Cozumel

Dear lilioftheworld.com reader, here is Lili, your co-editor. Today we travel together to the beautiful Mexican island of Cozumel.

Cozumel isn’t the first resort which comes to your mind when thinking about Mexican beach resorts. Cancun or Playa del Carmen are the places that most people would choose. Interestingly enough, in the past Cozumel was the most developed vacation area and only later Playa del Carmen was created. Nowadays, Cozumel is the place we would recommend as it is the less popular destination and offers the possibility to have an authentic experience. In the next rows we will explain and show you in pictures why.

Lili’s 5 Good-to-know tips when travelling to Cozumel:

• Cozumel has its own airport, so if you have an affordable option, get directly there
• Many of the cruise ships arrive in Cozumel as one of their stops in Mexico, so it can get quite crowded in some areas during the day
• It is recommended that you have US dollars in cash as the dollar is widely accepted and easy to convert to local currency. Of course credit cards are just fine: you can find plenty of ATMs and POS terminals around.
• Cozumel is famous as one of the best diving locations not only in Mexico, but also worldwide. Get your gear ready!
• For all the Europeans – the AC outlet in Mexico is like the one in the US. If you have forgotten your adapter (as I did), you can easily buy one from any store here.

Our trip in Mexico was part of a longer vacation which included Argentina and Chile beforehand. After intense traveling during the previous two weeks, we came to Mexico to have some rest. We had nine days in total in Mexico, seven of which we spend in Cozumel and then we went to Tulum, Valladolid and of course Chichen Itza. This article will describe our experience in Cozumel and why you should choose this place for your vacation. The stories about Tulum, the route to Valladolid, the cenotes and Chichen Itza will be presented in separate articles, which you can find here.

How to get to Cozumel?

Starting with where Cozumel is located. It is an island, close to the Yucatan peninsula in the North-Eastern part of Mexico. It is just opposite Playa del Carmen, 60 km south of Cancun. You have two options how to reach Cozumel.

• By plane

Cozumel has its own airport. If you find affordable tickets, this is the most comfortable way to get there. There are many companies with direct flights: Interjet, United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta and others. The airport is in the western part of the island, very close to its main town- San Miguel de Cozumel.

• By ferry

If you fly to Cancun International Airport (which we also did), you should find transport to Playa Del Carmen and then take the ferry. From Cancun Airport to Playa del Carmen, you have several options (more for them you can find on this website telling everything about Playa del Carmen). As we were very tired and we wanted to make the trip as short as possible, we just took a taxi. Around €50 and 45 minutes later we were at the ferry pier in Playa del Carmen.

The ferries to Cozumel leave from the ferry pier which is like a shopping mall. From the place where the taxi dropped us to the ferry we had around five minutes of running (as we wanted to catch the first ferry available). There are two companies which serve the line. They leave exactly at the same time (at every round hour, the last one being at 11 PM).

Two ferry companies

The first company is called Ultramar and the boats are yellow-blue in color. The other one is orange-colored and is called Winjet. We tried them both. As we were in a hurry on the way to Cozumel, we bought the tickets for the orange one. Five minutes before the departure of the ferry we were the only people on a big ferry. We felt that there is something wrong. At the same time there were crowds of people going to Ultramar. However, the duration (half an hour) of the trip was similar for both ferries.

On the way back From Cozumel to Playa del Carmen we took the other one- Ultrmar. It is slightly more luxurious, but the price was higher- $220 (vs. $170 at Winjet). And having in mind that it is more crowded and you have to wait longer to get on and get off, Winjet might be a better option.

What to do in Cozumel?

• Snorkeling

Snorkeling was one of our main reasons for visiting Mexico. This is how we actually chose Cozumel for our base. We wanted to do as much snorkeling as possible. It is true that the second longest coral reef in the world (after the Great coral reef in Australia) is located just in front of the shores of Playa del Carmen and Tulum. However, my research (including reviews and recent photos on social media) over the last few months showed that there are a lot of seaweed there. This was not the case in Cozumel though. Clean water, pretty good snorkeling right on the beach in front of our hotel.

We had two main highlights here – our hotel and a snorkeling tour that we made. We were very satisfied with both experiences, so we want to share them with you.

Hotel Cozumel

Hotel Cozumel and Resort. The place is about 30 minutes walk from the ferry pier right on  the main road. The hotel part is just across the road, which keeps it away from the noise of the traffic. It has a big swimming pool for those who prefer other than salty water. For convenience, there is a tunnel under the road which takes you to the private beach and the day restaurant.

A private beach, private peer for boats, own diving equipment… simply amazing… Besides this, you can make a few dips and you are in the ocean with a lot of fish and coral around you. The perfect blue color of the water is something that we don’t see very often (on par with Thailand, Dominican Republic and Cuba).

Snorkeling tour

If the area just next to the hotel isn’t enough to satisfy your snorkeling needs, we recommend going south for a snorkeling tour. We wanted to skip the crowd and the “party”-boat experience and just go somewhere for the snorkeling itself. As the tour prices offered by the hotel were quite high, we went to an agency which we found by chance in the nearby Walmart-equivalent. A guy named Wilbert offered us some good deals.

The tour was organized by an agency called Pink tours. We gathered at 10 AM in front of their office in the heart of San Miguel and then we were transported by taxi to a small port in the south to our boat. The snorkeling tour was altogether four hours. During this time we visited four great snorkeling sites. One tip- we thought that maybe we can drive to the coastal part and then swim to these snorkeling locations. Well, it’s not always possible- you better take the tour (by the way we negotiated a price of 35€ per person; just for comparison the price in the hotel was 54).

What you need to know about the snorkeling tour

Our guide (Jose) explained everything about snorkeling as most of the people were doing it for a first time. He offered us snorkeling equipment, which was clean and well maintained. Then he made the life jackets into swimming donuts for those of the group who couldn’t swim so it was more convenient for them to float on the water.  And what is more, he was together with us every time we jumped from the boat. For the ten countries in which we have snorkeled so far, this was one of the best services received.

One thing we experienced for a first time- you are not allowed to apply sunscreen before doing the snorkeling. The idea behind this measure is to preserve the sea life. As the sun is quite strong, you should either apply sunscreen in the hotel before starting the tour or you wear a T-shirt while in the water. They offer free drinks on the boat, but no food. One of the best parts of the tour was that the boat (at least ours) was small and we were ten people altogether. Such private experience cannot be enjoyed when on a bigger boat/tour.

Here are the 4 places you will visit during this snorkelling tour:

•     Starfish place 

This is the place with high concentration of starfish. At first we could not see anything, but then they started to “pop-up”. It is about three four meters deep and you are not allowed to touch the starfish.

•     The stingray area 

It is a very shallow area close to the shore. The color of the water there was simply incredible. Upon getting there, we saw a huge stingray, but unfortunately it was too fast to follow it. I have read that you can see sea turtles as well, but I guess it depends very much on the mood of the turtle :).

•     Colombia beach

This place is difficult to describe in words. The blue color of the water was shining, due to the corals underneath. It was not turquoise, neither greenish; it was an incredible blue. And underneath – many different types of fish, most of them big ones, hidden around the corals. Although it was quite deep- about  ten meters, the water was crystal clear and you could see everything underneath.

•     The last place (whose name I forgot)

This was the last place we visited and it didn’t disappoint. It was similar to Colombia beach, slightly deeper, but with even more bluish color of the water. We had big fun there and saw many fishes and corals.

• Diving

We are not divers, but other tourists who dived around Cozumel, confirmed that this is a perfect place for diving. And the best part is that you can start with a course right in front of the hotel. There were a couple of diving schools just across the street.

The hotel offers also a lazy equivalent of scuba diving. This one is again not my thing as the area you cover is quite small. But I can understand it is a good option for people who are afraid of or cannot swim. You sit comfortably, breathe normally and enjoy the surrounding underwater world.

• Punta Sur Ecological Park

One of the most famous parks on the island is located in the southern-most part of Cozumel. Here you’ll find crocodiles, sea turtles, exotic birds, flowers and beautiful beaches – the perfect place for nature lovers.

• Visit any of the nice beaches on the island 

Before visiting any of the beaches, we advise you to get informed about them. In general most of the beaches on the Western side of the island are suitable for snorkeling. If I have to be honest, we wanted to go to the different beaches, but compared to what we had in front of the hotel, it was not worth it. Some of the beaches are sandy ones, others- rocky, but in our hotel we had both. However, here is a list of those which I found as potential places of interest- Stingray, Paradise, Palangar. You can either rent a car or a scooter to get there. We asked a taxi and the price was crazy expensive (120 USD for three hours).

• Watch the sunset 

The sunsets are extremely beautiful on the Western part of the island. We watched the sunset almost every day. One day there was a wedding ceremony in our hotel – it was the highest level of romance possible 🙂

• Attend the Carnival 

Cozumel has its own carnival. If you plan to visit Cozumel in February, maybe it is worth checking the dates for the carnival (it was last week of February and the first two weeks of March in 2019). Unfortunately we didn’t know about it and we caught only the opening day. It seemed like a lot of fun and I wish we could have seen more of it. A lot of positive spirit, dancing and singing- all in typical Mexican style.

Another very interesting festival held in different time of the year is the one in the town of El Cedral (happening at the end of April). This one has an interesting story about its origins which I found on the website of Hotel Villa Deja Blue:

La Feria de Cedral

“According to history and legend, during the Caste War of Yucatan, a group of Mayans descended upon the ancient village of Saban and planned to kill all the white people living there. The inhabitants of the village hid in a local church. The warriors who killed many of the villagers found them there.

One of the wounded survivors was a young man- Carimiro Cardenas, who endured the attack while holding a tiny crucifix in his hands which he felt had protected and saved him from dying along with the others. Cardenas made a promise that he would organize an annual religious festival once he was safe from the carnage and that his descendants would carry the tradition forward into future generations.

Since the first Festival in 1848, the “Holy Cross Festival” is organized by descendants of families who founded the villages of El Cedral and San Miguel and continue to participate in what is now a non-religious celebratory annual festival known as “La Feria del Cedral.”

• Mayan ruins

If you want to do some cultural program, you can go to the middle of the island and see the ancient ruins. The most famous place is in the jungle – San Gervasio. You won’t find pyramids or any other similar construction. The Maya on Cozumel specialized more in fishing, while those on the mainland were the architecture experts.

If you are staying only in Cozumel, We would suggest you make a one-day trip to Chichen-Itza. The same guy who offered us the snorkeling tour (Wilbert), offered very good deal for a one-day tour to the sacred Mayan village. The tour starts at 7 AM with the ferry ride to Playa del Carmen. They visit Chichen-Itza, a cenote, Valladolid and also a place where they produce handcraft. The tour finishes by around 10-11 PM, when you get back into the hotel and the price was 69 USD (including lunch, but excluding drinks and the ferry). Our friend who was traveling with us made the trip and he was very satisfied. He said very nice words for the organization and the tour guide.

Instead of conclusion

Enjoying Cozumel and taking a couple of days to explore the Mayan cultural heritage- this is the combination that we would recommend for your first trip to Mexico. Do not miss our tips about what you can do in Mexico (besides Cozumel), how to travel around and what else you can cover if your time in this beautiful country is limited.

We have many more Long-haul trip recommendations. Just have a look- maybe the inspiration for your next vacation is just one click away 🙂