ISLA MUJERES, MX
Isla Mujeres is another undeniably beautiful place in Quintana Roo that I just didn't really like all that much. It's really westernized. Selling sombreros on the side of the road with Houston Texas logos on them kind of thing. — Just a level and form of tourism that doesn't sit well with me, and I don't like. It's westernized, it's tailored to the westerner, and it's just not my cup of tea. It's no where near as bad as Cancun, and I wouldn't even recommend not coming here. It's a cool island off the coast of Cancun. The proximity to Cancun is what brings in the bad tourists, but there's some cool and mellow aspects of this island as well. It's also a really small island, so it has a small island vibe to it. So below I will go into some detail on the few things that I liked and did here on Isla Mujeres that were certainly worth my time. I only stayed for a few days, and I would say that's certainly more than enough time for anyone on the island. You will run out of things to do, and the high level of tourism would make more time than that unenjoyable if you are anything like me and hate overly touristic places. You can get your fill of nice island time here. There's some pretty white sand beaches, some nice little touristy streets to walk around, some boat tours available. Some really really good tacos and a decent but never too crazy nightlife. The island is pretty much split into two parts — there's the northern and touristic part where you have all the restaurants, bars, walking streets, souvenir shops etc. Then the southern side of the island that is more suited to people who have condos and the long-term residents and inhabitants of the island. It's certainly more local and less touristy on the other side, but you also won't have as much to do down there. Just depends on what you want.
The location of Isla Mujeres is really straightforward. It's an island off the coast of Cancun. I am only going to talk about the location of this place as it pertains to Cancun. If you are not already in Cancun, then you will have to get there first. Which will likely entail a flight into the gigantic Cancun airport. So let's just assume you are already in Cancun.
To get out to this small island off the coast of Cancun, you have to first get yourself to Puerto Juarez ferry docks. From here you will get on a boat that will take you directly to Isla Mujeres. Well... it's a ferry, but I guess that is a boat. But I kind of confused myself even by writing boat. To get to the Puerto Juarez ferry docks, you have a few options — bus, taxi, private car.
Once you are at the airport, you need to find an ADO bus that will take you to the bus terminal in downtown Cancun. It's going to cost around $5, and the information for that bus is here. Look for the stand with a large “ADO” sign in red to purchase your ticket to downtown Cancun. The bus runs every half hour. When you get to the bus station, you can then take a taxi to the ferry, which should cost you about $5. The second option is to hop on a public bus. This is going to be the most economical option, but also a little more on the adventurous side. It's totally safe, but will take a little extra time and work. You need to find a bus on "Ruta 13" that will take you directly to Puerto Juarez ferry dock. Obviously the most economical way.
Once you get to the ferry dock, simply buy your ferry ticket. The boats will leave every half hour, from 5 in the morning until 9:30 at night, then every hour after that. The journey will take about 15 minutes, and cost 160 pesos (~$10USD) for a one way ticket or 300 pesos (~$20 USD) for a round trip.
IN SHORT:
- Bus to taxi to ferry ~2 hours - $20
- Bus to bus to ferry ~3 hours - $16
HOSTELS, CAMPING, AND HOTELS (IF ANY)
Nomads is a small hostel chain that operates in Cancun and Isla Mujeres. It's a really nice location. Right on the beach with a cool pool, and it's a really nice environment to be honest. Dorm beds aren't too bad at like $22 per night, but the privates are really pricey at over $150. If you are on the dorm-life then this is your place. I wouldn't look past it. It's a hotel and beach club as well, so you will have whatever you are looking for here. The bar will be a little bit expensive though. But the location is good.
There will be tons of hotel and Airbnb options here. The island is almost 100% dedicated to tourism. Tons of gringos have bought condos or Airbnb rental properties here, so from that perspective you will have tons and tons of options.
There's also a few hostels here on the island. They are not going to be super cheap — over $20 per night. But they are fine, if not mainstream.
Isla Mujeres though, is a good place to come with a romantic partner or little flight though. It's a nice place to just have a few relaxing days and walk around and eat and enjoy yourself. That being said, a nice little Airbnb is a good choice.
There's a Selina here as well.
A nice option if you don't want to be in a big hostel. It's certainly the best located if you want to be in the middle of town. Walking distance to all the restaurants, the bars, all that stuff. And North Beach, which is the nicest beach in the northern part of town. It's still going to be expensive here, at $23 per night. But it's going to be a smaller place, and the dorms only have 4 beds.
EATS
There will be a bunch of touristy options for food here on Isla Mujeres. I went to some local spots that were really, really good. Hole in the wall spots. Lots of locals eating at them. That kind of a thing. Price point was right as well. I am just going to go into those here.
If you walk down Main Street here there's going to be restaurants everywhere. Everywhere you look. So outside of these recommendations, you will never run out of options. But the places below are more local. I am a big proponent of eating and supporting local, so if you go to these places you will be doing just that — in a place that has been overtaken by western tourism.
Food Options
The small-town market here is a good option to get good, cheap local food. It's indoors, and there's little stalls all over the place selling different types of food. There are also some restaurants surrounding the market that are sit-down options, also with some good cheap local food.
This is my favorite place that I ate in Isla Mujeres. An awesome little taco and burrito place on the corner, about a block off from the main road. Serving delicious tacos and burritos, fast right off the big rotating pastor. A great place for dinner. Would have kept coming back.
Just stumbled upon this little breakfast spot. Super cozy and good food. They have omelettes, good coffee, plates of fresh fruit, etc.
SIGHTS
This is the touristy beach on the north end of the island. The sand is extremely white, and the water really a beautiful pristine clear blue. But it's crowded. There's hotels everywhere, and a lot of dumb beach chairs. You can find some spots on the beach with less people, but it's still crowded. It's a pretty beach though. The only beach in walking distance to town.
This is at the southern tip of the island. So if you are staying in the north, you should rent a scooter or something to get here. It's a much less populated and visited part of the island — in a good way. There are some Mayan ruins here called Ixchel and down here there's also really nice cliffs that you can look at the ocean from.
and many more...
There's a lot of places to eat. A lot of local options too. Just go and explore, and if you are hungry go inside of anything that looks local. Beware of the fancy-looking tourist-trap places. The food is usually bad and overpriced. A terrible combination. Also check out the little food carts that are on the main street. They will have good local street food.
NIGHTLIFE
I didn't really get into the nightlife here that much. It certainly exists. It won't be like crazy clubs and stuff like that, but the streets will be littered with little bars where you can go in and get drunk. I don't have any recommendations necessarily. Just go walk up and down the main street around here, and that's where you will find a lot of bars. Many of them are pretty westernized, but if you just go in there with no expectations you can get drunk up on a terrace overlooking the street and things like that.
There's also a bunch of beach clubs and bars out on North Beach that you can go to. But I didn't like anything enough to put anything in here.
This is called MUSA, the Museum of Underwater Art. They have installed a bunch of sculptures underwater here that you can snorkel or dive around. It's a fine thing to do, seeing all of these things that should be on land, actually underwater. If you are here, it's a cool thing to see, but it's not the kind of thing I would come specifically for.
Isla Mujeres is a beautiful island. It's been pretty much fully developed, but it's still a beautiful island. There's a few nice things to do. Not really that many though. I will get into them below.
SCUBA AND SNORKELING
There's really good scuba diving and snorkeling here. I would recommend waiting to go to Cozumel. The diving there is much better — some of the best I have ever done, actually. But if you want to go diving here and need something to do, the diving is good.
The center of town here, or Zocalo, as you will find in nearly every single Mexican town is a cool thing to do. Especially at night here. Things will be very lively and you can just come and hang out, buy some local street food. That kind of thing. During the day it's dead, but at night it's pretty lively.
WHALE SHARKS
This is going to be identical to the whale shark commentary for Isla Holbox. So one of the most popular things to do here is to go snorkeling with the whale sharks. I would like to say that it is a pretty amazing thing to do — swim with those majestic animals. But I would like to warn that doing it here is, from my experience, extremely unethical. A short story from my experience. I got on the boat in the morning to get out to the feeding grounds in between Holbox and Isla Mujeres, and when we arrived there were no less than 100 tourist boats. They were al communicating via radio and circled around the whale sharks. It was like they were corralling cattle. I found it extremely depressing. Then one by one or sometimes a bunch at a time they would make passes, dropping off people near the sharks to swim with them. The whale sharks seemed scared — confused. Once I even noticed one had been overrun by a boat, and its fin chopped off by the rudder of a boat. It was a horrifying and terrible experience.
I will never do this again here. It's just so unbelievably unsustainable. They are feeding them, tracking them, stopping their natural migration patterns. It's terrible. It's happening in other places like the Philippines too, but I only have experience with it here. There are plenty of other places to responsibly swim with Whale Sharks. Like Bahia de Los Angeles in Baja, or Santa Catalina in Panama. Go somewhere else. It's a sad thing that's happening here.
You in the flat flat Caribbean. Nothing happening here.
SURFING
and many more...
Theres a lot of places to eat. A lot of local options too. Just go and explore and if you are hungry go inside of anything that looks local. Beware of the fancy looking tourist trap places. The food is usually bad and overpriced. A terrible combination. Also check out the llittle food carts that are on the main street. They will have good local street food.
