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Public Charter Busses
are a Safe & Convenient Way
to Explore Mexico for the First
Time |
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Inexpensive charter busses are a comfortable
and stress-free alternative to driving your own vehicle
through Mexico
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Exploring new parts of Mexico
for the first time can be a confusing and sometimes
hazardous experience if you are driving your own vehicle.
Mexican road conditions can be full of surprises, so
you may want to consider taking a charter bus for your
first trip to a new location in Mexico.
While staying in Playa
del Carmen on a recent visit to the Yucatan Peninsula,
we decided to visit the city of Merida,
a colonial city in the state of Yucatan that is about
four hour drive from Playa del Carmen. |
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We had three choices
for how to make the journey:
1: Drive our friend's car
2: Rent a car and drive it to Merida
3: Ride the public bus
Although riding a bus did not sound as adventurous
as the first two options, we decided to give it a
try for the following reasons.
- For two people, the bus was less expensive than
renting a car. The bus tickets cost $25 for each
person each way. A rental car with adequate full
coverage Mexican
insurance cost around $60 per day.
- Once we arrived at Merida, we would not have to
worry about trying to park the car.
- The bus is a safe way to learn the route for the
first time. We could learn of any surprises while
riding the bus, so we would be prepared to deal
with these situations the next time we drove our
own vehicle.
- The bus has fairly comfortable seats and air conditioning,
so we could actually take a nap if needed.
It turned out that all of our reasoning was correct,
and the bus was a great way to make the trip. The bus
was very comfortable and similar to a Greyhound bus
here in the US. (This was no chicken bus). The tickets
included the cost of crossing the state line into Yucatan
from Quintana Roo, and the bus made it easy to deal
with the military check point at the state line. We
never had to stop and ask for directions either! It
was also a relief to not have to worry about parking
a car once we arrived in Merida.
The downside of taking the bus was the lack of freedom.
We wanted to stay in Merida a few more hours to see
a festival, but we had to miss the festival because
our return bus only ran once per day at 11am. We also
wanted to check out some of the Mayan ruins nearby,
but we will have to wait for our next trip to visit
those.
Now that we have visited Merida, we know we want to
visit again the next time we are in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Although our next trip will be with our own vehicle,
the bus was a great safe way to make our first reconnaissance
mission. |
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