This is the overview of our itinerary to Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, during the Thanksgiving break 2016.
We used several awards from credit cards to cut down the total cost of this trip. I will mention them below.
Day 1: 11/24 Thu: Leaving from SFO early morning. Transfer at IAH. Arrive at Merida, Mexico early evening. We use points from credit cards to redeem for the flight tickets. Staying at hotel MedioMundo for 3 nights (highly recommended if you go to Merida)
Day 2: 11/25 Fri: Merida city tour in the morning. Free walking tour from the municipal tourist information center at 9:30AM. Visit Casa Montejo, Governor's Palace, Palacio Municipal and the Cathedral. Rent a car by 1:00PM (from Hertz@Fiesta America hotel). Drive to Uxmal. Visit Uxmal site for about 2.5 hours.
Day 3: 11/26 Sat: Leave early (7AM) in the morning to visit Chichen Itza. It is a 2 hour drive. Arrive at Chichen Itza around 9AM. Tour the site for the whole morning. Lunch at city of Valladolid. Visit cenotes at the site X'quequen. There are two cenotes at this location, Xkeken and Samula. Visit Chichen Itza again in the evening for the 7PM light show (Tickets available for free at Merida tourist information center. You need a ticket for the first show. If you do not have a ticket, wait around and they have a second show (not guaranteed, I guess). We don't have the tickets as they are all given out but we are able to see the second show).
Day 4: 11/27 Sun: Visit Maya Museum at Merida in the morning. Return the car. Go back to the city center plaza to see the Sunday festival activities (there is a special market every Sunday. We also learned that this Sunday they have a special event with Maya wedding dancing performance around 1PM, so we came back to see it.). Take ADO bus late afternoon to Playa del Carmen (4.5 hours). Staying at La Passion hotel for three nights (also highly recommended). Visit Quinta Avenida (a street full of touristy shops/malls) in the evening.
Day 5: 11/28 Mon: Rent a car from Hertz and visit the Xplore Park for the day. If you don't want to rent a car you can arrange them to pick you up from hotel, but we find the pick up price for two people is more than a one day car rental, plus parking is free at the park, so we get the car (this also allow us more freedom in time). Walk around in the touristy park of the city again in the evening.
Day 6: 11/29 Tue: Leave early, drive to Tulum and visit the site for the morning. Lunch in the town of Tulum. Visit Dos Ojos cenote in the afternoon on the way back. It is best for scuba diving, but also nice for snorkeling (we choose to just snorkel).
Day 7: 11/30 Wed: Take ADO bus from Playa del Carmen to Cancun (1 hour). Arrive in the main ADO terminal and then take Uber to hotel zone (NOTE: the taxi drivers in Cancun hate the Uber drivers. So you as a rider can feel some of that heat as they figure out you are taking the "dark side"). Check in to Intercontenental (free night from my IHG card). Take ferry to Isla Mujeres (There are several ferry terminals in the hotel zone. Within hotel zone, you can use R-1/R-2 buses, they come frequently). See sunset at the North Beach. Ferry back. Visit some shops and a fancy grocery store in Cancun hotel zone.
Day 8: 12/1 Thu: Visit El Rey ruin (within the hotel zone!) in the morning. Not much to see for the architecture, but quite interesting to see the many iguanas living here. Visit the Playa Delfines (public beach) across the main road. Move to Hyatt Zilara resort (two free nights with the Hyatt credit card). This all-inclusive resort is the best hotel I have ever stayed at. Glad that we choose to use the free nights here.
Day 8: 12/2 Fri: Enjoy the view, food, facility, service at the Zilara resort. They even have a show in the evening.
Day 9: 12/3 Sat: Enjoy the view, food, facility, service at the Zilara resort. Go to Cancun airport late afternoon for the return flight. Since we use miles for an award flight we did not get a direct flight. Very tight transfer at LAX (almost missed the connection). Back to SFO around midnight.
