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Playa del Carmen Transportation

Car Rentals:

Major rental car companies operate from the airport and some hotels. You must be 25 years old, hold a drivers license and major credit card. Road signs are in Spanish.

Public Transportation:

Tips and Taxes

In cases where the gratuity is not included or provided for, 15% is the accepted amount. Most items sold in Mexico have a value added tax or sales tax of 10% that is additional to the posted price. In Spanish, it is called IVA. You will see it itemized separately on your receipt.

Arriving Airports:

Visitors will most likely arrive at Cancun International Airport, which is only about 45 minutes from Playa del Carmen. Playa has a small airport that mainly has service to Cozumel and some ruins, such as Chichn Itz and Palenque. There is also an international airport in Cozumel, from which it is easy to get to Playa del Carmen. Cancun International Airport – Phone 870088. The airport is 9 miles southwest of Cancun City.

Exiting customs, you will find a mass of people calling out their readiness to help. Some with with hand carts try to confuse you into using their service by calling out different destination names until one catches your attention. Plan your transportation in advance or just keep moving forward to the exit to the taxi kiosk. Look for an authorized white, yellow and black airport taxi. It is a 45 minute ride to Playa del Carmen. The union controls who can carry tourists from the airport and what they charge. Taxis originating in Playa del Carmen are not actually authorized to take people to Playa, but you can go with a transfer company that is authorized. The ride to Playa del Carmen will cost a little over $50. The fare can be shared among others traveling ot the same destination. To take one of these authorized taxis, go to any of the TTC kiosks located around the terminal and buy a ticket.

The Mexican bus company, Riviera, now operates direct bus service between Cancun airport and Playa del Carmen. Tickets are reasonably priced each way, either way. It leaves from outside the main arrival hall at the airport. Just before you exit the terminal, there is a Riviera counter where you buy the ticket. In Playa del Carmen the bus works out of the main bus terminal on 5th Avenue and Juarez. These are big blue Mercedes buses with huge butterfly fish decals on the back.

The crowd of sales people for other modes of transportation (authorized and unauthorized) will continue to shout out invitations to use their services or to accept boarding assistance from them even as the visitor is boarding the Riviera bus with a ticket in hand. It is best to ignore these entreaties and to proceed on your own onto the bus, as planned. This is the schedule (subject to change on short or no notice):

Cancun airport – Playa 10:30, 11:45, 12:45, 13:45, 15.00, 16:45, 17:45, 19:00, 20:30 Playa-Cancun airport 8:00, 9:00, 10:30, 11:45, 13:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00, 18.15

From Cozumel Airport: Take a taxi to the dock, (el muelle). Ferries to Playa leave every hour on the hour, except at 11am and 1pm. The ferry ride will take about 30 minutes. By the dock in Playa, there are guides on tricycles who can take your luggage to your hotel, or to the taxi stand by the bus station.

Air-conditioned passenger ferries to Cozumel leave every hour on the hour from the town’s pier one block from the main square. Construction of a second pier at the end of Av. Constituyentes proceeds in fits and starts. There is also a car ferry to Cozumel from the Calica pier just south of the Playacar development.

The ferry dock in Playa is 1 block from the main square and within walking distance of hotels. Playa has two bus stations. Buses coming from Cancun and places along the coast, such as Tulum, arrive at the Riviera bus station, at the corner of Juarez and Quinta Avenida, by the town square. Buses coming from destinations in the interior of the peninsula arrive at the new ADO station, on Avenida 20 between 12th and 14th streets.

Getting Around

It is easy to get around in Playa. You don’t need a car to get around town, in fact it’s easier not to have one. Playa del Carmen is small enough to for you to walk almost everywhere. Taxis are cheap and they are found everywhere. As soon as you leave the center area of town, the rates rise steeply and inconsistently, so ask before you go. Another popular means of transportation is the scooter or bike, both of which are available for rent in Playa. There are plenty of buses going to Cancun or Tulum, and if you want to go on a day trip, it is easy to rent a car in Playa.

Buses

The are two bus terminals in town, one on the corner of Avenida Juarez and 5th Avenue and one on Avenida 20, between Calle 12 and 14. Both have direct bus service to Cancun, Tulum, Merida and a lot of other places in the area and the country. The Colectivos are white vans running up and down the highway. They stop anywhere you want, and you can flag them down by the side of the road. They operate from Calle 2 between Avenida 15 and 20, next to the baseball court.