Just some quick notes from our recent 2 week stay in cancun. Stayed at cancun plaza, south end of the strip. This place has been really slow to repair. About the only place left in the hotel zone where you can get a room on the beach for less than $30 a night. May have to share your room with a cockroach or two. Beach was still pretty nice at the south end. Club med area is great for having a spot where it is calmer. Bus drivers shorted us 3 times. Is it JUST me or do they try and cheat all the tourists? La Isla has really fixed up nice since our last trip shortly after wilma. Can anyone afford anything there? Had a meal at Come&Eats, where their prices looked to have increased 20% from 2 years ago and the quality has decreased. Worst overpriced food Ive eaten in looong time. Downtown you could still find the hamburger vendors selling 2 for 20 pesos. Yummers. Churros went from 8 pesos in 2005 to 15 pesos now. When did that happen? We found cancun to be really quiet the 2 weeks that we were there. I guess it was a typically slow time, but I expected more people. The beaches and hotels just did not seem anywhere near full. Enjoyed our stay in pdc more. Both places seem to have priced themselves out of my price range. Take away the nice beaches and I'm finding little left to like about cancun. I can save on airfare and stay in south beach for less.
Sorry you had a horrible time in Cancun. I am sure you realize that prices no matter where you go will continously go up and up, and very rarely other then on sale go down. Cancun Plaza is a place that is having a hard time in the repairs of the complex due to mismanagement. The beach is indeed great down there, and perhaps there are nearby resorts such as Solymar which is better then Cancun Plaza, and has better facilities overall. As for the food at La Isla, I also eat in the same place as you do, and find the food still good for the price. As for staying in South Beach, well keep in mind that you will pay 3-4 times more for a room, food will cost you at least 5-6 times in even the lowest prices places then in Cancun. And in South Beach you will get the huge crowds, and the need for a car to go anywhere. I rather be given incorrect change by the bus driver in Cancun then to have to worry about renting a car and parking in South Beach. And the money I will still save for the mishandling of the change vs. South Beach car rental and parking fees will make a huge difference. Please consider going back to Cancun, since it is still a lot of fun there and the costs in the long run will be drastically less then anywhere in the USA.
We didnt have a horrible time. I just have become less of a fan of cancun. So you think that the bus drivers arent cheating us, but instead just "mishandling the change"? I just dont at all see cancun being cheaper than south beach. We have spent a month at both places, and I can tell you that south beach, for us, was a better deal. We had a 1 bedroom in south beach in the heart of the action, on the ocean, for $1100 for the month. A studio unit at Solymar would cost you more than that. You could get a studio at cancun plaza for maybe a little less. From our hotel in south beach, you could walk to everything. No need at all for a car. They have buses that circle around south beach area, if you need to buy large amount of groceries. They have buses to downtown Miami or north up miami beach. South Beach has its share of expensive clubs and places to eat, but its not that hard to find the cheaper places. The popular south beach pizza place Rustica, where even the famous people go eat, you can get a huge slice of gourmet pizza for $3.75. In pdc they have their pizza places all over. Small, little. thin pieces for 20 pesos. TGI fridays in south beach is way cheaper than the TGI in La Isla mall. You can find little places in south beach where you can get a big plate of food for $3-5. You pay the same amount in cancun just to buy enough street tacos to feed one person. In south beach you have all the beautiful people. In Cancun you have vendors and opc's yelling at you. From the cancun plaza it's a 45 minute bus ride to downtown. You have to take a bus to most anywhere. Staying in the heart of south beach, you can walk to the ocean, to the clubs, places to eat, shop, no need for long bus rides. Cancun has the caribbean ocean which is the only big advantage that I see it having over south beach. Im sure much of it depends on how you vacation and what your priorities are. But I can tell you that south beach can be done as cheap and cheaper than cancun.
Cancun is not for everyone, that's a given, but I have to say that if you think you can get a better deal in South Beach Miami, congratulations. I'm not in any way trying to be sarcastic but when I last visited, I couldn't get half the amount of quality for twice the price as I get in Cancun. That being said, I agree with you that perhaps Playa Del Carmen or even Isla Mujeres (my suggestion to investigate) might be a better choice for your vacation needs. CANCUN TOP 100 212eric
We've done month stays in playa del carmen as well. We do prefer pdc over cancun, but still dont see pdc being as cheap as south beach. Pdc is nice because everything is within walking distance. Isla Mujeres would be too small of a place to keep us interested for a month. I only use south beach as a comparison, because south beach is known to be so expensive and yet our experiences show that we still could do a month in south beach for same or less than cancun/pdc and without some of the hassles. Our vacations our different from most as we stay longer and look for value. Even going to downtown cancun and eating and shopping with the locals, as we do, its not that cheap. I just am having a harder time finding good deals in cancun.
Panama City Beach vs Cancun? Gimme Cancun! My wife and I have been going back to Cancun each year since our honeymoon in 2000. Last year my 16 y/o daughter did not get her passport in time and had to miss the trip. To make up for that, my wife took her and her boyfriend to PCB for a week. One week in a 2bdr condo, $1800. Rent a van $450. Eats and such, $100/day. $2950 total. $421.42/night. 15 days in cancun at a wonderful Solymar condo (studio) $75/night = $1125. 3 r/t tickets from Atlanta $984. Eats $50/day. $2859 total. $190/night (cancunresortcondos.com <- Michelle and Peter Hermick, great folks) To me there is no comparison - Cancun wins! I know my wife and daughter are getting bored with Cancun each and every year, but to me it is the most relaxing time ever. We love to walk the beaches and the downtown areas, enjoy Palapas Park, Plaza Los Americas, Soriana, La Isla, The Taco Factory. Even WalMart. Steve and Laurie Jones Auburn, GA
The prices must have shot up since last year then. We ate cheap downtown our whole vacation, except for the lobster at El Pescadors. Even that was a bargain at 350 pesos.
It's different for everyone depending on the situation and what you like. I haven't found Cancun to be more expensive than other vacation destinations, but then again I wouldn't want to go to Cancun for a month at a time either. As long as you get what you need out of your vacation.. wherever that may be.. all is good!
Re: Panama City Beach vs Cancun? Gimme Cancun! When I see cancun as expensive, I guess that I am looking at it from a different angle. For the average person that is used to paying $100+ a night for a hotel room and eating out at $10+ per meal, cancun, I guess, doesnt appear that bad. But we vacation 4 months out of the year. We are looking for rooms for less than $30, meals less than $4, etc. It is getting near impossible to find a months rent on the beach in cancun for less than $1000. But you can go up and down Miami beach and find rooms for that price. I use miami as a comparison, just because miami is not exactly known for being a cheap area. Some people find timeshares to be a great deal. I guess it all depends on what you are used to spending and what you find to be a good deal. Personally, I find timeshares to be the worst deal ever. So maybe I should specify when declaring cancun as expensive. Trying to do cancun in a 2 star way, it is expensive. Going 4-5 star, maybe its a fair price.
My kids and grandson live inf Playa, I can tell you that EVERYTHING is 20% more than Cancun. Yes our prices have gone up. hell it sucks for us who live here too.
