¡Viva Mexico! The land of the most colorful cities, beautiful beaches, and mysterious ruins. Explore the country with your own Mexico itinerary.
Traveling through Mexico by public transport, rental car, or flight?! What is the best option for your trip? Read our tips!
Rental car
In our opinion, a rental car is the best way to travel through Mexico. It gives you the freedom to explore Mexico at your own pace and you can get off the beaten path more easily.
When you book a rental car through rentalcars.com (with at least two weeks in advance), you just pay 20 dollars US for a simple car per day including insurance. On the main roads of Mexico, a simple car is enough, but if you plan on going off these main roads, we highly recommend a 4×4. Here you can read our tips on renting a car in Cancun, Mexico.
During our trip through the Yucatan Peninsula, we did almost everything with our rental car, thanks Bert (our Chevrolet Beat)! We were very happy with that choice in hindsight because it has given us a lot of freedom in our route and trips.
Bus
The bus is a pleasant and quite luxurious means of transport in Mexico. And it is relatively cheap to cover long distances between cities. There are several bus companies in Mexico from which you can buy a ticket on The Budbud comparison site. This site only charges a small amount for service costs and it works very user-friendly. You can reserve your seat on the bus and get on the bus via an e-ticket on your phone. From our experiences, it is worth it. And otherwise, you can see the bus times and companies on the site and book directly with the provider, like ADO.
The ADO, pronounced as AAHH DEE OOH, is the most well-known bus provider in Mexico. The bus is luxuriously equipped with, among other things, a USB charger, airconditioning, and very comfortable seats that you can put in a relaxed position to catch some sleep. There is also a toilet and the bus is quite clean. Our only comment is that the air conditioning is usually set to freezing, so bring a warm jacket, sweater, or blanket.
Shorter distances in the city can be covered by a smaller local bus. You buy a ticket per ride from the bus driver for a few pesos when boarding. The bus number is clearly indicated on the bus.
Collectivo
Collectivos are small, usually white-colored vans without any form of luxury, such as air conditioning. It can hold about 12 to 15 people, but when it is full, there is little space left for your personal space. Hola amigo!?
It is the cheapest way to travel from one city to another. Or to get to a destination within a city, such as a supermarket, the beach, or another busy destination. The destinations are written on the front windscreen so you know which collectivo you should take. Sometimes there is a set timetable, but usually, they leave whenever they are full. This makes it a less reliable means of transport if you have to get to your final destination on time. But all in all, it is quite a fun experience to ride with the locals and some lost tourists!
Domestic flights
Mexico is a very big country. For us, the country is 52 times bigger than our native country, the Netherlands. You can travel long distances by bus or car, but if you want to quickly travel to another part of the country, we recommend a domestic flight. Within Mexico, there is an extensive network of domestic flights that depart several times a day.
They are relatively cheap because different providers compete with each other.
And if you apply our tips from our Ebook, you can fly even cheaper.
Taxi
In Mexico, it is very easy to catch a cab. You see them driving practically everywhere in the cities and they stop when you raise your hand. Always make sure you only take an official cab!
For safer transport, we recommend that you download the Uber and Cabify app. Uber is not available in every Mexican city or region like there was no Uber in the Yucatan Peninsula during our trip in early 2021. But competitor Cabify is available in Yucatan Peninsula and works similarly. Booking through these apps is easy, your destination cannot get lost in translation and you pay through the app, muy Bueno!
By bike
The bicycle is not an uncommon means of transport in Mexico. In many places, you can rent a bicycle or scooter from a company for a couple of hours or a day. Depending on tourism, it will be more or less expensive and there may even be cycle paths. In Playa del Carmen they even had Biciplaya scattered throughout the city; these are city bikes that you can unlock for half an hour with payment through the app.
In addition, on some small islands such as Holbox, there are only bikes, golf carts, and scooters allowed.
What mode of transport will you take? 🙂
