Cancún's excursion industry sells packaged versions of things you can reach on a shared van for a fifth of the price. Two are worth booking properly; the rest are not.
The colectivo, which changes everything
Shared vans run along Highway 307 between Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, leaving when full and stopping on request.
| Route | Colectivo | Private transfer |
|---|---|---|
| Cancún → Playa del Carmen | ~50 MXN | 800+ MXN |
| Playa → Tulum | ~50 MXN | 700+ MXN |
They pass several cenotes and will drop you at them. This is how residents move along the coast and it makes independent day trips genuinely easy.
ADO buses cover the same route on fixed schedules with air conditioning for slightly more, and handle the longer legs to Valladolid, Mérida and Chichén Itzá.
Worth booking
A cenote diving or snorkelling trip, if you want the cave systems rather than the swimming holes. Dos Ojos and the Sac Actun system require equipment and a guide, and the underwater cave formations are the reason to do it.
Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve, where access is restricted and boats are needed.
Do independently
Chichén Itzá. ADO bus from Cancún or Playa takes about three hours each way, which is a long day. The better approach is to stay a night in Valladolid, forty minutes away — a pretty colonial town, cheap — and arrive at opening before the coach parties.
Guides can be hired at the gate for a couple of hundred pesos if you want interpretation.
Cobá and Ek Balam are the better ruins for many people — far fewer visitors, and at Ek Balam you can still climb the main pyramid, which you cannot at Chichén Itzá.
Cenotes. The famous ones near Tulum charge 300–500 pesos. Smaller ones off the highway charge 100–200 and are frequently better.
Isla Mujeres. Twenty-minute ferry from Puerto Juárez, then a rented golf cart around the island. Better beaches than Cancún and less sargassum, being on the western side.
Tulum ruins, which are small and on a clifftop above the sea. Worth an hour, at opening.
What to skip
Combined bus tours doing Chichén Itzá, a cenote and Valladolid in one day. Each stop gets an hour and most of the day is on a coach.
Booze cruises and party boats, unless that is specifically what you want.
Swimming with dolphins, which involves captive animals in enclosures.
Practical
Sargassum seaweed affects east-facing beaches heavily from roughly April to August. Isla Mujeres and Cozumel's western shores are much less affected.
Cenote entry usually requires a life jacket and prohibits sun cream, which damages the water. Rinse before entering.
Bring cash. Cenotes, colectivos and small sites are cash-only.
Downtown Cancún — El Centro — is where the cheap food and accommodation is, twenty minutes from the hotel zone on the R1 bus for around 12 pesos.