Mexico, or the United Mexican States to give its full name, sits between the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea. After a nearly 11-hour flight with Air France, we settled in at the Riu Yucatán hotel, in Playa del Carmen, for 13 nights.
✓ Trip in October 2022
01Paperwork
No visa is needed for a tourist stay: French and most European citizens are visa-exempt, and permission to stay is granted on arrival by customs at the airport. The paper FMM form has been phased out at most Mexican airports — the number of days granted is now written straight onto your passport stamp.
Check that number before you leave the desk. It is no longer automatically 180 days and can be far lower depending on the officer.
Two taxes apply on top of your stay. The first, Visitax, is a Quintana Roo state tax, paid online for every traveller — keep the QR code safe, it's asked for again at the airport on the way home. The second is added directly to your hotel bill.
02Getting around: the Tren Maya
This is the region's big change, and it didn't exist when we travelled. The Tren Maya opened in stages from December 2023 and now serves most of the peninsula's key sites, with stations at Cancún airport, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, Valladolid, Chichén Itzá and Mérida.
In practice, it makes hiring a car largely optional on a first trip. The Chichén Itzá station sits beside the site itself, and Valladolid's is five kilometres from the centre.
03Chichén Itzá
The most famous Maya archaeological site in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the 7 Wonders of the World, beside the village of Pisté. The city brings together several buildings linked by Maya roads, the sacbés. A guided tour is genuinely worth it to understand its history — the full breakdown of the buildings is in our dedicated article.
We went with Les Tours de Mimi, a French-speaking agency in Playa del Carmen — departure at 6:35am to arrive early on site, ideally right at opening, 8am.
After the visit, on to a Maya cooperative for lunch, a swim in the Yokdzonot cenote, 40 metres deep, then the town of Valladolid.
04Valladolid
A small colonial town in the north of the peninsula, right near Chichén Itzá — a natural stop after visiting the site. The church overlooks the town's colourful streets, with a big yellow and white park right across from it. Less touristy, prices are easier to negotiate.
05Tulum
The Tulum ruins face the Caribbean Sea — once a major stop on Maya trade routes, now part of Tulum National Park. Best to arrive right at opening to beat the crowds.
We had booked a combined excursion with Cobá through Alltournative, around €150 per person, including a ceremony with a shaman, a meal prepared by a Maya cooperative, and a swim in a cenote.
06Cobá
This site, deep in the jungle, was a major Maya city during the Classic period, between 250 and 900 AD, studied by archaeologists from the 19th century onwards. Three main areas: Nohoch Mul, the main pyramid at 42 metres, Conjunto Pinturas, the spiritual area, and Macanxoc, near the lake of the same name. There's a ball court here too.
Allow 2h30 on foot, or 1h30 by bike.
07Rio Secreto
Pool Tunich in Maya: a network of caves and underground rivers shaped by erosion. Continuous rainwater filtration has formed stalactites and stalagmites over millions of years — an ecosystem with no sunlight, where fish, insects and bats navigate by sound.
08Playa del Carmen
Once a small fishing village serving as a gateway to Cozumel, now a lively beach town known for its nightlife, its downtown and its turquoise beaches. Quinta Avenida — Fifth Avenue — is its most touristy strip: restaurants, cafés, bars, shops.
09Cozumel
Mexico's third-largest island, listed as a UNESCO biosphere reserve, just off Playa del Carmen. Very touristy — to see it in a day, it's best to rent a car or a scooter. Ferries run the crossing all day long.
10Activities in the Mexican jungle
Again with Alltournative, a half-day very different from ruins or the beach, at the Native Park: ATV, zip-line, cenote swim, cave visit, shaman ceremony. Expect $109 US, with optional insurance for the ATV at $25 US. Honestly, we expected a bit more in terms of originality.
This wonderful trip ended with a Cancún - Paris flight in Air France Business Class, an upgrade offered at check-in for an extra fee.
Mexico has so many islands, cenotes and places to explore that one trip simply isn't enough — Holbox, Isla Mujeres, Mérida, Akumal, Bacalar, Sian Ka'an, Mexico City... the list for next time is already long. And with the Tren Maya, several of those stops have become far easier to string together.
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