Top 10 Things to do in Mexico

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Last summer we booked a trip to Mexico, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go but it’s just never manifested. Where I live every few years, we get visitors from all over the world coming to see The Open (Golf). My town is absolutely buzzing for 10 days, fantastic for all of the local businesses, bit of a pain for those that live in the area to get on with normal life. You either have to embrace it and get involved or escape for the 10 days this year we decided to do the latter. I’m a teacher and holidays are normally extortionate having to go in the school holidays but because of the golf, we broke up for summer a week earlier than the rest of the country. This meant that to go to Mexico it was going to be about £400pp cheaper!!!!! It’s insane that they put the prices up that much for the same holiday a week apart. So, we booked it, and had the most amazing time. Usually when I go on holiday for two weeks, I’m ready to come home about day 10 but this holiday I didn’t want to end. I’ve never been on holiday and wanted to re-book the exact same holiday all over again. Here’s where we stayed and what we did.

1. Book the 5* Accommodation!

This is going to be your home for 2 weeks, it’s not just a place to get washed, dressed and sleep. Go for the luxury. We stayed at the Bahia Principe Luxury Akumal (Bahia Principe Luxury Akumal - Bahia Principe Hotels&Resorts (bahia-principe.com) and it was exactly that ‘luxury’. Champagne upon arrival, extravagant marble lobby, friendly staff, clean and spacious rooms, comfy bed, pillow library, room service, it literally was ‘all inclusive’ nothing was any trouble at all. I would stay here one hundred times over, to the point where we’ll be looking to see where the brand Bahia Principe have other hotels.

2. Join in with the hotel entertainment.

The hotels have huge entertainment teams that work so hard in the heat to keep you entertained and happy. They put things on from water polo in the pool, to beer pong, to dance lessons. One thing we probably shouldn’t have joined in with was the colour party on the beach, we looked like Smurf’s for a good 12 hours from the blue powder paint, but all the other entertainment was brilliant. There are shows on every night in the hotels and the performances are incredible.

3. Book the excursions.

As much as the hotel entertainment is fantastic you do need to get out from time to time. We booked one excursion per week. If you’re travelling with little ones, do your research and check that they are suitable. We booked our holiday through TUI and booked the excursions through them too. It was highly organised and safe. We booked a cultural tour and an adventure day. On the cultural day we visited ancient Mayan ruins in Tulum, swam in a cenote, swam with turtles and then relaxed at a beach club. It was such a good day out; we still talk about it almost every day. Even though be booked through TUI the day was with Cancun Adventure Cancun Tours | Best Excursions in Cancun and Playa del Carmen | Cancun Adventure (cancun-adventure.com) The tour guides where really knowledgeable and friendly, don’t forget to tip them, they work hard and make their money through the tips and look after you really well. The adventure day we booked was at one of their local theme parks. When I say theme park, it’s not like Disney, it’s not full of mechanical rides, it’s all natural and beautiful. We spent the day at Xplor (Xplor: Adventure Park with Zip-lines in Cancun (xcaret.com) we rafted through caves, swam in cenotes, slid down a natural waterslide, ziplined into a lake, drove a mini 4x4 through the jungle to name a few. You can zipline through the tops of the jungle here too, this is the only thing we skipped out on because we felt the kids were just a bit too small for it, they probably weren’t heavy enough and would have ended up dangling in the middle of the line needing to be rescued. We didn’t even tell the kids that it was an option because my littlest would have been gutted that she wasn’t allowed, that kid literally has no fear!

4. Eat all of the food, ALL OF IT!

The food in Mexico is incredible, I think I ate guacamole for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two weeks straight. I loved Mexican food before we visited, and I love it even more now. The flavours are incredible. Our hotel was brilliant, and you could have authentic Mexican cuisine in the buffet every day. We booked tickets to a traditional Mexican night in our hotel that was serving traditional street food, I still can’t get over the flavours! The kids loved the popcorn, churros and tres leches cakes. I was there for the slow cooked meats in the tacos, the salsa and guac, and the margaritas! My husband was all over the fresh seafood!

5. Buy traditional crafts and gifts!

We travelled with my parents, and we left my husband and the girls at the hotel one day to go to the shops. In Playa De Carmen there’s a load of big named shops that are all air conditioned, a few malls but I loved the side streets full of traditional crafts. I picked up a beautiful, embroidered clutch bag, for less than £5 and we picked up my niece an embroidered backpack. There were dreamcatchers, handmade leather sandals, sugar skulls, and lots of beautiful pom poms. I also picked up a colourful tortilla basket, some Mexican hot sauces, Tajin spice, chocolate and vanilla. The vanilla is my favourite, I love to bake and it’s by far the best vanilla I’ve ever used.

6. Tip the staff!

The staff in the hotels work hard to make sure your stay is perfect. We ensured to tip the waiting on staff in the buffet, the room cleaners and concierge staff in the lobby. A little really goes a long way, and a little something to say thank you for their care, is very much appreciated by the staff. We were so well looked after throughout our whole stay; it was all the little touches which made extra special. The cleaner that used to make teddies out of the towels and set up teddy bear picnics on the bed with the girls’ toys, it used to bring so much joy to the girls to see what treats had been left for them to find. The waiter that used to offer me tequila in morning cup of tea every day (the joke never got old), the other waiter that used to say ‘milky milky’ to us when making cups of tea at breakfast and never really understood why we wanted cold milk in our tea or that putting the milk in first was wrong, but made us laugh, nonetheless.

7. Drink plenty of liquids!

It’s hot, and humid. We found that one by one we all had a little ‘funny turn’ due to being a little dehydrated. The hotel staff are brilliant at topping up the drinks, but we saw lots of people with refillable insulated bottles and cups, like the Stanley ones. If (when) we return, I would definitely be packing insulated Stanley style cups to fill with cold water to keep us hydrated.

8. Take inflatables for the pool with you!

If you forget anything, don’t worry, you’ll be able to buy them from the shops in your hotel for a small fortune. We didn’t take any with us thinking they wouldn’t be allowed. We bought them for twice the price, we could have saved ourselves some money by taking them with us.

9. Book a private transfer from the Airport!

As there was 6 of us in our travel party we decided to splurge and pay for a private transfer, we knew it was going to be a long travel day and that the kids would have been sat patiently on a plane they then wouldn’t appreciate then being on a coach for hours. It was the best money spent. We walked out of the airport and our transfer was waiting for us, our air-conditioned transfer! It was about a forty-minute drive to our hotel. Just for reference, the coach transfer that was free with the holiday arrived at our hotel at 10pm. We had checked in, settled into our room, got changed, had dinner and were on our way back to our room to head to bed when the coach with all the other people from our flight on arrived. I don’t think the girls would have coped with travelling for so long.

10. Book a day off for when you get home.

We are normally fine with jet lag, it’s not so bad travelling out because it just means your up early. On the way home, for the first time in a long time we really struggled. It took me about two weeks to get back into my normal sleep pattern. My husband really appreciated having an extra day off to rest after a long flight home. I’m not sure any of us would have survived if we had had to go to work the day after.

I hope our tips have helped you!