See how to plan a complete trip to Cancun. We will explain how to set up your trip step by step and all the tips you need to know. And of course saving a lot on everything, every time. See now how to plan a trip to Cancun.
1) Choose the month you are going to Cancun
The first tip to plan a trip to Cancun is the simplest of all, but it’s the one that will save you the most on your trip. Avoid traveling in high season. If you travel in low season, you’ll pay cheaper on almost everything and won’t get queues and crowds in tourist places.
In Cancun, the months of July, December and January are the most expensive. The best months are from February to May, when the temperature is good and the chance of rain is minimal. Just beware of the American Spring Break, which usually falls in March and makes everything crowded and more expensive. It’s important to know all this to know how to plan a trip to Cancun.
2) Book your airfare
This is the first item to be booked by anyone planning a trip to Cancun. By following some important tips, you will be able to find much cheaper airline tickets to Cancun and save a lot, since the ticket is the most expensive item on the trip. The first big tip is to access an airline ticket comparator, which makes a search of all airlines to Cancun. It saves you from having to enter each company’s website and already shows all available options.
We always use this comparator of airline tickets, because it is the one that always has the best prices and is one of the safest and most famous in the world. Click on it and follow the tips below to save a lot when buying your tickets. Just using it, you will be able to find the best prices and the best ticket options.
The main tip is to always search in the low season months. In Cancun, the months of July, December and January are the most expensive. Another cool tip is to check the price of the ticket to another nearby city, like Tulum. You can find much cheaper flights and then, from there, just buy an internal flight that is much cheaper or even go by car to Cancun. Another tip is to research the flight date always falling on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday, Friday and mainly Saturday and Sunday flights are usually more expensive. Generally, night air tickets are the most expensive and afternoon flights are cheaper.
3) Tips for planning your shopping
A good tip for saving in Cancun is on shopping. In the city, you will find several malls, mainly in the Hotel Zone, which is the most touristic region of the city. Most products in malls and multinational stores are in Mexican pesos (or even dollars), and you hardly find a place that doesnât accept credit cards.
Cancun is also a great shopping center for you to find cheaper products than in other countries; such as perfumes, clothing, electronics, sports products and beverages. A tip for those who want to bring typical Mexican drinks for a friendly price is to visit the Supermarket Chedraui Selecto. There, you will find several brands of tequila at great prices.
Duty Free and Tax Refund
Many stores in the region operate on a duty free basis (without tax) and the best thing is that you can still get back part of the amount of tax charged on your bank transactions. Tourists in Mexico are entitled to receive a tax return of 8.9% on purchases made in stores that participate in Tax Refund, also called Tax Back.
In Cancun, there are many stores that participate in this system. To find out if the establishment is included or not, just check if there is a Tax Refund sticker or board or ask an employee. But, remember that to be able to get the Money Back benefit you need to spend at least 1,200 Mexican pesos in the store. And yes, you can add different tax coupons, as long as they are from the same store.
Keep all coupons well, as you will need to present them at the Money Back counter, along with a copy of your passport, in addition to your immigration card and boarding pass. At Cancun Airport, there is a Money Back counter for you to do all of this at the end of the trip and get the money back. It’s a great economy!
4) Rent a car in Cancun
This is a good tip for anyone planning a trip to Cancun. Many tourists choose to rent a car in Cancun for various reasons. Amazingly, the economy is one of them. The amount you will pay for a taxi or transfer to take you to the hotel and then from the hotel back to the airport will give you almost the value of renting a car for 5 days. Car rental in Cancun is one of the cheapest in the world and hotels usually provide free parking for their guests. Here are tips for saving the most on your car rental:
1: Book your car in advance
Make your reservation online as soon as possible, as another tip to save and get a cheap car is to book as far in advance as possible and over the Internet. The sooner you book, the cheaper you will pay. It is very worth it and you can save money with promotions, paying much cheaper compared to renting there on time.
2: Donât rent a GPS in Cancun
Another cool tip to save even more is not to rent the GPS. Instead, use your cell phone’s GPS. We will also give you the tips for cell phone use here in this article. It is worth it because you will save money without having to rent the GPS and you will get a chip to use your cell phone in Cancun, practically for free.
3: Use the amazing price comparators:
There are two car rental price comparators in Cancun that are amazing and do a search in all the major car rental companies of the city, finding the best prices and great deals. As they are the largest comparators in the world, they have unbeatable partnerships and prices with the rental companies. We have already saved a lot on a car rental that we were going to make with an agency and we found the same car from the same company much cheaper on the comparator. Use both and see which one is more worthwhile to save even more.
Price comparator 1: one of the largest comparator in the world, with great deals.
Price comparator 2: the largest comparator in the world! It has more companies in its search, and the payment is always made in dollars.
More tips: Prefer the larger and more reliable rental companies, such as Alamo, Hertz, Dollar, Budget and Avis. Take out basic insurance at the time of booking, which is super important and is usually already included in the price, but donât take other extra insurances offered by the companies, usually at the time of picking up the car. Itâs just not worth it. With all these tips and comparators, you can save up to US$ 200 on rent.
5) Buy your cell phone chip in Cancun
This is a good tip for anyone planning a trip to Cancun. Using your international roaming abroad is usually the worst option and ends up being much more expensive. To use wi-fi, most hotels charge a daily fee which is very expensive and you can only use your cell phone inside the hotel.
What most people do and which is very worthwhile is to buy an international prepaid chip from an American company. It ends up being MUCH cheaper and you can use the internet throughout all your trip and with an excellent signal.
If you are renting a car then the chip will come out for free, because with your cell phone working, you won’t need to rent the GPS with the car rental company (because you can use the cell phone). The amount you will save from the GPS already pays for the chip. In addition to being a very big facility, it ends up being a saving of time and money.
After all these years, testing different chips and traveling all over the world, what we like the most and always use now is this travel chip. It has a good price and an excellent service. The signal was excellent in all the cities we visited, and you can buy it super fast on their website. And using our coupon GRUPODICAS you get a discount!
The chip is digital, and it is called eSIM. You receive the instructions and install it on your cell phone, from anywhere in the world, using a QR code. It is no longer necessary to have the chip, in a physical way. This makes it a lot cheaper and a lot more practical. You can buy from anywhere in the world and install it right on your phone.
6) Book your hotel in Cancun
This is a good tip for anyone planning a trip to Cancun. There are several options and many incredible resort hotels. So do your research to find a more affordable option. We are going to give you some tips that will help you to save a lot. And don’t forget to make your reservation as far in advance as possible. This is the main factor that will save you money. The sooner you book, the cheaper the hotel will be.
Location: The best option of where to stay in Cancun is the Hotel Zone. This is because this area has a luxurious infrastructure and several facilities, such as exclusive beaches, great stores, shopping malls, nightclubs and trendy restaurants. This is definitely where the famous Cancun excitement is. Despite being a more expensive region, the cost-benefit ends up paying off, as you will be close to almost all the tourist attractions of the place.
If you want to see better where this region is and which hotels are there, click here to open a map that we have set up showing all the hotels within that region that are excellent. We have already put it as a filter to only show hotels with a score of 8 upwards, which will guarantee an excellent accommodation. Then just put the date of the trip to see the prices and choose your own. Staying inside that orange line that shows on the map, there is no error.
Use the hotel search:Â A great tip to find good hotels, with incredible prices, in the region you want and save a lot on accommodation, is to use this Hotel Search Engine in Cancun. We always use it, as it is the largest hotel booking site in the world. Not to mention that he has all the hotels in Cancun and the world in its research, with unbeatable prices due to the strong negotiation they do. And there you can check the opinion of other tourists who have already stayed in hotels, which helps a lot when evaluating each one.
Free cancelation tip: Another very good tip is that this search engine has a very strong partnership with the establishments and they offer free cancellation with almost all hotels. This is great, because the factor that will save you the most in hosting is the advance. This is the most important tip. The sooner you make the reservation, you can be sure that the cheaper you will pay. So, you can book your hotel now, to guarantee the lowest price, and if you find a better one afterwards or don’t want to stay in it, just cancel for free.
Hotels weâve stayed in over the past few trips:
- Hotel Solymar in Cancun: The cheapest hotel in the hotel zone. We stayed a few days to focus on the tours and not spend too much on the hotel. We love it. Great cost benefit and well located!
- Hotel The Royal Sands in Cancun: The cheapest and all-inclusive 5-star hotel. It is not the same as the other 5-star hotels, but it is the cheapest and very worth it!
- Hotel Live Aqua Beach in Cancun: The all-inclusive 5-star hotel we stayed in and found it SENSATIONAL.
7) Take out international travel insurance for Cancun
An item that is indispensable for a trip to Cancun, or any other place in the world, is the international travel insurance. It is a super cheap insurance that covers you for any unforeseen events you may have abroad, such as average assistance, dental care and luggage theft. An appointment abroad is a fortune, and an admission to the hospital is even worse. Therefore, anyone traveling abroad cannot fail to take out travel insurance (for Europe it is mandatory). But, rest assured, you can save a lot and make a very cheap one.
There is a travel insurance comparator that is excellent and, just like the car insurance, it researches all travel insurance in all the major companies in the world. In less than a minute, you have the budget for all travel insurance from the best companies and you can now hire yours on the spot. If you want to do the research now, click here on travel insurance comparator.
We recommend Travel Ace, Assist Card, GTA, Green Card and SulAmerica – which are the companies that have already taken out insurance, are world leaders, have offices worldwide. Give importance to the amount of health care coverage and baggage reimbursement, which are the most used.
8) Choose and book your tours in Cancun
This is a good tip for anyone planning a trip to Cancun. There are many amazing tours that you cannot miss. A good suggestion to save money is to buy tickets, tours and excursions in advance online. It costs a lot less and you don’t waste time in lines there in Cancun. We have done a lot of research and the site that always has the best prices is this Cancun tickets website. They are the biggest tours tickets website in the world.
The unmissable tours that cannot be left out of your trip in any way are: the excursion to Isla Mujeres, excursion to X-Caret or Xel-Hå (two incredible natural parks), the Coco Bongo party and the excursion to Chichén Itzå, which is one of the seven wonders of the world. It also has the swim with dolphins which is incredible. Virtually all tours pick you up at your hotel and drop you back there.
9) Buy dollars and Mexican pesos
Choosing how to buy the Mexican pesos that you are going to bring to Cancun will also save you a lot of money. The most economical and advantageous way is to take the pesos in cash. Buying pesos in cash, you save the tax that is charged in the prepaid card and credit card. The problem is that it is not possible to take all the cash in order to be safe and easy, so as not to have to carry so much money in the suitcase and leave it at the hotel.
The tip is to bring a good amount in cash, around 100 to 2,000 Mexican pesos per person. The rest you can take with an international prepaid card, which is super secure, the exchange rate is much cheaper than the credit card and you can track all your expenses and recharge anytime via the Internet or application. It is the easiest way and is accepted everywhere. As already said, the credit card is the most expensive form of all, has a high tax and the exchange rate is very high. But, it is always good to unlock and take yours for any emergency and for car rental and hotel reservations.
Important tips to enjoy much more your trip to Cancun
Now that we have given you all the tips about how to plan a trip to Cancun, here are some more suggestions that will make your trip even better. Cancun is a big city and its tourist spots and beaches are concentrated in some regions, so being well located makes all the difference. If you haven’t already booked your hotel, be sure to check out our article Where to stay in Cancun, with tips from the best regions and also how to get a great hotel at a great price (and find all-inclusive hotels and resorts on sale).
