Quintana Roo C1 South of Chakanaab: Upscale Hotel Resorts and Beaches (e.g. Playa Mia and Paradise Beach)

Further south along the coastline you see some upscale resort hotels, restricted hotel areas and some beaches. All beaches offer tourist equipment that means they have pools, sun beds, service restaurants, volleyball fields, sunshades, sometimes even water parks for children.

From north to south, these beaches are:

• Punta Tormentos: does not have much, mostly bigger stones that make swimming and getting in and out of the ocean difficult, a decent place for a short stop, not more
• A bit further south is Paradise Beach: this beach has everything: pools, pavilions, rooftop restaurants, sun beds, washrooms. All in all like a resort hotel, only open to public.
• Playa Mia comes next: a water park with slides and everything else. For children, this is definitely the best place. Anyways it has a fee but not a very high one. Many cruise guest come here, mostly family. Expect this place to be rather crowded.
• The next beach is Albertos Beach: it’s less busy but also has a beach bar and the usual (sun beds, sun shades, music).
• Most southern beach on this list is Playa Palancar, this beach has sun shades made of straw, a bar and sun beds. Similar to Alberto, also quite nice. From all the western beaches, I liked these two best. Things are not so much over the top here.

All the beaches on this route are entertainment centers with music, restaurants, sports and games. You will not find a calm, pristine beach here. But the water is very comfortable the ocean is calm and quiet, the waves very low and weak. If you have any, bring water shoes. Sometimes, there are stones in the breakwater. All of these beaches a nice place to see the sunset in the evening.

At the very South of the Island: Punta Sur

Punta Sur is a protected area, pristine, deserted and extremely pretty. The route from San Miguel is 35 km (about 45 min). The last bit of the route is already part of the protected area. There are no paved roads, only flat sandy roads. We could easily drive here with our rental scooter. The nature sanctuary requires an entrance fee. Here, at the end of the island the Caribbean Sea appears in many shades of blue and turkey. The sand is very fine and white; there is a lighthouse and a swamp area.

Information about Punta Sur can be found here.

East of the Island: Atlantic Coast and Traversal the Cozumel

You are now at the eastern side of the island, off the main routes and facing Open Ocean. Winds are stronger, the ocean is rough and the waves are bigger. Every now and then, there is a restaurant or a café around, even smaller shops. Yet, this part of the island is much less busy than the other side. Very little traffic, loads of tranquility and calmness and only very few humans anywhere. It’s windy; you can basically only sit the in shores and not really swim. At the beaches there is usually nothing. You can sit, but there are many sand grains in the wind. It’s a nice place to walk, relax, be alone but not a good place to sunbathe and swim.

Yet, I like this coastline better than the west: this appears more real and more beautiful. I don’t need a pool 50 meters from the ocean; I don’t need endless background noise from music or water games and slides. The west is an artificial place; the east is mainly a place of nothing but the beach and the ocean. In spite of the strong winds and waves, there are no surfers of kite-surfers anywhere. I don’t know why.

I think I should definitely come here. Driving along the coast on your scooter, stopping every now and then, having something to eat or drink: these are the things that work quite well here.

There are no towns or hotels anywhere. After 25 km (35 min) along the coast, you reach the islands only cross connection ´”Traversal de Cozumel”. Turning left is the only option you have, you cross the island and after 15 km (15 min) you reach San Miguel and the ferry port.

The island continues quite a bit further north but there are no public roads north.

Maya Ruins San Gervasio

There is another stop in the middle of the cross connection: the Mayan Ruins San Gervasio. You drive another 7 km north off the cross connection on an unpaved road. Even that worked quite fine on the scooter. Then, you reach the Maya Ruins. You can do a little hike here. We were almost the only ones there.

More information about San Gervasio here.

I would definitely recommend this short trip: there are more spectacular Maya Ruins (Chichzen Itza) but San Gervasio is definitely nice and gives a good impression of the atmosphere of those days.

North of San Miguel

After a roundtrip on the island, you are now back in San Miguel. At the ferry port, you can go a bit further north (Avenue Rafael E.Melgar). You find some more hotels and restaurants here, but less fancy less chic and much simpler (plastic chairs instead of fancy promenade). The food was super tasty and much cheaper here. In some of these restaurants, you only find Mexicans, no tourists. Also, the island’s little airport is here. You can only north for about 7 km, final spot is a golf course with some hotels around. You cannot go any further north or any further inland.

Tour on the Island – How and How Long?

You should plan an entire day to do this tour. The best option is to rent a scooter. The island is not that big, a scooter is enough to circle it, you don’t need a car for that. I find it important to move a bit off the main routes. No matter how crowded the island is, no matter how many cruise passengers make a day visit, if you move far enough south (Punta Sur) or west (Caribbean Coast) in the main time between 10 am and 3 pm, you can always beat the crowds. People gather in the resorts south of the ferry port and in Chakanaab.

I would visit the beaches on the east in the morning or in the evening. In the evening, this is the best place to see the sunset. I would do Chakanaab on a day with very few cruise ships around.

This is Part 2.
You can find part 1 here:
Taking a Tour in Cozumel: A Day Trip Around the Island Part 1 from San Miguel to Chakanaab 

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Cozumel – How to Reach by Ferry and Else

From the mainland you reach Cozumel by Ferry. There are several ferry companies: the two well-established ones are Mexiko Water Jets and Ultramar. The latest addition is called Barcos Caribe. A single trip is 6 to 8 Euro; there is no reason to book tickets in advance or by a roundtrip right away. I would even advice against it. Some of the companies only offer trips every other hour. But there is always a ferry from another company in between. The best way to do this is to go to the ferry port, find out which ferry is the next to leave and buy a ticket for that one. There is always one ticket counter open, the one has the next tour.

The ferry takes 30 to 45 minutes to Cozumel. Usually, this was pretty smooth. On a few days, the sea was rough and the ride gets bumpy. On these days, there was a band on board playing music; the band was not there any other time.

By ferry, you reach San Miguel de Cozumel, capital and center of the island.
Cozumel also has an airport which can be found north of the capital. This is a good way to reach the island directly. Some American airlines have non-stop flight to Cozumel.
Another way to reach Cozumel is on a cruise ship. A bit south of the regular ferry port, Cozumel has a cruise port. In particular in winter, many big cruise ships stop here. Some of them come early in the morning at around 6, other later in the middle of the day. Most of them leave early, at around 4 to 5 pm.

How These Cruise Ships Affect Cozumel’s Daily Life

These cruise ships stay at their own port. Sometimes only one ship sometimes five or even seven. That’s always different and people from Cozumel can always tell you about that. Cozumel has a new shopping mall right at the cruise port, here you find the Hard Rock Café. Most products are made for one-day-visitors: jewelry, tequila, hot sauces and restaurants. This place is quite nice but not one of the island’s highlights.

The cruise ships appear on the horizon in the mornings, the closer they get, the more obvious their sheer size becomes. They look more like a skyscraper. I was surprise to see that many people indeed don’t get off the ship. Of course, that can always change. Some of these ships have as much as 5000 to 7000 passengers: several times really only a few of them left the ship and came to the island. I really wasn’t expecting this.

In the mornings, the cruise guests are not around, most of the time they come between 10 and 11 and usually only till 3 or 4 pm. Of course, there are busy days with 5 to 6 ships around. Anyways, most cruise guests don’t make it far on the island. Standard would be the cruise port, town of San Miguel (9 km north) and the Chakanaab Park.

San Miguel de Cozumel

When you go to Cozumel by ferry, the first thing you see is San Miguel de Cozumel. The promenade at the coast is quite fancy, many stores and restaurants, all of them made for tourists.

If you have a Cozumel hotel, you are most likely somewhere in this area (a bit further north or south of the town, along to coast road). When you go a bit intown, off the coastline, the town’s appearance changes drastically: It’s less clean; things are less polished and less shiny, no more fancy roads and stores. But, in the end, this off-the-main routes area is more real, authentic less artificial. But there isn’t much to see or do.

Along the Coast Road Quintana Roo C1 in the Island’s West: Cruise Port and Going to Chakanaab on the Small Road

At the ferry port, go south. You can see several stores and restaurants; this is the tourist center of the island.

The first interesting spot is the cruise port (mentioned above). On this 4 km route, the town barely ends, apart from restaurants and shops there are mostly diver stores and stores that sell day tours for divers, snorkelers and everything else about the ocean.
Until you reach the cruise port, you need to share the road with cars, residents and regular traffic. At the cruise port, the main road goes a bit inland. There is a smaller road for scooter and cyclists right at the coast, here you can drive easily even if you feel a bit unsure about your scooter and you don’t disturb all the other traffic.

Next interesting stop is the Chakanaab Beach Adventure Park (10 km from the ferry port, 20 km or 15 min from the cruise port). This is a little adventure park. The route is very easy you can go by scooter or take a cab. These 10 km are always busy; it’s the main tourist route of the island.

This is part 1 – The article continues here..

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Snorkeling – Loading the Boat

The Cozumels Reefs are world famous, a paradise for snorkeling and diving. There are several tour option some of them longer, other shorter.

We stayed on the island and could book for the following day. There are shorter tours, mostly for cruise guests with less time and longer tours to the world famous coral reefs in front of Cozumel. These reefs also attract many divers. We did one of the longer tours and could see the Palancar Reef. Some more examples of Cozumel Reefs are Columbia and Cielo Reef.

We did stay relatively far north, the boat stops at a small hotel where the tour agent took us. Several more people got in the boat. The boat goes along the island and picks up more guests until it’s really full.

Bags and bagpacks go in a net on the roof. There is no space on the floor because all the seats are taken. This is how you go to the reef. Snorkel, goggles and fins are provided, a life-vest is compulsory. As soon as everyone has all the equipment, people jump into the water one after another. The boss asked if someone is a first-time-snorkeler and if there is anyone who feels insecure. He did take special care of these people.

Palancar Reef in Cozumel

The tour guides are also in the water. The make sure that the group stays close and together. This is of particularly important. Everyone snorkels along the water; some hold their breath and dive a bit. One of the tour guides did dive a bit deeper but also without help only by holding his breath.

What you get to see is breathtaking: a reef of never ending colorful fish, much life, general bustle and everything absolutely stunning! We could see a stingray somewhere down. I have never seen anything like this, absolutely beautiful and fascinating!

Of course the reefs are busy: we did not see another snorkeling group. But a diving group was around, of course much deeper down.

As a snorkeler, you basically are stuck at surface of this little world. Yet, the view was great, the water crystal-clear and we could see everything. It’s difficult to say how far from the reef we really were.

The currents are there and make everyone move. Because everyone is looking down in the water, you sometimes crash into someone or someone crashes into you. After a while, I was really exhausted, really very exhausted and then the tour was over soon. Everyone goes back to the boat, the tour guides swims and dives close to the boat’s ladder and takes everyone’s fins off. After this, the tour is over. There is a small restroom on boat. At first I though that is a bit unnecessary, but you really need it on the way back.

Going Back

On the way back they serve cold drinks (Mexican beer and Coke). The tour guides did not have any they had another tour in the afternoon. Things are a bit Americanized: during the entire boat ride, they play music. This seems to be adjusted to American preferences. They take you back to the coast and we get off in opposite order.

Some Advice on How to Organise Yourself

You sit in the boat for a while, go snorkeling and go back to the boat wet. If you don’t feel like sitting in a bikini or swim trunks, you can take a beach cloth with you. Men can simply put a t-shirt on. Because of the strong sun, you should take some clothes with you. Also, addressed to mostly women, it feels better to sit in the boat with more than just a bikini.
Booking these tours is very simple: agencies are everywhere in Cozumel, all of them sell snorkeling tours. All you need to know is how much time you have, if you want to see a particular reef and how much money you are willing to spend. You book the tour and they tell you everything else (like when and where to leave). English is fine, they all know enough English. You can often book for the same day. Booking for the following day is definitely not a problem.

The tour was not cheap. I forgot the price. But we hesitated because of it. Anyways, I definitely recommend these tours. It was a totally unique experience!

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Where is San Gervasio?

San Gervasio is in the north of the island, from east/west distance right in the center. It’s the most northern point you can reach on a regular street (the very north is undeveloped and cannot be reached). The street ‘Traversal de Cozumel’ (Quintana Roo C1) is the only cross-country road on the island and kind of its ‘northern border’. From here, you drive a bit further north to San Gervasio. As soon as you leave the main road, the street gets much worse, a bit uneven and sandy. We had a scooter and that worked just fine. After a 9-km-ride, you reach San Gervasio.

Taking a Walk in The Jungle

San Gervasio has seven bigger ruins: the best way to see these ruins is a walking tour. It comes out as a bit of a hike, the trails are uneven and rocky but still fine to walk. Between these ruins, you need to walk something like 1 to 2 km. We were mostly alone; only 2 more people were walking. Also the parking area was empty, no other cars around.

You can find some more information about the ruins on Wikipedia. The ruins are well-preserved, only the buildings’ roofs are missing. There are very few barriers and shutoffs, you can basically walk anywhere. All the lawns are accessible; you can just walk to all the ruins. Some of the buildings are locked and you cannot enter, others are open. I assume that is the case because San Gervasio only has very few visitors (Tulum was the complete opposite).

All the trails lead right through the jungle, heavy brush and trees. That means many mosquitoes are everywhere, definitely bring some mosquito spray. All the thick shrubbery creates a rather dark atmosphere that matches the ruins quite nicely.

The ruins are visibly smaller and less spectacular than the larger, more popular ones like Chichzen Itza and Tulum.But that does not make them any less pretty or worth seeing. I found the jungle walk to the ruins quite comfortable. You only need to be aware of what is waiting for you: smaller ruins, less busy but with vast walking trails in the jungle. If you are in Cozumel, you should come here.

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First things first: we did not do one of these offroad tours. But, because we did spend quite an amount of time on the island, we met the jeep tour several times. They always go to Punta Sur (on the sandy road) as well as San Gervasio (the Maya Ruins in the center of the island).

These jeep tours are loud, they are usually heard before they are seen. Several jeeps drive in a line, they follow each other. The guests need to stay in that line and are not allowed to drive anywhere else. The jeeps look quite cool, no roof, roll bar and they are always full. When you are less than 4 in a group, you need to share the jeep with someone else.

To me, these jeeps drive rather slowly, the tour itself is not even that cool. All the streets (in Punta Sur and San Gervasio) are regular but unpaved streets and a standard passenger car is sufficient for the streets. Offroad simply means an unpaved road, nothing else.
These offroad tours are sold as a whole day package including lunch, beach visit and snorkeling tour. If you have very little time, this might be an easy way to see Cozumel quickly. But that’s it. It’s definitely not a huge offroad challenge, we did all the same routes on a scooter.

I would not do the tour but that is very much up to you.

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Punta Sur: How to Reach

Punta Sur is south of the ferry and the cruise port in Cozumel. From the ferry port in San Miguel de Cozumel it is 35 km and 45 minutes (from the cruise port further south the ride is 10 minutes less).

You can either take a cab, rent a car or a scooter. A scooter is sufficient to get there. Until the cruise port, you share the road with the rest of the traffic, in particular with the locals. But they definitely are considerate and take care of tourists on scooters. A little south of the cruise port, the street splits into two: there is a regular (“big”) road and on the right a smaller version of it. On a scooter, the smaller road is the best place for you. This small street ends shortly before Punta Sur.

The Punta Sur entrance is on the west, the nature-protected area is at the eastern side (ocean) of the island. They charge 14 dollars and after that you can drive along a sandy coast-road. We could easily do this on a bike; the street was unpaved but good. I think you don’t necessarily need a car. See also here – an artcile on renting a scooter on Cozumel.

The Coastal Road in Punta Sur: Coast, Mangroves, Lagoons and Beaches

Some advice to find your way: there is a reggae bar right at the entrance where they sell all kinds of cheesy tourist items. From here, a 4-km-road leads to the lighthouse the island’s southern peak. On this way, you have already overshot a little lagoon that you will further circle on the way to the beaches.

After another 4 km along the coastline, you reach the final destination of the park: Punta Sur Beach. The beach has a restaurant, sun beds, umbrellas and several snorkeling and diving options. The sun beds are for free (basically included in the 14 dollar entrance fee you had to pay).

The Punta-Sur-Coast road is about 8 km, you need approximately 20 minutes. It’s definitely worth to go slower and stroll around a bit. You can even stop, check the inland or enjoy the view. You see the ocean but also a lagoon with mangroves and fresh water where alligators live. If you are lucky enough you can see many rare birds. Several spots have wooden bridges and platform that offer a good view at the swamps and lagoons.

There is also a smaller riff, right in front of Punta Sur. The larger ones can only be reached by boat, though. You don’t need to come to Punta Sur for the riff, the boat leave even further north at the hotels.

There are some more offers we did not do: taking a boat tour in the lagoon, taking and offroad jeep tour.

I would definitely visit Punta Sur again, we liked it so much, we even came twice.

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Moving Around in Cozumel – Scooter or Cab

The two best ways to go anywhere in Cozumel are scooters and cabs. To be a bit more independent, we rented a scooter. You can do that almost anywhere. You only need to walk around in town (port promenade) or at the cruise port and you find several offers everywhere.

Online, I do find quite an amount of warnings. But things worked quite well for us. Driving is not that difficult. At the beginning, you need to be careful: if you accelerate too much the scooter will start quickly and kind of jump away. In the beginning make sure to check how the scooter responds to accelerating and slowly test how to speed up. Apart from that, you cannot do anything wrong. Traffic between San Miguel and the cruise port is a bit stressful because there are many cars and cabs on the road. Yet, all the drivers are considerate, don’t cut tourists on scooters and don’t take over stupidly. As long as you go slowly on the right, they can easily pass and you are still fine. As soon as you can go to the small road, parallel to the main road, things are easy-going. There are no more cars around and you can drive without a problem. Things even works on the east and south of the island.

In the end, I think most accidents happen because scooter driver feel very insecure. If that is you, better don’t take a scooter. But I don’t see a reason to refrain from scooter. If you can drive a car in Germany, you can drive a scooter. It’s really doable.

Renting a Scooter in Cozumel

Cozumel’s scooters are sometimes in a rather funny condition. One of our rental scooter had more than 350,000 km on the speed indicator. The meter was not even moving any more. How you can collect that many kilometers on such a small island is a big mystery to me.

The rental companies insist that driver and co-rider wear a helmet. They give you these helmets. Anyways, both helmets did not fit properly. From a German point of view, don’t look too closely at them.

We rented a scooter, drove for about 30 minutes and all of a sudden the scooter broke. It did not respond to acceleration anymore. While we were standing at the small street, people were extremely helpful! There are some athletes in Cozumel (cyclists, training for Ironman). The stopped right away and helped us. Our phones did not work in Mexico; we could not call the rental company ourselves. They did that for us and we even could not prevent them from giving us a water bottle. They said it’s so hot and you never know how long it takes.

They both left and we waited for the rental car company. About 10 minutes later, the automobile association (the guy who help you with you vehicles when you are in trouble) comes along. The guy had a pick-up truck and wanted to load the scooter right away. He called the company again and we all waited for the guy from the company. He was there real quick, we were far south and he could not be there much faster. He came with a new scooter, which he gave to us and went back with the other guy in the pick-up truck.

All the Mexicans were saying the scooters chain was broken. That seems to happen a lot.
This was an easy and quick way to solve our problem; we got help from everywhere and did not have to pay any extra money.

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