If you just want to go downtown, but want to see more than the tourist area, just turn up a side street and walk back away from the ocean. The further back you go, the further away from the tourist shops.
If you want to see the "real" Mexico in the amount of time you have off the ship, that would be my advice. (For what it's worth, I'm not sure there's any one thing that would count as the real Mexico any more, if there ever was. I haven't been to the Yucatán yet, but I've been in many other places the country, and Mexico has a little bit of everything, from dirt poor to filthy rich. But I think I know what the original poster means by the question.)
Wherever I've been in Mexico, and that includes major tourist areas, it is easy to see something a bit more authentic than the tourist shops. It's absolutely amazing to me how little most tourists get away from the tourism centers, so often walking less than a kilometer, sometimes even one block, from the tourist areas is enough to see where the people living there shop, eat, work and go to school. Last time I went to Puerto Vallarta, we stayed in a downtown hotel frequented by quite a few nationals and ate most of the time at restaurants, some of them without English menus, that catered primarily to Mexicans. It was plenty touristy, but it was still a totally different experience than if we had stayed at some megaresort out of the city limits.
And for those who take normal precautions (such as using a hidden wallet for money and passport), there is very little danger, despite what some people here say. There are certainly areas of many towns to avoid, especially for women alone, but that's true anywhere. I've been to Mexico half a dozen times and elsewhere in the Third World as well, and I always make a point of going for walks away from the tourist zone. I've never been disappointed and look forward to doing the same this summer in Cozumel and Playa.
"REAL MEXICO"
in Playa Del Carmen/Calica
Posted
If you want to see the "real" Mexico in the amount of time you have off the ship, that would be my advice. (For what it's worth, I'm not sure there's any one thing that would count as the real Mexico any more, if there ever was. I haven't been to the Yucatán yet, but I've been in many other places the country, and Mexico has a little bit of everything, from dirt poor to filthy rich. But I think I know what the original poster means by the question.)
Wherever I've been in Mexico, and that includes major tourist areas, it is easy to see something a bit more authentic than the tourist shops. It's absolutely amazing to me how little most tourists get away from the tourism centers, so often walking less than a kilometer, sometimes even one block, from the tourist areas is enough to see where the people living there shop, eat, work and go to school. Last time I went to Puerto Vallarta, we stayed in a downtown hotel frequented by quite a few nationals and ate most of the time at restaurants, some of them without English menus, that catered primarily to Mexicans. It was plenty touristy, but it was still a totally different experience than if we had stayed at some megaresort out of the city limits.
And for those who take normal precautions (such as using a hidden wallet for money and passport), there is very little danger, despite what some people here say. There are certainly areas of many towns to avoid, especially for women alone, but that's true anywhere. I've been to Mexico half a dozen times and elsewhere in the Third World as well, and I always make a point of going for walks away from the tourist zone. I've never been disappointed and look forward to doing the same this summer in Cozumel and Playa.