The Real Coastal Mexico in the Travel Posters

When people talk about visiting Cancun, Mexico, they get visions of sloshed young people, dance clubs, rows of all-inclusive hotels with bad food, and bare beaches. Everybody remembers getting a bad sunburn, drinking too many bad well drinks, and probably becoming internally sick by the third day of the visit. Fortunately, the destination has an alternative, which tends to be a bit of an open secret among those who’ve visited the area more than once. That secret is the island of Isla Mujeres.

Isla Mujeres is far enough off the coast of Cancun City that is doesn’t suffer from all the riff-raff traffic of college-age tourists. Visitors actually need to take a boat to get to the island, which is easily obtained through a local ferry service. Once on the island, visitors will quickly realize they have found the coastal Mexico depicted on travel posters and commercials. The location is just enough off the beaten path of tourists that many of the regional locals travel to Isla Mujeres themselves for a weekend break, even if it means camping on the beach.

Isla Mujeres Geography

Isla Mujeres is not a large island. Geographically, its a sliver in the water, stretching from the northeast to the southwest. The eastern side of the island tends to be rocky due to seasonally taking a beating from the Atlantic Ocean and any storms that come blowing in. However, western side has beautiful beaches and shallow Caribbean waters that remain warm year-round. The northern side includes the main port where the ferries run in and out of the harbor. Less than a half-mile walk even day visitors can enjoy beaches with plenty of hotel beach bars serving authentic Mexican snack food, drinks, and desserts.

Visitors can expect to pay for beach chairs and an umbrella to enjoy the beach correctly. The sun can be extremely hot and sunburn will kick in within twenty minutes or less when fully exposed. A bit of umbrella shade can make all the difference in enjoying a beach day. Of course, for those who want to stay longer, the downtown area of the island has plenty of small hotels, ranging from low-end hostels to top-range hotel accommodations with all-inclusive meal plans. That said, the evenings are best enjoyed walking around town trying a new restaurant every night. Most seating is outdoors but if it happens to be raining there are plenty of indoor tables. All the food is authentic, prepared fresh, and has far more taste than any all-inclusive buffet can muster. Further, the food and drinks are far more affordable than in Cancun in the tourist traps.

The Downtown City

The downtown area has at least one major bank, HSBC, so anyone needing instant cash conversion can just use the ATM rather than fussing with unnecessary fees and a currency exchange booth. Vendors rent golf carts and scooters for easy excursions around the island, and a more exclusive high-end hotel sits on the southern end for a more remote stay. Local fisherman will run daily tour boats to nearby islands and a bird sanctuary so visitors can see the sights better, and if one really has to see Cancun itself boat ferries run daily from Punta Sam (the local port) until at least 11pm.

Even for those who can’t speak Spanish well, getting to the Island is fairly easy. All one has to do is fly into Cancun International, ignore all the vendors hawking time shares in the baggage pickup area, find a bona fide taxi driver to get to the ferry port, hop on the next boat and arrive at the island. Most of the hotels are within a short walk from the ferry dock and most professional travel agencies can arrange lodging reservations ahead of time to avoid worries. The island does get congested during election time and holidays, so it is good idea to make reservations ahead to avoid a problem.

Kevin Caldwell wrote this article for www.bellinghamairporthotels.com. Follow this link to learn more about their services and how they help travelers find hotels near the Bellingham airport.