Cheapest way of doing a holiday in Mexico

Boulevardier

My friend and I are hoping to get to Mexico in June. We would like to visit at leat 1 Mayan site and stay in somewhere not too spoiled.

There are package tours costing upwards of 3k that will do this, but we are hoping to do it for around the 2k mark.

Is that realistic, and if so, how?

BTW, we would consider somewhere like Belize if that is easier or cheaper.

endofrainbow

Falcon are flying direct packages this summer to Cancun from Ireland - might be worthwhile having a look and seeing if you could take trips from there ?

Balmed Out

There's Talum and Chichen itza in the Yucatan peninsula so its very easily doable yourself. I did a trip flying into cancun, traveling through Guatemala and back out through Belize with flights from Dublin via Newark with continental being reasonable at the time. If not interested in going down through Guatemala do try to do Tikal and the town of Flores in the north. Belize mainland is dodgy but the islands are a paradise.

Boulevardier

Thanks folks. I am looking into both of those.

solerina

Balmed Out wrote: »

There's Talum and Chichen itza in the Yucatan peninsula so its very easily doable yourself. I did a trip flying into cancun, traveling through Guatemala and back out through Belize with flights from Dublin via Newark with continental being reasonable at the time. If not interested in going down through Guatemala do try to do Tikal and the town of Flores in the north. Belize mainland is dodgy but the islands are a paradise.

Wow...tell us more. Would love to do this !!!

Balmed Out

solerina wrote: »

Wow...tell us more. Would love to do this !!!

What we did is we flew dublin to newark to cancun in mexico. Spent a few nights there then to tikal, and then on to flores in Guatemala which is a lovely destination in its own right but also the gateway into tikal.

From there we went to semuc champey by bus and then to antigua via guatemala city. Not worth the trip. We flew back from Guatemala city to flores on the return and I would look into that if I were you. Semuc champey was nice but too much of a drive, much better to head straight to antigua.

Antigua itself is a beautiful colonial town. If they still do it the trip to the volcano is a must. Bring good shoes as the climb up and down is tough on loose stones but cooking marshmallows over a river of lava is unforgettable.

From Antigua we went to lake atilan which I loved.

We then bused back to antigua for a night before going back to guatemala city to go straight to the airport. Flew to Flores and bused to Belize. The Belize mainland is dodge central and is the only place I went that I felt unsafe. Dodge central. We went onto caye caulker for a week which was great. Best snorkeling Ive had, swimming after stingrays, turtles, mantarays and petting reef sharks. Really loved caye caulker. We then flew home from Belize city. Its easy to arrange transfers to and from the islands that will bring you straight to the airport so you dont have to spend time on the mainland which has a threatening vibe.

In short (if doing a trip like mine rather then just guatemala) dont spend days on a bus. Overnight bus to flores if flying into cancun. Save the money an organised trip costs and use for internal flights. Fly to guatemala city to explore antigua, and lake attilan. Fly back to belize city and go to an island. Spend no time in Guatemala or Belize city.

solerina

Thanks a mill..a.sounds amazing. I would love to do something like that. How long did ye spend in total ??

Boulevardier

Balmed, that sounds great. How long was the trip and what was the total spend not including food?

Balmed Out

Sorry but its a long time ago so I dont remember costs. We did it in a month I think. Also we went cancun - talum - flores - tikal.
Flights there and back were 750.