3Cforme

I'm not buying it.

The US Geological Survey and World Health Organization show that hurricane wind risk will vary greatly over fairly small distances (at least small relative to impact zones of typical hurricanes). Indeed, the western Yucatan (think Campeche, Temozon) is at much less risk than parts northeast (Cancun). I will speculate that most visitors to the haciendas will be flying into CUN and driving from there, so Cancun weather is still relevant.

sc flier

What aren't you buying? It sounds as if you're arguing that the Haciendas themselves are safer than Cancun but that most visitors will fly into Cancun anyway. I argued that in terms of travel planning, hurricane risk is about even in Cancun, the Haciendas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Key West, Orlando, Miami, Bahamas, etc.

But hurricanes generally don't sneak up without warning, and they don't happen every day or even every year at a particular location.

Over the last 10 years, the number of Cat1 - Cat5 hurricanes that have come within 200 miles of...
Yucatan, MX -- 6 (12 in last 30 years)
Orlando -- 7 (15 in last 30 years)
Aruba -- 4
San Juan, PR -- 4

samuel99

I have read lots of good info here but thought I would ask for opinions none the less because this will be our first trip to Mexico. (That sounds so strange for me to say given everywhere else we have been.)

We need to attend a wedding on January 22 in Playa del Carmen. We know that we will be staying 3 or 4 nights at the Playacar Palace Wyndham and don't really have any options around this. We will probably check in there no later than January 20 for the wedding events.

We will fly into Cancun probably on January 14 so that leaves us 6 nights and we really want to visit some of the haciendas. Flying to Merida was a little complicated from Halifax due to long airport layovers (using points) so I know we've got some driving ahead of us.

My thought right now (with a 5PM arrival in Cancun) is to overnight probably at the Westin and then head out early the next day for the Hacienda Uayamon. I am leaving 6 hours for this drive. We will spend 2 nights there. After that we will plan to go back to the Merida area and the Hacienda San Jose for 2 nights. We are leaving 3 hours for that drive. (Based in the reviews I have read these two Haciendas are the best of the five available options.)

That itinerary leaves an extra night before we really need to be in Playa del Carmen. Our options are to spend an extra night at Hacienda Uayamon or another night at the Hacienda San Jose. We could also choose another one of the haciendas around Merida for one night.

I thought about going straight to Merida when we arrive for two nights at one of the properties. Then we would go to Hacienda Uayamon for 2 nights and then back to the Merida area to a different hacienda for another 2 nights. I just wasn't sure if that was a wise choice given darkness will fall probably before we would arrive anywhere and our transit to get to Cancun is about 8 hours to begin with. I'm just not sure if we will feel like driving much at all.

If anyone has done something similar either way I'd be curious if you found any time to enjoy yourself given the moving around? This is definitely not a MR but we would like to stay in as many of these properties as we can for the different experiences. Maybe a one night stay isn't really worth the effort and each property deserves at least two nights?

Oh yeah, neither of us are that good at Spanish. I can order beer and my wife rates herself at 3/10 on her Spanish. we will be brushing up but any directional tips that I won't get when calling the hotels directly will be appreciated.

Thanks for any replies in advance.

sc flier

2 nights at a hacienda is an absolute minimum. 3 nights without relocating is better. I would stay at the Westin on your first night. (We did that when we went.)

While at Uayamon, I would recommend a visit to Edzna. It's likely to be way less crowded than Chichen Itza. It's entirely possible that you could be the only people there.

Well, everybody has an opinion!

stimpy

I would stick with one property, maybe two. Leave the rest for a future trip to Mexico. The Haciendas are all about relaxing. We spent 5 nights at Santa Rosa and it was one of the best hotel stays I've ever had.

Each Hacienda has at least one person on duty at all times who speak decent enough English. Driving around that area is very easy. Lots of signs and uncomplicated roads. Just make sure you take the toll road between cities! In Mexico, the toll road is labeled "Cuota".

The non-toll road is very slow and bumpy, yet very interesting if you have the time and want to see the real people of the Yucatan.

sbtinme

I'll differ here. My Mexican Spanish is excellent and my sense of direction and preplanning skills are darn good. And, as long as I was only travelling on the highways in the Yucatan, then I'd agree that the signage was quite good.

However, on a number of day excursion trips, once I was off the beaten path, road signs essentially vanished. We tried hard to make the complete Convent Loop route and see some unique things that we'd wanted to experience, but south of Muna, things just fell apart. The roads were largely unmarked (and in places were dirt) and traffic could be a little mind-bending.

Had I not had very strong language skills in some of these areas, I think the experience could've been overwhelming for most folks. About 75% through the day, we felt like we had no choice but to turn around and head back for Hacienda Temozon since the further southeast we drove, the more complex and unmarked the roads became.

I am a big fan of most anything Mexicana and I have really enjoyed my time at the Haciendas, but I think it's worth pointing out that this experience is NOT for everyone. They are very unique properties that really are conducive to relaxing days and unwinding. Language skills aren't a requirement, but being able to communicate with the locals would greatly enhance the overall experience.

For those not familiar with driving in Mexico (or buying gas or any number of other things related to vehicle use in that country), I'd suggest you spend an evening reading suggestions and tips that you'll find with a simple google search. Forewarned is forearmed. We had a good friend who'd never been to Mexico and decided to drive an 8 hour trip on a whim. He assumed that everything would be the same for a driver as it would be in the US or Canada -- he had precious little cash on him and thought that any gas station would accept his Amex or Visa card -- WRONG! He also assumed that gas stations would be at every highway exit and all over the place like they are in the states -- wrong again. He ended up in a real mess and had a ruined trip based on his bad assumptions.

Thunderroad

I'm not certain about the relative distances involved, but might you want to go a hacienda closer to Cancun and Merida than Uayamon is? I've read great reports about Santa Rosa, for example. I believe that Temozon is also closer, though reports on that property are more mixed.

Anyway, I'd second the good advice about reading up on driving tips in Mexico. Based on my limited experience it definitely is do-able, and your smattering of Spanish should come in handy, so don't be intimidated by the thought. But there is stuff about left-hand turns, insurance, etc. to be aware of.

Hope you're not planning on flying Mexicana and, if you are, that you're aware of the problems it's been having.

samuel99

Thanks for all the tips to consider.

I will be completely researching everything as suggested.

I learned a valuable lesson a few years ago when I picked up my rental car in Bali (after not having done so much research on what it was like to drive there).
In the end it all worked out but in retrospect I probably would have just hired a driver for the 3 weeks we toured the island. I truly learned the meaning of off the beaten track on many of our day trips not to mention the lack of gas stations and the lack of gas in stations we found. My fondest memory was buying gas that was sold by the jar from the back of a local's trunk.

Thanks again. Will provide an update after the trip.

TravelOnMyMind

Any updates? Thinking about heading on down to mexico stll trying to figure out which one to stay at

SanDiego1K

Everyone has a favorite, and there are no rights and wrongs. We tried three of the properties in December: Temozon, Santa Rosa, and San Jose. San Jose was our favorite.

Sweet Willie

did you rent a car or ?

SanDiego1K

We rented a car. I encourage driving during daylight hours. We have an international GPS. While it has maps for Greece and more, it did not for Mexico. Go figure. So it was back to paper maps for us. I printed out directions from each of the hacienda's website.

samuel99

Unfortunately our upcoming trip to Mexico is just basically a fly in and then out after a wedding due to some other things that came up. Hope to go back to do a proper visit in the future.

abcx

If you're tech-savvy you can load pretty much whatever map you want on to a GPS assuming it has a syncing cable/software or removable flash memory.

stimpy

I had no problems driving around the Yucatan on two visits. The roads are very simple and the maps I got from Avis were well adequate.