cozumel to tulum on own??

[kristel]

Hello! Has anyone gone to tulum via playa del carmen ferry then taken a taxi or bus to tulum?? How easy is it to do?? (I've taken a taxi around cozumel a few times but never used the ferry to playa del carmen or taxi there)

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!!

[dgack1]

We looked at doing the self tour last year. After we added the cost of the ferry, rental car, and entrance price to tulum it was not worth the cost. Taking a tour was almost the same price and of course you get the added bonus of a guide and someone else driving.:D By the way, I thought the tour was worth every dime it cost. The ruins were interesting and the ocean view was breathtaking.

[wwinfl91]

We have used the ferry to go from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen. They are supposed to run every hour but they use "Mexican" time and seem to leave and arrive sort of on their own schedule. Expect most of the passengers to be natives either going from or to work at the resorts on Cozumel. The ride over can be rough at times and while the new ferrys they have do better than the older ones they used to use, it is still a small boat in a big ocean.

 

Once you get ashore in Cozumel it should be possible to find a taxi driver you can hire for the day to take you to Tulum and wait for you to visit it and bring you back. I wouldn't suggest using the Mexican buses as they also operate on Mexican time and may or may not arrive so that you can make your return ferry ride to reboard your ship.

 

I would also plan on getting back in plenty of time (at least an hour before the last ferry you think you can catch and still get back before your ship sails). This is because (as mentioned above) the ferrys sometime leave early and sometimes leave late and if you miss the last one you would either need to wait for another hour and maybe miss your ship or try to hire one of the small (sometimes very small) boats to get you across to Cozumel to catch your ship.

 

You also have to allow time to catch a taxi from where the ferry docks in Cozumel and where the cruise ships dock. That is at least a 10-15 minute ride.

 

We did something similar in meeting friends who were living near Playa Del Carmen. We took a taxi to the ferry, took the ferry to the dock in Playa and met our friends and then went on a day tour of the area with them. They said we had plenty of time so we stopped for an ice cream on the way back to the ferry and almost missed the ferry back to the ship. We were the last people to board before they took off about 10 minutes before the assigned time.

 

If you do it, just arrange to pay the taxi driver when you return from your time in Tulum so you can be sure he will be there when you want to go back.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[kristel]

thank you both so much for your suggestions -- looks like we will be taking the ship's excursion (we are going with some first time cruisers and the last thing I want to do is miss the ship or get lost somewhere in mexico) - I cant wait to see the ruins!!!

[TNtraveler]

I note that the OP is a new poster, so please believe me when I say I understand how daunting it can be to navigate all the info on these forums -- this is not a 'flame' but a constructive tip for future use: if you use the 'search' function for the forums you would have come up with threads in this forum that already address this question in some related manner within the past two weeks here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=156337

 

here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=161821

 

and here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=158696

 

Using 'search' is a great way to get all the info here you're looking for in a single listing.