Finally getting back to normality after the most incredible trip to Mexico and New York!!
I have had so many requests to do a blog post about it all so I hope this will answer the majority of your questions.
*Disclaimer*
We absolutely winged it all so I think finding the 'Mexican baby Jesus' on our first day which is meant to give you a "Year of good luck", rubbed off on us!!
We only booked our flights the last weekend in November so it was a pretty last minute decision. We booked our flights through Skyscanner which linked us to Sky-tours.com. We flew mainly with "Air France".
We both were working long hours coming upto and all over Christmas & New Years so we never got a chance to plan what we would do/where we would go/stay etc!
Before we left we had only booked 4 nights in the "Aloft Hotel"
http://www.aloftcancun.com It is located in the Zona Hotelera. It was about $55each per night.
The night before we flew I booked our transfer from Cancun airport with
www.hoppa.com. The fare was about
€14.
When we arrived at our hotel it was 24hours since we had left home but we were so excited to check the place out as we were right beside the strip, where all the nightclubs were.
We went for some food and then took a walk down by the strip. The place was hopping!! There are loads of promoters standing out on the street trying to get you to come into their club. Prices vary depending on the club. (Here's the Cavan woman coming out in me!!!) I would never pay the first price they tell you. ALWAYS haggle with them because you will 100% get the price knocked down!
Anyone that I had been talking to that had been to Cancun before said "Coco Bongo" is a MUST!!
It is the Big one with these guys outside it, so you sure as hell won't miss it.
We found a stand inside the Forum which is located on the strip beside Coco Bongo.
We were making enquiries about some of the tours/activities so the man at this stand gave us a good deal because we were buying a few packages off him.
Entry for Coco bongo is usually around $85 - This includes Shows, Express Entrance, Free Bar.
Another recommendation we got was to do the "Chichen Itza" Tour. This usually costs around $80.
It Includes transport to and from your hotel to location, a buffet, guided tour around the ancient Mayan ruins of the Chichen Itza and a stop off in a Cenote (an underground, fresh water swimming hole) on the way home.
We got the Coco Bongo tickets for $65 and the Chechen Itza tour for $40. And he threw in a Coco Bongo T shirt !!
The first night we just went for a few drinks to "Monkey Business" as we wanted to be fresh for the first full day of the holiday.
Nearly every hotel in Zona Hotelera has their own roof top bar/pool area. We took it easy and explored the beach while getting our bearings.
We attended Coco Bongo on the Saturday night and it was 1000% worth every cent! As some of you may know, I am a dancer so this was right up my street! They were incredible!!!
Our lucky streak was just starting and we somehow managed to get ourselves a VIP area so we had an incredible view for the whole show while a waiter brought us drink the entire night!! (far to easy to get use to!!) Once the show is over the music continues till about 4am onwards!!!
The next day we went to the Mandala beach club. We got a double sunbed for free for the day while we sipped cocktails and had a little boogie.
Monday morning we were up bright and early for the bus to collect us at 7am for the Chichen Itza tour.
My favourite part of the day was visiting the Cenote on the way home. I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to water activities even though I absolutely love them, I'm not a great swimmer so I don't trust myself. Thank god they had life jackets because this was honestly one of the best experiences. The water is SO pure.
We arrived back in Cancun around 8:30pm, went for dinner and that night we went to the club "Congo" which was $25 for your entry and open bar for the night.
Tuesday we checked out and booked a hotel in Tulum on bookings.com. We got a bus to Tulum which is about 2 hours from Cancun. We got the "R-1 to ADO" (This is the main bus station in Cancun) which is only $1 (or $12mxn pesos) outside our hotel and from "ADO to Tulum" was $344mxn pesos for two people so about $10USD each. The bus was super comfy, loads of leg room and a film.
We arrived at the "Harmony Glamping & Boutique hotel"
https://www.harmonyglampingtulum.com to the cutest room. We had our own little balcony which was over looking the pool, the bar and ''Flow Restaurant"
The hotel is located about 10 minutes walk from the centre of Tulum so we took a dander that night but before we left our room we saw this sitting on the table so we decided we would get up early the next morning to do some Yoga!!
The outdoor restaurant at the hotel was so delicious!! I'm a massive foodie so this was ideal! It was all freshly prepared with organically grown veg that we saw them pick from their gardens! This was our breakfast after a super relaxing Yoga session <3
We rented bikes that afternoon and cycled to the beach. The beaches in Tulum are just as stunning as the ones in Cancun if not better! Met some great people.
Tulum is very chilled out and completely different to Cancun in my opinion but I loved it too.
The tastiest veggie burger EVER!!!!
We stayed three nights in this place and it was around €35 each per night!!
We checked out and fuelled up in another gem cafe we found called "Tunich".
We heard there was a massive Techno music festival on the beach so we decided to go to that for the craic fun!! (I've never even listened to techno-should have done this before I went to it!!)
It was the "Storyteller Ibiza" Dancing into Dreams festival. Crazy, Strange and no idea what I was getting myself in for haha but still glad we went.
This was our Jungle room for the night
The views were incredible over looking the beach!
Me & My Bestie ready for the night <3
The party went on from about 7pm - 9am the next morning!!!
That day we got the bus to Playa Del Carmen. This was around $3 each. It took about an hour from Tulum. On the way, we booked a hotel on bookings.com called "Hotel Posada Mariposa"
http://www.hotelboutiqueposadamariposa.com. It was located in the centre of the town in an area called ''Little Italy". It was surrounded by some beautiful restaurants/shops/pubs. It was $32 each for a night but we didn't like the fact we had no windows in the room so we checked out of this hotel the next morning.
We found this beauty around the corner from it called the "Soho" Hotel. This was roughly $50 each and we had a lovely balcony with a hammock too.
It was roughly 5-7mins walk from the beach.
Breakfast at Bio-natural was so delicious. Loads of healthy options mainly vegan & vegetarian.
We got offered a free sun bed at the Coralina Beach club here so we set up there for the day. We done some jet skiing which was so much fun!! We bargained him down to $55 for the 2 of us for 30mins.
We ate in "50f Friends" and "Wings army" that night. We went to Mandala Club. It was free entry and normal prices for drinks.
The next day we had to check out of Soho as they were fully booked for the night. This was probably the first time we wished we had planned ahead as we had moved hotels the past 3days in a row.
We then checked into the "Fiesta Inn". Another lovely hotel located just 2 blocks from Soho!
We chilled out and wandered around the shops. We booked an adventure day for the Tuesday in Boca Del Puma
It was $45 which included our transport to and from your hotel, Quad biking, Zip lining & another Cenote and lunch.
Upside down Ziplining!!! My Face !!!
That night we got a bus back to Cancun. We checked into the Krystal Grand hotel
http://www.krystalgrandpuntacancun.com for 2 nights. This was $80 each per night. We went back to the forum where we bought our coco bongo and chichen itza tickets. We purchased the Boat trip tickets to Isla Mujures for the next morning. These were $45 each.
We woke up the Wednesday morning and there was a tropical storm so it was cancelled. There wasn't much to do except go shopping!! La Isla is the closest shopping centre to the Zona Hotelera. Only $1 on the bus and the same to the one downtown.
We pampered ourselves and packed our cases for New York before getting ready for one last night in Cancun.
We went to Mandala for our last night. It was $30 in with a free bar for the night! The club doesn't close till about 5am. Fabulous idea when you have to be up for a flight in 3 hours!!
Wow, that was a long ass blog but I hope I have answered all your questions. If there's anything else, just send me a message on either
Instagram: @roisindolanmakeupartist
Snapchat: @roisindolan
Restaurants in Cancun:
Casa Tequila
Surfin Burrito
Wings Army
Chuchito Perez
Limoncello
Texmex
Restaurants in Tulum:
Flow
Burrito Amor
Tunich
Restaurants Playa del Carmen:
Eat Italy
Bio-Natural
50f Friends
Wings Army
