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Tag Archives: Cancun

Why is the Mexican Riviera so Expensive?

by Brian on January 13, 2016 in Mexico

Ek Balam, a popular day-trip from the Mexican coast

For the last several days I’ve been trying to understand why the Mexican portion of what is known as the Mayan Riviera is so expensive. In Monday’s post I complained that in Tulum we experienced some of the highest prices for some of the worst services we’ve seen anywhere in the world.

And while I can’t speak for the value proposition offered by the other popular Mexican coastal destinations we didn’t actually visit, a cursory look at prices elsewhere suggests the problem goes beyond Tulum. In Cancun, for example, the cheapest peak-season beach-front hotel we found charged 60% more than similar accommodations in South Beach, Miami.

That doesn’t seem right to me. I’m pretty sure the cost of living is quite a bit higher in Miami than it is anywhere in Mexico, especially now that the U.S. dollar buys nearly 18 pesos apiece. Why is a vacation to Cancun (and especially Tulum) so expensive?

The Cancun Everyone Misses

by Brian on January 8, 2016 in Mexico, Travel

Motorists whizzed past on all sides and from all directions. Some even drove backwards. If we hadn’t perfected the art of crossing seemingly rule-defying traffic on the streets of Hanoi we might still be trapped there.

Of course here on a Saturday night in downtown Cancun, Mexico, only several miles but still a world away from any all-inclusive beach resort, the terrible driving skills we witnessed were completely understandable and not in any way life threatening.