Mexico Travel Guide: Costs to Visit the Yucatan Peninsula

If you're dreaming of turquoise Caribbean waters, ancient Mayan ruins, and vibrant colonial cities, the Yucatán Peninsula is one of Mexico’s best travel destinations. But how much does it really cost to visit? I’ve explored this region extensively, and in this comprehensive travel guide, I’ll break down realistic costs for accommodations, food, transportation, and must-see attractions—whether you're a budget traveler or seeking luxury experiences.

The Yucatán Peninsula—home to Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Mérida, and Valladolid—offers a mix of affordable stays and high-end resorts. You can find budget hostels for as low as $10 per night, while beachfront resorts in the Riviera Maya can exceed $500 per night. Street food like tacos and cochinita pibil costs just a few dollars, while a mid-range restaurant meal might set you back $10-$20 per person.

For transportation, renting a car starts at $30 per day, but public buses like ADO offer cheap and reliable travel between cities. Entry fees to Chichén Itzá, cenotes, and biosphere reserves vary, but expect around $5-$30 per attraction.

In this guide, I'll provide cost-saving tips, hidden gems, and budget breakdowns to help you plan your perfect trip to the Yucatán Peninsula without overspending.

1. General information about the trip to Mexico

Some basic information to give you a first idea of the trip:

Start and end point: Cancun
Total days: 21
Total km by road: 2,614 km
Type of transport: car rental (economy class is sufficient, automatic is better).

2. Travel itinerary

Ideally, you should have 3 weeks to do a very complete tour of the Yucatan Peninsula . This way you will be able to discover its main attractions: beaches, cenotes, Mayan ruins, colonial cities...

The trip would begin in Cancun, where we would rent a car and begin a circular route, passing through the states of Quintana Roo , Yucatan and Campeche .

We chose to do it counter-clockwise, leaving the entire Riviera Maya section for last, and ending on Holbox Island. This is a basic itinerary for a 3-week trip to Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula , identical to the one we did:

Days 1 and 2: Cancun
Days 3 and 4: Isla Mujeres
Days 5 and 6: Valladolid
Day 7: Chichen Itza and Izamal
Days 8 and 9: Merida
Days 10 and 11: Uxmal and Campeche
Day 12: Edzná and Calakmul
Days 13, 14 and 15: Bacalar
Days 15, 17 and 18: Tulum and/or Playa del Carmen
Days 19, 20 and 21: Holbox Island

You can find more information in our article on a 3-week itinerary to the Yucatan Peninsula . We also tell you the details of each stage in the articles for each destination.

→ And if you have less time, this can be a good 1-week route through the Riviera Maya .

3. Budget

The budget for a trip depends greatly on the style of each traveler, the type of accommodation, the season, the flight offers... Here we summarize the total budget per person for a trip to the Yucatan Peninsula, taking as a reference a trip for two people of 3 weeks.

In total, we estimate that it comes to less than €1,500 per person (although it can be reduced a little).

Update: This was our travel budget before the Pandemic . Prices have gone up quite a bit today , so keep that in mind. Flights , for example, will cost around €600 round trip, and car rental is one of the things that has gone up the most: right now for 3 weeks (booking a few months in advance) it's not going to go below €500.

The cost of hotels has also increased significantly (although there are still offers to be found) and entrance fees to archaeological sites have easily increased by 30-50%. In 2023, this budget is obsolete, so calculate around €2000 per person (for 3 weeks of travel) . It is possible to reduce the cost by shortening the route by car (doing part of it by bus... in areas such as Cancun, Tulum or Islas Mujeres it is not really necessary since excursions can be made).

→ We give you all the details in our article How much does a 3-week trip to Mexico cost?

Flights → €450

Car rental: → €125

Gasoline → 80€

Accommodation → €315

Food → 315€

Miscellaneous expenses → €100

Travel insurance → €100

TOTAL → 1.485€

4. Car rental

For us, it is the best way to travel around Mexico and take a tour of the Yucatan Peninsula. It allows you greater freedom of movement and gives you the possibility of reaching many places that would otherwise be really complicated and more expensive.

Furthermore, this area of Mexico is very safe to drive in and the roads are in very good condition (with a couple of exceptions: the one leading to Calakmul and the one going up to Holbox). We hardly encountered any traffic, there is a good gas station service and in general we can say that there is nothing to worry about.

Where to book a rental car in Mexico and with which company? We always recommend using a car rental comparison site like Discovercars , which is the one we use and we never had any problems. However, in Mexico there are certain things to keep in mind… For more information, in this article we tell you how to rent a car and drive safely in Mexico.

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5. How to get around if you don't have a rental car

Your first choice should be by car, it is the best way to get from one place to another and you have already seen that it is not at all complicated. But if your situation does not allow it, you will not be completely lost. There are bus routes that connect the main urban centers of the Yucatan Peninsula, and although it will not be the same, you will be able to visit many wonderful places.

To find and compare prices online , we recommend using a few websites that will look at the specific route you choose, the day and the people traveling, and you can even book tickets. Here are our favorites for Mexico:

Busbud
Bookaway
Checkmybus

6. Price of the main attractions

Although you can enjoy a trip to Mexico without incurring too many expenses, beyond accommodation, transportation and food, it is really advisable to allocate part of the budget for tickets to the main Mayan archaeological sites and other activities. These are the ones that, for us, are really worth it (prices updated in July 2023):

Chichén Itzá: 614 pesos. More info .
Uxmal : 90 pesos. More info .
Edzná : 499 pesos. More info .
Calakmul : 270 pesos. More info .
Tulum Ruins : 90 pesos. More info .
Coba : 90 pesos. More info .
Bacalar Lagoon Tour : from €15. More info .
Ferry to Isla Mujeres : 300 pesos round trip. More info .
Ferry to Holbox : 300 pesos round trip. More info .
Suytun Cenote : 150 pesos
Other cenotes : between 50 and 150 pesos.

→ Here we tell you which are the most important Mayan ruins in the Riviera Maya .

7. Top 10

In three weeks in Mexico you will have time to see a lot of things, and ranking the best of the Yucatan Peninsula is not easy. This is our top 10 , ranking what we personally liked the most (not necessarily in order) on our three-week trip through Mexico.

Chichen Itza
Bacalar Lagoon
Suytun Cenote
Holbox
Uxmal
Edzná
Valladolid
Tulum
Saint Francis of Campeche
Calakmul

If you want to expand the list, here are the 20 best things to see and do in Riviera Maya and the Yucatan Peninsula .

Yellow Town of Izamal — *Getting close to Izamal is one of the best things to see and do in the Riviera Maya*

8. Tips for traveling to Mexico

Finally, we are going to give you a few tips to plan your trip to Mexico, visiting the Yucatan Peninsula and enjoying it to the fullest! It is always advisable to take a look at all these tips before starting the trip, because some of them are as important as: what visa do I need? What SIM is best for me? What precautions do I have to take?

We have written a post with all these recommendations: these are our tips for traveling to Mexico (and not screwing it up) .

This concludes our travel guide to Mexico (tour of the Yucatan Peninsula) . We hope that it can help you plan your independent trip to this incredible area of Mexico. And you know, if you have any questions, leave us a comment / message.

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