* ADO express bus from airport to Playa del Carmen, taxi between terminals and onward to Chetumal.Sometimes the airport shuttle bus stops at the "Alterna" terminal (where you get the bus to Chetumal) on the way to the 5th Avenue terminal. Is you Spanish good enough to be able to ask the ticket seller or driver if he'll stop at "Alterna"? It will save you a taxi fare.
* Overnight in Chetumal (Holiday Inn?).During low season, the Inn was offering a special rate of MX$900 a night -- don't know what the regular rate is.
Here are a couple of cheaper options.
Around the north corner from the Holiday Inn is
Hotel Gandhi, Av. Mahatma Gandhi No. 166
Phone: (983) 285 3269, 285 3270
Email (last year):
[email protected]New hotel (opened in late 2007), clean, modern, a/c, hot water, cable TV, phone, wireless internet.
Single: MX$400, Double: MX$500, Mini-suite: MX$600. Sometimes during the low season, the rate drops to MX$399.
Across the street from Holiday Inn is
Hotel Villa Fontana, Av. Heroes 181
Tel: (983) 129 2003, 129 2004
Email:
[email protected]Clean, a/c, fan, hot water, cable TV, and recently had a make-over.
Before the make-over, rates were MX$350 to $480 depending on the number and size of beds.
* Transfer service (Menzies?) to facilitate border crossing.Good idea; avoids all the hassles with buses, taxis, etc.
Here are 3 I know of -- see which one has the best rate:
a) Belize VIP Transfer Service:
http://www.belizetransfers.comb) George & Esther Moralez Travel Service:
http://www.gettransfers.comc) Gibson's Tours and Transfers:
http://www.gibsonstoursandtransfers.com/index.htmlDeparture
* Tropic Air - SP to Corozal.
* Belize taxi to bus terminal in Chetumal.Do you know about the morning water taxi from San Pedro to Chetumal?
* Taxi (are there airport shuttle services available in PdC?)to CUN for departure @ 10:40.I don't think the ADO Riviera shuttle buses start running until 9 or 10 am. You can check the schedule on either the ADO or the ticketbus site.
There are minibuses that wait beside the 5th Avenue bus terminal; they go to Cancun city -- not sure about the airport, but probably do.
I think the taxi fare was posted recently on the Lonely Planet Mexico forum.
The mister's Spanish is horrible and mine is merely awful. Will that be an issue for us?Probably not much of an issue in Cancun or Playa. Less English spoken in Chetumal, but at the hotels I've mentioned, you should survive. Some of the higher priced restaurants in Chetumal have menus printed in Spanish & English.
Should we buy some MX$ (not really easy at our bank in Nowheresville, Ontario) or will we be able to use US$ and/or MasterCard for our itinerary?As soon as you exit customs at Cancun airport, there is a money exchange -- change some loonies and get enough pesos to pay cash for the buses, maybe some food and contingencies. There might be an ATM in the airport (I've never looked). I've never had much success spending US currency in Mexico (never tried in Playa though).
In Chetumal, there is an ATM right beside the entrance to the Holiday Inn. Several others scattered along the main street.
In Belize, you can spend US$.