Two Questions

[cobra269]

1st: The kid are joining us this year. Group of 4 with youngest 27. They want to take the ferry to the mainland and visit Tulum. I don't want to give up a day of diving to take them. What is better for first timers. Taking a cab from Playa to Tulum or taking a tour.

2nd: Is there anywhere in Cozumel that you can purchase the small 4 packs of champagne.

Thanks

 

[ggunn]

1st: The kid are joining us this year. Group of 4 with youngest 27. They want to take the ferry to the mainland and visit Tulum. I don't want to give up a day of diving to take them. What is better for first timers. Taking a cab from Playa to Tulum or taking a tour.

2nd: Is there anywhere in Cozumel that you can purchase the small 4 packs of champagne.

Thanks

1) Advantage tour: you don't need to drive and you won't get lost. Advantage cab: you can be on your own schedule and it will be cheaper.

2) Your best bet will be the Mega market just south of downtown; it's very much like a Wal*Mart in the States and they have a pretty extensive Adult Beverage section.

 

[blue steal]

Not sure if it would be cheaper to take the ADO bus from Playa to Tulum.
We did it that way, ADO to Tulum, early lunch, then taxi or collectivo to the ruins, then the ADO will pick you up at tulum back to Playa.
If you do it that way, make reservations RT as the bus from Tulum back to Playa fills up with assigned seating.

 

[divingjd]

It's worthwhile to check Chedraui for wine, too. We have often found a better selection there than Mega, which surprised me because I generally think of Mega as the "fancier" store.

 

[lionfish-eater]

There is a european deli on melgar. It is on a corner, I think by Margrativille(or whatever is there now). @MMM can provide the location. They have a very good selection. Why not get four regular sized bottles and put a bow around them?

 

[nwflyboy]

1st: The kid are joining us this year. Group of 4 with youngest 27. They want to take the ferry to the mainland and visit Tulum. I don't want to give up a day of diving to take them. What is better for first timers. Taking a cab from Playa to Tulum or taking a tour.

2nd: Is there anywhere in Cozumel that you can purchase the small 4 packs of champagne.

Thanks

I can not imagine any need for a guided tour of Tulum (other than just not wanting to deal with transportation yourself, maybe that's enough to warrant it - I get it that while on vacation, sometimes it's nice just to sit back and have a cold one).

That said...is Tulum really the best mainland ruin to visit? Maybe - depends on your level of interest and your tastes. If you've been there and to others and you know, then ignore what follows.

Personally, I found Tulum a disappointment and I suspect others do too, if they've been to (or seen pictures of) other, larger ruins around Yucatan. Tulum does have three things going for it: location location location. It's the only place you can see some ruins with the intense turquoise waters of the Caribbean in the same picture - that's why it is the signature photo promoted by the tourism industry. You can even swim at that beach (at least one could when I was there, years ago). But...Tulum is pretty small and unimpressive (IMHO) as a ruin: take away that backdrop, and it's no great shakes. And Tulum is probably the most crowded (and maybe the most commercialized) ruin site in Yucatan. It's close enough to enough large tourist destinations (and cruise ship docks) that it is usually quite crowded, at least in my experience. If your kids are interested in Maya ruins, and they haven't been to any....the big ones are way more impressive (and satisfying) IME. Yeah, they're also a little further away, making a side-trip to them from Cozumel more complicated logistically. Just sayin' - Tulum may be OK for a quickie, but it would be a shame to go there and never get to the better ruins that are not that much further away.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[ggunn]

There is a european deli on melgar. It is on a corner, I think by Margrativille(or whatever is there now). @MMM can provide the location. They have a very good selection. Why not get four regular sized bottles and put a bow around them?

Oh, right; I forgot about that place. It's right across Melgar from Margaritaville

 

[jonhall]

If they want to make a day of it, a suggestion would be a tour that ties Tulum in with a place like Xel-Ha (some tour company does this.) I've only been to the Chichen Itza ruins and IMO, a couple of hours of ruins is enough.

If I were planning a trip just to see Tulum, I guess I would be deciding if I were going to spend time on the beach after viewing the ruins and eat someplace close by, or view the ruins and go back to PDC and spend some time before taking the ferry back to Coz. In either of those cases I would check taxi prices.

 

[deepsea21]

In my opinion, once you've seen one set of Mayan ruins you've seen them all. They all look about the same to me. Why leave the island?... Just take a taxi to the San Gervasio ruins on Cozumel. San Gervasio lacks one of the really massive pyramid like structures you see elsewhere but you're still seeing structures that are ancient.

The taxi fare is a fixed price to the ruins and back and the taxi driver hangs out in the parking lot with the taxi for as long as you care tour the ruins. Furthermore, with so many cruise ships and their shore excursions to the ruins all you need to do is enter the park and then look for one of the ship tour groups, just join their group and follow them around and you get a guided tour (with their tour guide) for free who explains all the history of what you're seeing. There is some cool stuff to learn as Cozumel was the "island of fertility" for the Mayans as I recall and women would row over in little boats for ceremonies and to stand under the "Fertility Arch" I think it is called... Can't remember as it was a long time ago but it was a cool thing to see... Once. We also toured Mayan ruins in deep Belize with howler monkeys running all over the place and there was one of those massive pyramid like structures there that must have been 12 stories tall... it was cool but as I said, once you've seen one set of ruins you've pretty much seen them all in my opinion. Not sure a full day over to the mainland to see Tulum is worth it when there are ruins to see right on Coz. As was mentioned, after a few hours you're pretty much done with it.. which is why the taxi drivers quote a fixed price... they know no one is going to spend hours and hours or all day roaming around a set of ruins as they get boring very quickly... How long can one really look at multiple piles of rocks? The coolest thing I saw at the ruins were leaf-cutter ants that had found an orchid or flower in bloom and formed a line hauling these huge cut red petals down a tree and across the ground to wherever they lived... was really cool to watch.

 

[mediumone]

View attachment 404641 In my opinion, once you've seen one set of Mayan ruins you've seen them all. They all look about the same to me.

That is one of the silliest, most ill informed posts I've ever seen.