Hi there My husband and I are Canadians who live in San Pedro Belize and have been here for the last nine months but I work online and my employer wants me out of Belize due to the many power outages, very slow internet, and often unreliable connectivity of the cellphone system here. So we are looking at heading up into Mexico. Possibly Chetumal area, Playa, or even as far as the Cancun area. Ideally our priorities are reliable power, cheap rent (5-700 US a month - more if utilities/etc included), a place that allows our dog (we have a blind albino St Bernard), and continuing to live in an area where we can enjoy the beach as much if not more than we do here. Ideally we would be looking at making this move in the last week of September as getting my connectivity issues settled to my employers satisfaction is best to do asap, so if anyone out there knows of any good/decent rentals available around that time please let me know We've heard varying information about the prices of rentals in Chetumal, Playa and Cancun, but from a local's perspective, which would you say would have the most reasonable rental prospects? Particularly considering our need for a place that allows pets. If anyone here has any suggestions, knows of any good places online to look for rentals/etc or has any other advice about moving up there, we'd most definitely appreciate it. We do have personal and rental references as well as references regarding our dog (that she is quiet, non-destructive, doesn't bark, well-behaved and trained etc) Thanks and we're looking forward to becoming part of the Quintana Roo community at large
My experience is limited to the Cancun City (Benito Juarez Municipality) area. [Edit: prices given here are in Mexican pesos] Unfurnished apts/houses on transportation routes, near shopping, range from about $5,000 per month, plus or minus $1,000. For furnished, you may have to add $1,000-1,500. For town center, perhaps add a little more. (My apt, fully furnished, good location, good condition, with swimming pool, in center of town, two bedrooms/one bath, costs $8,000.) Presently, there are thousands of vacancies, so it's a renters' market. Without a doubt, you can do better by coming here, shopping the want ads and visiting the big stores to check their bulletin boards. There are a number of inexpensive hotels, right downtown, where you could stay for the week you might need to find the right place. Benito Juarez has the advantage of very good internet service (the company I use prides itself in responding to a service call in less than 24 hours, and routinely calls residences to check on the level of customer service, following a service visit). We also enjoy lower elec rates than some other areas/cities in Mexico, having been assigned tariff class 1-C by the CFE. Taxis are inexpensive, with most rides in town costing $20. There is good access to the beaches, nearby, and Isla Mujeres is a convenient ferry ride away if you need a getaway. Puerto Morelos, with its very wide and long beach, and soft, white sand is just a 30 min bus ride, followed by a short taxi ride, from the center of BJM. If you need to fly anywhere, Cancun is a gateway to the world, with very competitive fares to almost any international destination. In addition, there is a reasonable level of medical care available in the immediate vicinity, if you or a family member should happen to have need of routine, or emergency service. So much for my pitch! Next!
Geographically Playa closer to the beach so it's easier to get a rental near the beach. But in my experience rentals in Playa cost more than in Cancun. Chetumal is on the bay, so the beach are very different there. I've spent some time in Chetumal and find it interminably peaceful, to the point of being boring. But I like the bay there and they have wooden houses which is cool. I live in Cancun centro and I don't think it's all that simple to get to the beach here...I mean there's plenty of beach and I know all the access points, but it's still at least a 20 minute drive and much longer if I want to bring the dogs to the beach. I agree that Cancun has good internet access, we use Telmex and I've had one 20 minute outtage in the last year. During Hurricane Wilma my internet never went out. In fact in the last 4 years my internet probably hasn't been down more than a total of 2 or 3 hours. So that's a good thing. You can check classifieds for Cancun rentals here (in Spanish): http://www.novenet.com.mx/clasifik2/ You might find some in English here: http://www.viviun.com/ But the general rule is that if the ad is written in English then the price of the rental will be higher because the target market is gringos who just drip money dontcha know. My experience in Cancun is that the BEST way to find property here is to literally drive around and when you see a property that interests you you call while standing in the street in front of it. It sounds inefficient but it's not. If you can see the place and hear the noise there before you call you are way ahead and you won't waste time with props in neighborhoods you don't like (of which there will be many).
If I were used to a lazy (well, not truly lazy because I know you're working) beachy type lifestyle as it sounds you are, Cancun would NOT be my choice for all of the reasons that RiverGirl stated. Despite being known for its beaches, in my experience, it's more of an urban lifestyle than a walk to the beach, sit in a bar with your feet in the sand and drink a cold one feel. In Playa you would be able to integrate the beach into your daily life more, especially if you looked carefully for a place and chose wisely. In fact, I envied a coworker in Cancun so much who worked with the same company in Playa. We worked these terrible split shifts and she was able to do her morning shift, jump in the ocean, lie on the beach, then wash up before returning to work. But still, Playa also has that slightly urban feel, with the residents' daily lives being, for the most part, removed from the beach. Have you also considered the Gulf Coast of Mexico in the state of Yucatan? Just wondering what made you set your sites on this area in particular!
I don't disagree with the qualifiers that the other posters have put on the description of "good access to beaches"; but, I'll make it a little clearer what I had in mind. Cancun is a large city. People often say it has a population of "about" one million. As a result, how close you are to the beaches becomes, in part, a function of where you live in this large city. For example, from where I live, I can walk to the beach in the time it may take another, living in a different part of the city, to get there by car. The entire hotel zone, and its beaches, are served by city buses- modern and air conditioned, for the most part. These cost $7.5 to ride one way. Departing from the central bus station, it can take anywhere from ten minutes, to a half hour, to get to a beach- depending on which one you choose. Less developed beach areas to the north can also be reached by bus/fixed route vans/taxis for about the same time and money.
While there appears to be an increase in the number of air-conditioned buses, they are by no means in the majority, and being on one of the non-airconditioned buses (especially during the high occupancy hours) in our current weather conditions can be an ordeal. Also the 7.5MXN price is for a non air-conditioned bus. You pay a premium to ride cool, although it amounts to less than 2.5 MXN extra. And forgive me for being picky, but to cite the typical ZH bus as "modern" is a vast overstatement. They are high-mileage, stiffly-sprung, unupholstered boxes on wheels. All that having been said, the bus will get you anywhere up and down the ZH quickly and inexpensively. Plus, where else will a woman with a guitar board the bus (most times for free), begin singing, soon to be joined by all the riders in a group sing, all in return for a few coins passed to her when you leave the bus. That's when you know you live someplace special.
cost of living mixz1 Thank you for using MXN in your las message. V you got me scared with your cost of living mssg. The prices you posted are pesos right, unless the rent is the hotel zone.
Just to be completely clear the price of the bus to the HZ is 75 centavos, so around 60 US cents. It's cheap, but like Mixz1 says, it's often a sweaty box on wheels. Geographically Cancun has a lot of beach...but it's hike to get to for the majority of residents. Puerto Morelos and Playa would both offer the ability to be on the beach more with less "getting there" time (for the average resident). Puerto Morelos would not be my choice if I were concerned about infrastructure, after Wilma they had no power for over a month if I remember. Whereas here in Cancun my power was on in 8 days. That said, PM is a LOVELY town and if infrastructure weren't critical to my business I would consider living there. Of all places mentioned the cheapest rents for the best-appointed unit will be in Cancun.
Yep, all the prices I mentioned in this thread are in Mexican Pesos. And, MIXZ1, you're right, the a/c buses are in the minority. (I had a look while I was out, today. I guess I've gotten so used to the heat, I didn't notice sweating when I was riding them!) The buses are crowded at times, especially in the evenings when all the locals are leaving the beach. Sometimes you can't get a bus to stop for you, even at a bus stop, and two or three will go by before one stops. As for the price, I haven't yet paid more than $7.5 for a bus ride in Cancun. Perhaps there's been a recent hike that I've missed.
