Mexico in July?
January 15, 2019 12:01 AM Subscribe
A friend and I will have about 5 nights to spend in Mexico after travelling through Costa Rica in July. We are after some relaxing beach time and Tulum was recommended to us, but after researching we are concerned about the smelly seaweed issue. Any suggestions from the hivemind?
Friend suggested Cabo instead but it looks to me like a crowded party town I could find anywhere in the world. We've never been to Mexico and would be nice to feel we're actually in Mexico. Our Spanish is limited to Google translate, and we won't have a car if that matters. Will it be too hot in July to walk anywhere? Resort suggestions welcome too.
Friend suggested Cabo instead but it looks to me like a crowded party town I could find anywhere in the world. We've never been to Mexico and would be nice to feel we're actually in Mexico. Our Spanish is limited to Google translate, and we won't have a car if that matters. Will it be too hot in July to walk anywhere? Resort suggestions welcome too.
i would see where you can get good flights to and go from there. Good flight to cancun? head south from there to akumal or puerto morelos. most of the rivera maya is going to have tourist but there are places like these two that are smaller and still more villagey. great reef off of puerto morelos, but the water there isn't that super turquoise color you often see in that area.
good flight to puerto vallarta? One of my favorite places - spend time in the older part of town instead of the resort strip and you will see more day to day life in a mexican city. PV is a fairly large city though so sleepy little beach town it is not, but it is beautiful.
keep in mind the beaches on the caribbean side are generally more swimable with warmer water and softer sand and less red flag days than the pacific side, if your main objective is being at the beach.
posted by domino at 9:37 AM on January 15, 2019
good flight to puerto vallarta? One of my favorite places - spend time in the older part of town instead of the resort strip and you will see more day to day life in a mexican city. PV is a fairly large city though so sleepy little beach town it is not, but it is beautiful.
keep in mind the beaches on the caribbean side are generally more swimable with warmer water and softer sand and less red flag days than the pacific side, if your main objective is being at the beach.
posted by domino at 9:37 AM on January 15, 2019
We didn't notice any seaweed issues on the beaches around Tulum when we were there ~5 years back. FWIW, we *hated* the resort we were staying at (courtesy of the parent-in-law's time-share screwing us over), but we *loved* the area around Tulum once we hopped in a rental car and showed ourselves around the area. Both Tulum and Chichen Itza are worth booking a guided tour to learn more about the history of the ruins / people there. The latter will take you a bit longer to get to and tour.
We loved exploring the little seaside towns with great seafood restaurants along the coast south of Cancun / north of Tulum. Swimming with the turtles in Akumal is not to be missed, same goes for swimming / snorkeling in the many cenotes (freshwater cave pools) in the area. We spent a day walking around Cancun and didn't particularly love it (we're not the crazy partying type), would probably have re-purposed that day to check out some more cenotes if we had it to do over again. Overall, really enjoyed and would highly recommend the area.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:05 AM on January 15, 2019
We loved exploring the little seaside towns with great seafood restaurants along the coast south of Cancun / north of Tulum. Swimming with the turtles in Akumal is not to be missed, same goes for swimming / snorkeling in the many cenotes (freshwater cave pools) in the area. We spent a day walking around Cancun and didn't particularly love it (we're not the crazy partying type), would probably have re-purposed that day to check out some more cenotes if we had it to do over again. Overall, really enjoyed and would highly recommend the area.
posted by allkindsoftime at 10:05 AM on January 15, 2019
Will it be too hot in July to walk anywhere?
yes. Sorry.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:27 AM on January 15, 2019
yes. Sorry.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:27 AM on January 15, 2019
If you flew to Cabo (and you're right, it's just a hustle), you could take a shuttle to Todos Santos (artsy small town on the Pacific side of the Baja peninsula, a *few* degrees cooler in July, good surfing nearby), Los Barriles (Gulf side, kiteboarding center, close to Cabo Pulmo for incredible snorkeling, some really good fishing if that's your thing), or La Paz (small, mellow city that has a tourist area near the water but is totally Mexico a few blocks from the beach; a not-too-long cab ride to Playas Balandra and Tecolote, two world-class beaches; and a range of accommodations from luxury to hostel with several comfortable B&Bs in between; and lots of taco stands as well as fine restaurants).
Any of those towns is walkable. In the middle of the day, you'd want to be sure you were walking toward a cold beer somewhere; July can be hot (90-100F) and humid.
posted by bricoleur at 1:52 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
Any of those towns is walkable. In the middle of the day, you'd want to be sure you were walking toward a cold beer somewhere; July can be hot (90-100F) and humid.
posted by bricoleur at 1:52 PM on January 15, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by ominous_paws at 2:17 AM on January 15, 2019