I am debating taking the overnight bus from Cancun to Belize City versus staying overnight in Tulum or Chetumal (our flight lands at 9:30am in Cancun) and then taking hte water taxi from Chetumal. We have never done this route before and travelling with a minor.

Has anyone done the overnight bus lately and how full was it? (we will have to just show up and wing it I guess since I can't pre-book the bus on-line).

If that proves too gruelling, I may stop over in Tulum or Chetumal. Anyone have any favourite hotels in either town to recommend that are not too expensive?

We are travelling in December before Xmas so I hope it's not too crazy...

This recent blog is a very honest view of the bus journey - http://www.sanpedroscoop.com/2011/11/overnight-bus-from-belize-city-to.html. She also has a post on a recommended hotel in Tulum.

My view? - the bus to Tulum and then on to Chetumal and the water taxi would be way better than the overnighter and having to navigate Belize City.

That's a great one! Not sure I feel like freezing all the way to Belize City.

Any recommendations on hotels in Tulum? I have one so far, but I don't know yet if it's full or not. And in case we catch the Chetumal bus, any hotels in the Chetumal someone can recommend?

And why are they freezing people to death on their buses?? Does anyone ask for the AC to be turned down?? Surely they'd save on gas if the AC wasn't so high and what about the driver, isn't he cold???

"The bus is big and roomy and about the temperature of your home freezer...and that never changed. It was COLD. I had socks, a towel and a warm blanket and it was still close to unbearable. A woman from Canada sitting right across from me was close to tears by midnight. BRING WARM CLOTHES and lots of them."

Not sure why...perhaps to keep the driver awake? I've been on ADO buses 10+ times and it's always the same. And the driver can't turn it down.

I took the ADO from Playa to Chet a few months ago (August). Sooooo glad I was prepared with a blanket for the journey.

Dosnt matter how full the bus is, you will have a reserved seat that reclines, movies are shown, usually a animated film included, we saw Shriek, in spanish. Buses are pretty comportable, but yes cold. This time of year most folks are coming from cold climates so already have some warm stuff with them.

I've done only about a dozen or so ADO bus trips.

The a/c seems to have only 2 settings -- "off" and "freeze". On only a couple of trips, it's been set to "freeze" for the whole trip. More recently, I've been on buses where the driver continually turns the a/c on and off during the trip. There doesn't seem to be an intermediate setting.