Self guided tour of Costa Maya

Having read a number of reviews about Costa Maya it seemed to me there were limited options of what to do in port if you didn't wish to spend hundreds of dollars on the Ship's organised excursions.

However, once you clear the large array of well presented but extremely touristy and rather pricey boutiques, you can catch a taxi from just up the street on the right hand side.

The yellow cabs seem to operate a standard $2 per person fare to nearby Mahahual, a ride of just a few minutes.

Once you arrive in Mahahual, head into the Main Street which is littered with street vendors, local women touting massages for $20 an hour and local men touting sun loungers, snorkels, beers etc.

Once your patience has run out, keep heading along the street away from the lighthouse. The frenzy of the local vendors will die away and you will enter the reality of local life in Costa Maya and see not so well brushed beaches and raw coastline. Just a few hundred yards on your right stop to browse Barbara's boutique or enjoy a coffee there Mexican style. Then return back along the main tourist path and up to the lighthouse for a quiet snorkel away from the crowds before hailing a taxi back to port (or a twenty minute walk if you're fit!)

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Thank you! This is very helpful info. We are frugal and looking for ways to see the sights without depleting funds :)

See the link in my signature or the posts in the Beach Club sticky for maps and pictures of what trippingtaffy mentions. Do note that the "street" referred to for Mahahual isn't "Main street", it's the "malecon" or board walk along the ocean. The two primary streets in Mahahual are a block and 2 blocks off the malecon. One goes south the other north. While these streets do have hotels, restaurants and businesses along them they are geared to local residents.

You can also take a tram from inside the port complex for the same price as a taxi, which you have to catch outside the port gate. The tram will stop along the street nearest the malecon. It 's first stop is at Tequila Beach/ Corona Beach. You can get off here and ignore the lounger hawkers walk along the malecon or the beach as trippingtaffy suggests.

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Thanks

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Thanks for the info.

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