Exploring Quintana Roo

In the last weekly travel diaries I mostly talked about Cancun, but this week has a lot more! I’ve been travelling around the state Quintana Roo for a while and it’s so beautiful here. Quite the Caribbean life and I love it! If you don’t mind touristic area’s (which I usually avoid) and white beaches and huge shopping malls, this is the area to go to.

I’m not going to tell about Cancun anymore, but I will cover the other places I’ve been to in this weekly edition. 

Isla Mujeres

This is a small island off the coast of Cancun and even though it is only 7km wide, it’s definatelt worth a visit. There are beaches, resort, lovely shops in the downtown and a rough coastline on the other side of the island. The island doesn’t have many beaches, the main beach is the beach at the downtown and North Beach. The water is crystal clear and the beach is clean, very clean. It’s a good place for snorkling and I decided to do the PADI open water dive course here as well. Today I had my first lesson and I’m absolutely in love with diving! A post about the diving course will be up when I finish the course later this week.

Isla Mujeres is easily reached by one of the many ferries from Cancun. You can either take the ferry in the Hotel Zone, but it’s more expensive than the one in Puerto Juarez. In the Hotel Zone you pay around 13 euro’s one way, while you will only pay 4,5 euro’s one way when you depart from Puerto Juarez. There is a collectivo (a small bus) going to Puerto Juarez, so you don’t have to take a taxi.
If you want to see a lot of the island, you can rent a golf cart and drive yourself around. Or you can just take a taxi, but it will cost more in the end and you don’t have the freedom you have when you drive a golf cart. You can also hitchhike around the island, it’s a true hitchhikers paradise. My advice is to go to the other side of the island, it’s less touristic and absolutely beautiful!

Cozumel

Another island in the Quintana Roo state, a much bigger one than Isla Mujeres, but also a lot more touristic. This is the island where all the cruise ships come and the downtown is quite expensive because of that. But the island is definately worth a visit. You need a car to get around though, or take one of the many taxi’s. The downtown is not that great in my opinion, but when you can drive around you can find some beautiful places. The island has some maya ruins and cenotes, they are both great to visit. Don’t forget to bring your bug spray when you visit the cenotes, because the mosquitoes will kill you.

After visiting the cenote we went to a cute little maya village in the middle of the island called El Cedral and it’s worth a visit. There is a small mayan ruin there as well. The town itself is not very big, but it’s were the mayans live on the island. The houses are all very colorful and cute and it’s great to drive through.

Along the other side of the island you will find a couple of great places to eat and drink. Lay in a hammock while watching the waves in the ocean and listening to Bob Marley. Live doesn’t rush here and I’m already starting to get used to the Caribbean lifestyle, just take it easy and be happy!

Don’t forget to eat and drink at the local restaurants and bars along the road, they have amazing food! And another good thing about Cozumel is that you can get free drinks really easily when you’re a girl. Just take your shirt off, show your boobs and there you go, a free drink or tequila shot! I haven’t done that though, but maybe if you’re into that kind of stuff you now know that you can get free drinks this way here. Overal Cozumel is a nice place to visit, but quite expensive and you need transport to get around.

You can get to Cozumel from Playa del Carmen with a ferry and it will cost about 9 euro for a one way ticket.

Playa del Carmen

I’ve only been in Playa for one night, but it looks like a nice place to see while your in the area anyway. Again, very touristic and expensive, but the beaches are beautiful and you can go to Tulum and places in between for very cheap with a collectivo. (About 30 peso, that’s around 2 euro.)
The main street has a lot of shops and restaurants and bars, so if you like shopping and drinking, you’ll love Playa del Carmen.
I’ll be going back to Playa del Carmen soon, so then I will be able to give some more information about the place.

Xcacel

A very small place close to Tulum where you will find an amazing secluded beach and a cenote where you can swim. We went to the cenote first and the fishes in there feast on you feet, so now you know where to go when you want a special spa. They like nibbling your feet. The water is a lot colder than the ocean, but it’s definately refreshing! Watch out for the crocodiles though. Naa, I’m kidding.
The place is a protected marine area because of all the turtles nestling there, even though I haven’t seen any turtles, we could see where they laid their eggs.

After the dip and spa treatment you can walk to the beach and enjoy the quiet. The beach is not very well know among tourists, so you will mosly find locals there. It’s not busy at all, so you will have the beach almost all to yourself.
You can get here with a collectivo for 35 peso’s from Playa and just tell the driver to drop you off at Xcacel.

Now I’m back in Isla Mujeres for the PADI open water diving course and when I finish I’m going back to Cancun for a few days and then head off to Merida I think.
As you can see, I’m still enjoying myself to the max here and I’m falling in love with Mexico, the mexican people and the food more and more!