Is this still a safe & comfortable mode of travel?

I can't really gauge from here how much of the BFM I see on the news to believe.

We found airfare SEA to CUN for $368 and thought we might bus down to Xcalak and spend a couple days then boat to AC.

Anyone tried this recently?

Thanks

Steve

The part from Cancun airport to Chetumal is very safe and comfortable. The Mexican express buses are excellent -- reclining seats, a/c, toilets, video.

Then it goes downhill when you cross the border. The Belizean buses are used Bluebird school buses; most of them are not very comfortable, not air-conditioned, and are not well equipped to handle luggage, but they are cheap! However, there is a relatively new bus line called Premier Lines which has 3 express buses per day from Chetumal to Belize City. They have a/c.

If you scroll through the recent posts, someone else has just posted about going from Cancun to Xcalak by bus. CORRECTION: not by bus, but by rental car.
http://ambergriscaye.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/362267/Re_Xcalak.html#Post362267

Then you can get a bus back to Chetumal, and depending on which day you arrive, you can now get a water taxi from Chetumal to San Pedro. Otherwise, you could get a bus to Corozal (then fly or water taxi) or Belize City (then water taxi).

On my BelizeBus site, I have written full details about the Cancun to Chetumal bus trip, and the water taxi information.

http://belizebus.wordpress.com/

Never heard of anyone bussing to Xcalak and boating from there. I doubt if it's possible. Most people bus CUN to Playa, change for a bus to Chetumal on the Mexican side of the border, take a pre-booked Belizean cab to the airstrip at Corozal in Belize, then fly direct to San Pedro. Now there's the option on some days of taking a local cab from the bus station in Chetumal to the dock there, and boating direct to San Pedro. Haven't done it and know no details, but people who are on this board have done it. I imagine they started their round trip journeys at San Pedro, but I don't know if that makes a difference.

We did this for our journey to San Pedro just over a week ago. We flew into Cancun, took the shuttle bus to Playa del Carmen, and then the ADO bus from Playa to Chetumal. The shuttle to Playa cost 100 pesos and the ADO bus to Chetumal cost 216 pesos. We took the 7:20 am bus service by ADO bus from Playa to Chetumal , which took 4 hours 45 mins but was an extremely comfortable journey, and ADO buses far excel Greyhound as far as I am concerned! At Chetumal Bus Station the San Pedro Water Taxi had a stand, so we were able to purchase our water taxi tickets there. We got a cab to the pier, deposited our luggage and went for lunch before catching the 3:00pm water taxi.

We had a good sunny day for boating into San Pedro, so it made our experience all the more enjoyable. All-in-all, we saved considerably on flying into Belize and the journey via Cancun is relatively simple and painless. We had managed to get a flight from Philadelphia to Cancun for just over $200, so it ended up costing us about $300 each as opposed to the $700-800 it would have cost flying to Belize and then AC.

gettransfers ,a travel service from corozal will pick you up at cancun airport and take you thru the border to corozal or pick you up at the bus terminal in chetumal and take you across the border.

Regarding the buses...

The last time I was in Chetumal, I went to the bus terminal beside the Museum of Maya Culture and asked about buses to Mahahual.

The ticket seller wrote 4 times on a piece of paper (0430, 1240, 1640 and 0540) followed by "60-". There is another time, 19??, followed by "ADO 88".

Unfortunately, she didn't speak English, my Spanish is survival level and there was a line of customers waiting to buy tickets, so I couldn't clarify it any better.

I think at least one bus goes direct, and the others stop in Limones, a small town near the junction of the main highway and the Mahahual road (south of Filipe Carillo Puerto).

If coming from the north, the ADO express buses don't stop in Limones, so you'd have to change at Filipe Carillo Puerto to get a bus to Limones. It might be best to ask at the bus terminal in Playa because that's where you'd have the best chance of finding someone who speaks English.

There are probably buses between Mahahual & Xcalak.

WildThing - how much was the ferry Chetumal-San Pedro?

The water taxi from Chetumal to San Pedro was US$30 one way each, or $55 return.

Premier Bus Line is not new..been around for the 7 yrs I have been here..its a good thing..
You can get off at the Corozal airstrip..about 15 minutes south of the border and fly to San Pedro...The two airlines..Maya and Tropic..Mayan will give a 20% discount if you pay with cash,,

Cooper,

The Premier Line service to Chetumal was launched in April 2007, which I consider to be "relatively new". I was there!

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=18282

Edit to add:
Premier Lines is an affiliate of National Transport Services Limited which was formed in 2005 after Novelo's Bus Company terminated operations.