Mexico is a country in North America and located at the Caribbean sea and the Pacific Ocean.

Impressions of my Vlog

Palenque

The Mayan ruins of Palenque are known for a burial chamber with a huge Mayan coffin under a temple, as we know it from Egypt. Unfortunately, only a replica is exhibited in the museum.

Mérida

The city Mérida is located on the Yucatán peninsula. In the great Maya World Museum we learned about the history of the Maya and according to the Maya calendar I am the creator of my destiny. At the nearby Maya ruins of Dzibilchaltún we swam in the Cenote Xlacah. Cenotes are limestone holes and the Mayans use them as water reservoirs.

Chichén Itzá

Chichén Itzá is one of the most important Mayan ruins and one of the 7 New Wonders of the World.

Valladolid

The city of Valladolid was our starting point for Chichén Itzá. Furthermore, we were at the two almost closed cenotes Xkeken and Samulá. For little money, we used the chance to drive with ATV over hill and dale.

Tulum

At the city of Tulum are Mayan ruins directly on the sea and we were at the beach “Playa Santa Fe”. We also took the opportunity to dive in cenotes. A breathtaking experience to see the sparkling sun rays under water. At The Pit Cenote we dived from fresh water to salt water and the transition at about 10 meters was very blurry. The Dos Ojos Cenote reminded me of an underwater cave. We dived through narrow passageways and saw many stalactites, fossils, a dead iguana and bats in a cave.

Isla Mujeres

The island Isla Mujeres is close to Cancún and we relaxed at the Nomads Hostel for a few days.

Planning

  • I traveled to Mexico on my world trip through Latin America:
    • 1. Chicken bus from Belize City to the border to Mexico. From the border a taxi to the ADO bus station in Chetumal and then a night bus to Palenque.
    • 2. Night bus from Palenque to Mérida.
    • 3. Bus from Mérida to Valladolid.
    • 4. Bus from Valladolid to Tulum.
    • 5. Bus from Tulum to Playa del Carmen and then another bus to Cancún. From the bus stop in Cancún by taxi to the port of Juárez and by ferry to Isla Mujeres. Bus from outside of the pier to the Nomads Hostel.
    • 6. Bus near Nomads Hostel to the pier. Ferry from Isla Mujeres to Juárez Port and bus R6 to Cancun city center.
    • 7. Flight from Cancun to Los Angeles (USA).
  • I used for my planning and can recommend the Lonely Planet for Central America.

Transport

  • Mexico is a big country and distances look short on the map. Traveling by land can take a long time because the road network is limited and there is not always a direct road. On Rome2Rio you can find the fastest and cheap means of transport from A to B.
  • Mexico has a well-developed bus system and there is a central ADO bus stop in every major city. Most travel times are shown on the official website www.ado.com.mx and we often bought our bus ticket online. Some of the bus connections such as from Valladolid to Chichén Itzá are not shown on the website and we bought our bus ticket at the bus stop.
  • Night buses are not recommended in Lonely Planet. For longer distances in Yucatán and Chiapas, there were only night buses and we never had bad experiences.

Accommodation

Visa

  • Any German who stays in Mexico for more than 7 days needs a tourist card. This is already included in the flight price for a flight to Mexico. We traveled by land border from Belize to Mexico and knew nothing about it. The first time we heard about this was at the check-in at the airport. So we had to buy a tourist card at the airport for 575 pesos, that we could only pay in cash.