb, but you can just drive up and find a guide that will take you out. (Our guide, Martin, was a great guide and a local who has lived around Akumal his whole life so he knows a lot of information about the area as well.) Parking by the bay isn’t free and isn’t always included in the price to swim with the turtles. But since we were with a guide it was only 50 pesos to park.

Once we were in the bay, we had a great time swimming! We saw multiple turtles, schools of fish, and stingrays. The water was a little rough and cloudy, but that was only because a hurricane had blown by a few days prior. Our guide said the water is usually really clear and calm.

Tulum

If you drive another half hour from Akumal Bay, you will find yourself in the happening area of Tulum. 

The drive from the bay to Tulum will be straightforward with nice roads. However, once you reach Tulum you may find yourself stuck in traffic, avoiding potholes (there are so many here and some are fairly deep), or avoiding the locals and tourists on their bikes trying to cross the streets. Tulum is a town under major construction. This and the level 2 hurricane that happened a day before we arrived caused a lot of the driving issues I just mentioned. If you are going to the hotel zone, I recommend taking a taxi because the roads were the worst there and parking can be as much as 400 pesos (USD 20) a night. (Although try to negotiate it down.) When we drove down that road for the first time, it was at night and part of it was caving directly into the ocean (most likely because of the recent hurricane). Save yourself the headache and take a taxi.

We spent two days in Tulum and that was as much time as we felt we needed there. Activities in Tulum were the most expensive on our trip. They were sometimes double the prices in Cancún and Playa del Carmen and triple to quadruple the prices of similar activities in Mérida and Valladolid. However, some of the activities were worth the price.

Unfortunately, our day in Sian Ka’an (the activity we were looking forward to the most in Tulum) was canceled due to the hurricane. Sian Ka’an is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve that also has a Mayan archaeological site. The word Sian Ka’an means “where heaven begins”. Can you see why we really wanted to go here? You can take boat and walking tours of the area to learn about the history and wildlife and to see the beauty up close for yourself. It is about an hour’s drive outside of Tulum, but we have heard the drive is well worth it. Only a certain number of boats are allowed on the water here each day, so we recommend making reservations for a tour online (we used trip advisor) and taking an early tour. If you don’t make a reservation online, you can still go to the site and ask a waiting tour guide to take you around. (Remember you can bargain down the price.) However, once they take you to the dock, there is a chance they might not be able to take you out on the boat.

Other fun activities in Tulum include seeing the ruins along the beach, going to the Mystika museum, exploring the unique architecture of the SFER IK museum, and of course the nightlife along the hotel zone. One of our favorite bars we went to was Casa Jaguar. They don’t have a drink menu, instead, they tell you the ingredients they have, and you can ask for whatever you want. If all of those options seem too daunting, the bartenders will also make a drink for you based on a preference of alcohol, fruit, or spice you like.

Driving from Tulum to Mérida

Driving from Tulum to Mérida will be the longest drive of the trip coming in at a little over 3 hours. 

There will also be a toll along the road and the prices do change. I recommend having $400 pesos on you just in case. 

The toll shouldn’t be that high, but there is always a possibility that it will be. The roads are in good condition, but while we were there, the main highway was under a lot of construction. It didn’t add any time to our route, but it is important to keep an eye out for when the lanes shift and where people are working.

The good news about this drive is you can break it up into smaller portions! Along the drive, you can stop at the Coba archaeological site, which has well preserved Mayan ruins. 

This would be your first stop after you leave Tulum. Towards the middle of the drive, you will come across the town of Valladolid. (This is our final stop on the road trip, so I recommend waiting to stop here.) However soon after you drive past the town, you will come to Chichén Itzá. This is a must-see archaeological site with amazing well-preserved ruins! Since this is one of the most visited sites in the Yucatán, ticket prices are more expensive and will cost you 540 pesos. Trust me, it is worth the price! However, this price doesn’t include a tour guide, and the signs around the site are a little lacking. I recommend getting a tour guide, which you can find them standing outside the entrance and you can negotiate a price for the tour.

From Chichén Itzá it is only another hour and a half until you reach the city of Mérida. You are on the same road for the majority of the drive, and it is a well-maintained road. 

Mérida

Driving in Mérida is straightforward. There is a circular road that is on the outskirts of the city and can take you around the whole city. The roads inside the city aren’t too confusing and there aren’t as many traffic circles as in Cancún. As in most places in the Yucatán, keep an eye out for speed bumps. Some of them sneak up on you! Also, if you plan to drive in the city during a storm, know that some of the streets here flood with water after heavy rains.

Mérida is a fantastic city to explore and we recommend carving out at least 2 full days to visit. There is a plethora of old Spanish architecture buildings, museums to learn about the city’s history and Mayan history, town squares with beautiful parks, delicious restaurants, and stores. The people are also extremely friendly here and will sometimes just come up to you and try to talk. However, know that many of them will try to sell you something or take you to a shop that gives them a commission for bringing you in. Don’t let this stop you from talking to them though. The people of Mérida know a lot about the town and can tell you about the history as well as give you great tips on museums and things to see. Many of the people will also tell you to eat at a restaurant called La Chaya Maya. My friend and I went when we first got to the city, not knowing it is where people try to send the tourists. 

However, we thought it was a great place and they did have some authentic Mayan dishes. I would recommend trying it, although, by the time you are done with your stay in Mérida, you may have a stack of cards for the restaurant that people walking by will try and give to you.

If you are planning on staying more than 2 days in the city, which we recommend doing, you can always take a drive to the nearby beaches or archaeological sites. While my friend and I weren’t able to do this because a hurricane passed through during our extra days in the city, it was something we originally planned to do. Puerto Progreso is the closest beach to Mérida (about 30 minutes drive), Telchac is where you can see the pink lakes, and Celestun is home to flocks of flamingos. To the south of the city, are the ruins of Uxmal. This is another great archaeological site with well-maintained ruins but with fewer crowds and a cheaper entrance fee. 

If you make the drive down to Uxmal, make sure to stop in some of the smaller towns along the way. We had a packed itinerary for a day trip down to Uxmal, but unfortunately, the hurricane made us cancel the day trip.

Driving from Mérida to Valladolid

The drive from Mérida to Valladolid is straightforward and includes the toll you passed on your way to the city. This means you also pass Chichén Itzá again. If you don’t like crowds or want to get some pictures at Chichén Itzá without the swarms of other tourists in the background, we recommend leaving Mérida early in the morning and getting to Chichén Itzá at 8 am, right when it opens. If you do decide to stop now instead of on your way to Mérida, once you are done exploring Chichén Itzá, you are only 40 minutes outside of Valladolid and only 30 minutes from some of the magnificent cenotes right outside the town. Visiting cenotes is a great way to cool off after walking around the large grounds of Cichén Itzá. Plus, the cenotes here cost a third of the price of the cenotes near Playa Del Carmen and Tulum. My favorite was cenote Oxman!

Valladolid

Once you get into the town of Valladolid, the roads are not as well maintained. Be careful of pots holes and unmarked speed bumps. While it is straightforward to drive in Valladolid, the condition of the roads did make me a little uneasy at times. However, the town isn’t too big so we walked or took a taxi when we went out.

The town of Valladolid was my favorite place we stopped at in the Yucatán, so I will probably be a little biased in my review.  However, if you are like me and enjoy smaller towns with history, good food, and a local feel then this is the place for you! Most people seem to stop in Valladolid for an evening or a night after visiting Chichén Itzá. But this place deserves a lot more attention than it gets for multiple reasons. Like I mentioned earlier, it is close to a lot of nice and inexpensive cenotes. It is only a half-hour drive from Ek Balam, which is another great archaeological site to visit and one of the sites that you can climb up the ruins.  After stopping at Ek Balam, you can continue your drive north to see Las Coloradas, a place with pink water salt lakes.

The town itself has a nightly traditional dance performed in the main square and a nightly show projected on the side of a building that talks about the area’s history.  The restaurants here range in price, but they serve delicious meals, many of which are inspired by Mayan dishes. Seriously, if you can only spend a night in Valladolid, you don’t want to miss out on the food! I recommend eating at Mesón del Marqués, which is right on the main square and you can go up to the rooftop for drinks and a great night view of the town, or IX CAT IK Tradicional Cocina Maya, which is further from the main square but the food is well worth the walk.

Valladolid to Cancún

The drive from Valladolid to Cancún International Airport is straightforward and right around 2 hours depending on the route you take. However, the toll along this road was the most expensive toll we paid on our trip. It was 400 pesos (20 USD), but remember the tolls can change, so it might not be as high when you go. Also, we were driving from Cancún to Valladolid since we did this trip backward. Still, have enough cash with you in the car to possibly pay this hefty toll.

Taking a road trip around the Yucatán peninsula makes a great first international road trip! With so many places to visit, fun activities to do, friendly people to meet, inexpensive and delicious cultural food to taste, and well-maintained roads you are sure to have a good time. Stay on the lookout for my next blog post about the lessons I learned while renting a car in Mexico. In the meantime, what questions do you still have about doing a road trip around the Yucatán peninsula?