Hi folks great forum, got pointed in this direction by somebody on trip advisor, and been reading for hours!! Very informative! Right im booking my flights tonight from London Gatwick to Cancun for the 30th Oct to the 29th of Jan so basically 3 months! Im 25 in December so will be celebrating my birthday/christmas whilst there albeit on my own unless i meet some people there! (flying solo) Im really torn between weather to stay in Cancun or the Playa del Carmen area so any thaughts on that would be great!! What i really would like to know is where the best place to get an affordable room/studio/appartment and how to go about it. i.e book hotel for 1st week while looking at a few places etc. Im on a really tight budget so cheaper the better just all i want is safety (dont intend on spending much time at "home") Also what about a bit of part time work whilst there?? Good way to meet people and have that extra little bit of money (nothing serious) just a bit of bar/restaurant work to keep me going that little bit easier! Do i "need" a working visa or would a few days a week cash in hand be easily achievable?? Thanks for a great forum and all the info around the site, im sure ill have more questions for you but ill leave it at that for now!! Harrison
Playa del Carmen is going to be a better option for you imho. There's probably more affordable accommodation closer to the beach and night life than there is in Cancun. Staying at a hotel and then doing the legwork is going to be the best way to find somewhere you like, rather than pre-arranging something. In Cancun you can still get budget accommodation but it's likely to be quite far from the beach, and the beach has few public access points in any case. That said your options for accommodation will probably be limited as not many landlords will entertain a 3 month rental unless it is a vacation rental type place in which case it will be expensive and the three months you'll be there are high season. Probably hostels or lower end hotels are going to be your best bet if you are on a limited budget. Re working here, I doubt that will be possible. You will need a working visa but you wont be able to get that until you have a job offer, and even then it will take several weeks to process most likely. I'm sure cash in hand jobs do exist but I doubt they'd give them to a foreigner with no visa. In restaurants and bars there is no shortage of Mexicans wanting those jobs so employing a foreigner is not likely to be an option a business owner would consider. Wages would be extremely low, $5 - $10 a day plus tips. It sounds like you are familiar with traveling and working in places like Greece and Spain, I'm afraid Mexico is completely different. Have a read through the sub forum: http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/living-cancun-riviera-maya/ Plenty of advice there.
hi thanks for the advice i think ive found myself a nice little studio near the airport in playa del carmen for a very reasonable 230gbp per month just waiting to find out about! Great website called airbnb if anyone else asks!! and yea i was not expecting work to be profitable more just a case of meeting people and getting involved in local life!! thanks again H
