Chichen Itza is still an impressive pyramid site, even after the tremendous amount of development that’s gone on there. Tulum is even better, that wonderful complex of ruins in a majestic location at the edge of the Caribbean Sea. And the cenotes! Those pretty turquoise swimming holes are idyllic, and we also enjoyed Valladolid, a charming, authentic colonial Mexican city nearby, with some pleasant historical architecture, and good hotels, cafes, restaurants, and shops. All of these places a short drive from Cancun, with our snappy little car rental from Auto Europe.
The only drawback of our adventures was the fact that there are still corrupt policemen flagging down Western tourists at the beginning of the highway that heads out of the city of Cancun, in an apparently successful effort at supplementing their presumably meager income by threatening to more permanently confiscate the drivers’ license and registration of the visitors they manage to flag down for alleged traffic violations, and then extorting funds from the usually innocent drivers before handing them back their documents. On the bright side you can bargain with these policía and reduce your bribery fine from over $150 down to about $20. And they do accept both Mexican pesos and American dollars!
So you see, Cancun offers much more excitement than just beautiful beaches, nice hotels, and restaurants where you can eat very well… 😉
What gave us the idea for this itinerary on the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico was the stash of points in our Starwood Preferred Guest membership accounts.You can earn your own stash or so free weekend nights with them, too. Here’s the link: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/site/card/starwood-preferred-guest/25330
At the time, we had enough points to stay at the Westin Resort & Spa there for free, for an entire week. Maravillosa, ¿no?
Go global, go free, plan now.
Travel Cutie
Travel Cutie 