My husband and I took a week long trip to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and visited Isla Holbox, Rio Lagartos, Valladolid, Izamal, Chichen Itza and Isla Mujeres. Below is a quick recap of our adventure including where to eat, where to stay and some must do activities.
Isla Holbox
Dec 20-22, 2018
After a comfortable upgraded flight (yes we got lucky!) and a not so comfortable 1.5 hour wait in immigration, we finally got out and rented our car from the Cancun airport. We had a 2 hour drive and so we head straight to the Chiquila ferry port and rushed to make it before the last ferry to Isla Holbox. When we got there, we realized that there were in fact 2 companies running ferries and they alternated a ferry every 30 minutes. We parked our car in one of the make shift parking lots right by the ferry and paid the owner of the lot 100 pesos for each of the 3 days we parked. We then bought the ferry ticket for 150 pesos and made our way to the magical island.
It was just a 20 minute ride and when we got to the island, there were several golfcart taxis waiting to take people to their hotels and hostels. But we decided to walk it because our hotel was just a 15 minute walk from the bus stop. With the luggage we had, on hindsight, a cab would have been good but it helped us work up an appetite.
We checked into our hotel – Hotel Para Ti – which was very comfortable and located about 2 blocks from the city center. It was great that we were not right in the center because of all the loud music and noise from the bars/restaurants and yet just a 5 minute walk away.
We stayed a total of 3 nights on the island and it was truly a fantastic experience. Great food, amazing street art, lively city center, beautiful beaches with their hammocks right in the water and blissful sunsets. All in all a great visit.
While there are several activities you can do on this island such as bike around, kayak in the mangroves, rent a golf cart to drive around the island, etc., one must do activity is to take the three points tour. We took the tour with the company VIP Holbox and I cannot recommend them enough. They start the tour sooner than other companies so you beat the crowds and they also change up the order of the 3 spots giving you the least number of tourists. I cannot recommend this enough.
Another must do activity is to go watch the sunset at Punta Cocos. It is a bit of a hike but totally worth the fantastic sunset on a beach that is not crowded.
Below are some of the restaurants and bars we recommend:
– Taco Queto: a small and inexpensive taco place that the locals visit. you can buy your own beer at the grocery store next door and enjoy the great food
– The Hot Corner: a lively bar that plays live music and makes a great tamarind margarita
– Las Panchas: another great place for mexican food and drink. The ceviche and the tacos were great
– Le Jardin: a french bakery offering a great breakfast
– Luuma: A boho-chic tapas restaurant which is a bit pricey but serves amazing food. Definitely try the chocolate and blue cheese dessert. I know it sounds kinda gross but actually tastes great.
– Roots: a must visit for the famous lobster pizza which was pretty fantastic.
After a splendid 2.5 days on the island, we took the ferry back to Chiquila to make our way to the next destination!
Rio Lagartos and Las Coloradas
Dec 23, 2018
Rio Lagartos is a fishing village in the Yucatan Peninsula. It was about a 2.5 hour drive from Chiquila which is where we went from. It is a 3 hour drive from Cancun.
The main reason to visit this location is for its dense bird population, especially flamingos. Within the Rio Lagartos biosphere, you can find a vast variety of bird species including egrets, herons and snowy white ibis, storks, pelicans as well as crocodiles (which is where it gets its name “Lagartos” from).
We took the sunset boat tour at Rio Lagartos. I would recommend doing the daytime option if you want to see the pink lakes of Las Coloradas right from the cruise. We got there a bit late and without the sun, the water isn’t as pink. We also left at 4pm and when we got back there were several flamingos but it was too dark to see it. And it was also too chilly to do the mud bath. So while we hear great things about this tour, it was not the best uses of our time since we had already seen quite a few bird species in Holbox including flamingos.
Below are some of our pictures from the boat tour.
We decided to see the pink lakes before our boat tour and so we drove to Las Coloradas. It is a 45 minute drive from Rio Lagartos. It is a bit of a drive off the beaten path but these salt filled lakes which give it the spectacular pink color are completely worth the visit. You should only visit this place when the sun is out because that is when you get to see the fabulous color. We visited the place around 2pm and it was a pretty spectacular sight.
Rio Lagartos was a day stop between our drive from Chiquila to Valladolid. So we didn’t spend too much time here but we did get lunch at Restaurante Ria Maya as it was the starting point for the boat tour.
Valladolid, Izamal and Chichen Itza
Dec 24-25, 2018
Curly Girl Chronicles 