TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Cancun - Isla Mujeres - Mexico Driving

Hey Gang - got a trip to Cancun planned and was wondering what your thoughts were on driving from the airport and up Kukalcan Blvd. to Imperial Fiesta/Casa Maya.

Just watch out for the police officers!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" />

Why would you drive only from CUN to the Hotel Zone? If you have a rental for a whole week, then that would be the easiest part of your trip. Just exit the airport and follow the road, it becomes Kukulcan after the 307 overpass. Otherwise a total waste of money.

Use the buses to get around the Zone. Easy, cheap, no worries about drinking or parking.

Guess I should've made myself clearer. Plan on renting the car for 10 days (only $150) and just bracing myself for driving in Mexico - I noticed the ease of driving from airport to hotel, just wanted to get a feel for "are you nuts - the driving in Mexico is CRAZY" similar to the response that I got when exploring driving in Dominican Republic. By the way, in DR we drove out to Luepron and beyond without a problem despite being warned that it isn't safe for travlers to drive (although have to admit I've never seen 5 pasengers on a 125cc honda motorcycle prior). Thanks for the response by the way.....

Yo, you are from Philly! Me too. They are way more polite here. You will have no problem.
Buy the insurance or get your credit card company to send you a paper, god forbid.
FYI Rental cars and taxis have red digits on the licence plate, private vehicles have black letters and numbers.

During your 10 days of driving be prepared to be stopped by the policia at least once and have an extra $50 on ya to get your DL back. Driving in Mexico is stressfull, but there are many neat things to see. Be sure to get a map from mapchick.com. They are only 10 buck, but packed full of info.

Never encountered any problems on Yucatan or Cozumel, there are checkpoints like anywhere so just be prepared with all required paperwork and make sure you have full insurance coverage.

drove there several times, including inland to chichen itza Coba and Ek balam . came back from Coba at night...
anyway, never got pulled over, never had an issue at all. just pay attention to the traffic signals/signs!!!
i think most people get into trouble driving there because they don't know where they are going, and because of that, they are not paying attention.

the worst part of driving there , imho, is the simple fact of not knowing where you are going/ not many street signs once you leave town
heck the car rental place we rent from serves you cold beer as your signing the contract. (technically, they were out of beer the last time we were there and gave us tequila instead....just sayin)
good stuff- you'll be fine
(one thing- i ALWAYS carried a copy of my license and passport along with a $20 bill in my front pocket. never had to use it though. better safe than sorry!)

I have driven many times from Cancun south to Puerta Aventuras and Tulum. Never had any problems with police or traffic.
One thing I would suggest is if there is any existing damage to your rental, even though they document it on the rental agreement, take pictures with your phone with the representative in the picture. They tried to stick me with $700 damage that was already there one time and I had a photo with the guy pointing at it. Nice try though.

be sure to buy the mandatory Mexico liability insurance. No matter what your credit card company says - they do NOT cover that! be prepared for the charges.