We pick up were we left off yesterday. I feel that the basic traveler needs a certain bit of information about an area before taking any vacation. It matters not if the country is the U.S.A or Spain.
I will be posting a video of my arrival into Cancun of the airport (mid March). I think it will help tremendously to know what to expect if you are a first time traveler. Until then I am going to skip ahead and we're all going to pretend that we are in our respective hotels.
While the majority of the properties in the "Hotel Zone or HZ" are hotels, there are quite a few private properties as well. Generally a good percentage of tourists never venture outside their hotels. With All-Inclusive packages (food & beverages) are mandatory in the majority of hotels. Of course there are plenty of restaurants outside of the hotels and are sometimes within walking distance. The main road in the HZ is called Boulevard Kukulcan.
Fortunately the buses are frequent as well and cost 12.00 mexican pesos (USD-0.61cents), very cheap. Buses will take USD and Pesos but the driver will make change (in mexican pesos). Nowadays you can google map anything, so getting lost isn't an issue.
One of my places to get a quick bite and a drink is the Surfin' Burrito. https://www.facebook.com/thesurfinburrito/
This Surfin Burrito is near the heart of the HZ Kilometer 9. which means it is within walking distance of all the clubs and nightlife in the HZ. Their hours are ALWAYS OPEN. The proprietor a well respected Canadian by the name of Corey. Good food, good music, good vibes all around.
For the tourist who doesn't or can't try new foods and spices there are regular restaurants as well. Be warned though 90% of all the restaurants are a bit over priced as they are in the HZ. Location ...location....location....plus tourism.
There are several high end restaurants as well. My suggestion is to use Yelp and Trip Advisor so you can see menu prices yourself.
Bonus Trivia Round: The majority of tourists in Cancun wear a colored wristband with their hotel's insignia on it...it helps cab and bus drivers who do not speak different languages to help (drunk) tourists back to their hotels.
What most tourists do not realize is that taxis that arrive from the lobby of any hotel in the world are pricier...this includes Mexico. If you walk to the main road and go to the bus stop, there you can hail a cab and negotiate a better rate. There are NO meters in Taxis. Your rate will depend on how many kilometers your are traveling. Currently the exchange rate is about 20.00 mexican pesos to 1.00 U.S. dollar...so if your cab triver tells you 400.00 pesos that's around 20.00usd. (As of this post 19.51 pesos exchange rate) - http://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=USD&To=MXN
Another point to note: If you are by yourself and hail a taxi, the driver will pull over with another fare already inside. Taxis are shared in Cancun. He will ask you where you are headed and if he's traveling near there you jump on in. Both fares are seperate of course...just sharing a taxi.
Coco Bongo's, Dady O's and Mandala are all within a stones throw of each other.
I was going to make this a much longer post but will continue with part 3 and I'll cover the city and downtown area... hopefully this information helps you're arverage traveler going to Cancun for the first time.
Last two images are my personal photos as I was walking down Boulevard Kukulcan.
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