Don’t we all hate blog posts with lengthy intros about the blogger’s life experience? Who cares, right? Let’s just get into it. Basically, I wanted a cheap trip down south.
This is my experience in traveling on a budget from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Half Moon Bay, Akumal, Mexico in April 2024.
Planning
I found the flight deal via a tip from Chris Myden YHZ from Halifax to Cancun airport for $626. I searched on Google flights and booked direct on Air Canada using my TD Aeroplan Visa, which provides travel insurance and one free checked bag, among other perks.
I rented a studio apartment via AirBNB: My Beach Plans Fully equipped Studio at Private Akumal Area -CS . Locals in Akumal, who rent out their properties when not in use, recommended using the Akumal Direct website rather than AirBNB for better prices.
Transportation
I did Park & Fly and left my car at the Halifax Airport for about $100CAD for 8 days with my CPA discount. I booked Canada Transfers in advance so when we arrived at the Cancun airport, a man from Canada Transfers was waiting near the Air Margaritaville restaurant at Terminal 3 with a sign with my name on it.
When you exit the terminal there will be a ton of people standing there offering taxi rides. The Canada Transfer people will be past that hoard. Round trip payment is due at pick up for $251CAD and the company will send you reminders before pickup upon arrival and departure. I recommend paying by credit card upon arrival because you can dispute the charge if anything happens with the return pick up.
The airport greeter referred us to our driver, Miguel, who drove us to Akumal. We asked to stop for snacks on the way and Miguel took us to a 7/11 where FYI you can buy alcohol and drink in the van legally. If we had known that in Akumal it would be very difficult to find reasonably priced groceries we would have arranged for him to stop at a Walmart to get some essentials with a pre-written list and offered a good tip.
Accommodation
The studio apartment was great. It’s a bare-bones basic accommodation but we were satisfied. We were able to cook, get a good night’s sleep and we enjoyed the 24-hour security of a gated community and police station nearby. The only complaint we had was there was only one mirror in the whole place and the beds were pretty hard; a foam topper would be nice. I slept comfortably but Margaret said she could feel the wires in her bed.
The private beach had loungers and great sun during much of the day however on some days it was very windy and there was a lot of seaweed so we went to Akumal beach on those days. To gain entry to Akumal beach, the best option is to enter through reception past the arch and make a purchase. Otherwise you’ll have to pay $7USD at the Akumal beach entrance with no benefit.
Groceries, Alcohol
There are very limited options to buy groceries in Akumal and the are all about 1.6KMs away, which is far when you’re carrying groceries in the Mexico heat. I recommend that if you don’t get a car, you bring a portable hand cart or rent a bicycle at Del Sol for $9USD. Local stores include a 7/11, an Oxo and a General Store. The General Store has a very small amount of fruit and vegetables however everything in the store is marked up at about a 40% premium.
For example, I wasn’t smart and I didn’t buy sun cream in advance. I bought Banana Boat sun cream at the General Store for 550 pesos, which is about $45.52 CAD / $33.05 USD, then later I saw at Oxo Hawaiian Tropic for 320 pesos / $26.49 CAD / $19.23 USD. Margaret really liked a particular tequila cooler which cost 45 pesos at the General, 27 pesos at Oxo. We didn’t realize this until after we got ripped off for days at the General.
Snorkel
In Akumal, there are vendors everywhere trying to sell snorkel excursions because the area is known for its sea turtles. Vendors are on the streets and on the beaches stopping passersby, no prices posted, trying to get customers.
We found that the typical price to snorkel with a guide at Akumal beach is about $25USD with your own gear. If you wish to access Akumal beach, you’ll also have to pay the $7USD access fee at the Akumal beach entrance, or buy something at the Lolha restaurant. You can put a deposit for a meal at Lolha, snorkel, and go back to use your deposit on a meal later in the day. Depending upon who you hire, they may take photos but make sure you view the photos before buying because ours were terrible. You may want to consider getting a Go-Pro to get your own photos or videos.
I recommend bringing a full-face snorkel mask, flippers and an inflatable life vest (links below), buying your meal at Lolha, and accessing the ocean area outside of the restaurant without a guide (you’ll see this beach in my instagram video above, it’s the one with all of the boats).
The snorkel area is roped in outside of Lolha so you will have the comfort of staying by the ropes in deep water but you’ll see the sea turtles, stingrays and fish on your own just as easily as you would with a guide. You may want to bring a waterproof fanny pack for your belongings.
We noticed that our backs and bums got burned from snorkeling so rather than depend on sun cream, you may want to bring a rashguard and swim shorts on your snorkel excursions.
For freshwater snorkeling to see the tropical fish, there were a couple of options in Akumal near Half Moon Bay. I forget the name of the second one but the one we chose was Yal-ku. This company’s entrance to the lagoon was much more developed with a restaurant, showers, lockers, bathrooms, a gift shop and a beautifully cultivated lounging area with loungers, statue art and hammocks. Check out their Instagram, they have a lot of great content. The cost was about $22USD without gear (but with a life jacket) and they had packages for renting gear, which included a burger and drink from the restaurant.
Margaret said Yal-ku was the best snorkeling experience she’s ever had due to the vast variety of fish in the lagoon, and she has snorkeled all over the world including the Great Barrier Reef. I agree that there were a lot of different types of fish but I honestly don’t care about fish so I was only moderately impressed at the fish but I was very impressed at the rock formations under the water.
A local resident told us that if we had gear, we could snorkel on the private beach outside of our condo because Half Moon Bay is known for having better snorkelling than Akumal beach. Both Margaret and I spotted turtles peeking out of the water at our private beach but we didn’t have gear so I think we missed out on a great opportunity.
I had never snorkeled before visiting Akumal and didn’t even understand how the gear worked but it was really cool to see the turtles up close and the fish were actually pretty cute, they’d come right up to you like in the cartoons.
Restaurants
The restaurants in Akumal and Half Moon Bay are OK and prices are what you’d expect to pay in any restaurant in Canada or the US. We ate at (OG is outside of gate, IG is inside gated community):
- Lol-ha – good food, awesome service. Best margueritas – OG
- La Buena Vida – OK food, awesome service. Has karaoke on Wednesday nights – IG
- Jungla Cafe – good food, terrible service – IG
- La Lunita – beautiful setting for a dinner date, OK food, good service – IG
- Turtle Bay Bakery and Cafe – Amazing food and service – OG
You will find a lot of photos and reviews for all of these restaurants on Google. Most of the time we cooked in the condo. My food photo skills are obviously not good.
What to Pack
Visit my Amazon Storefront for quick links. If you have an Aeroplan credit card, you will be able to check in a bag for free with Air Canada, so you can bring a larger bag. If you don’t have an Aeroplan credit card, you can probably sign up for one and get some good signing perks for your next trip.
- Snacks like nuts, protein bars, Pringles, anything non-perishable as otherwise you will have to find very expensive alternatives in Akumal.
- Collapsible Tupperware to store your food away from bugs.
- A hand cart if you don’t have a car and walk for groceries.
- A cooler to bring to the beach.
- Snorkel set with flippers, inflatable life jacket. The reason I recommend a full face snorkel mask is because I found the typical eye mask and mouthpiece very hard on my mouth after about 30 minutes.
- Floaties for the beach
- Ombrelle sun cream and SPF lip balm. Both of us got burned lips. I used Banana Boat and burned. Ombrelle kids is best.
- Hair detangler and a wide tooth comb. We spent a lot of time detangling our hair after the beach.
- Comfortable walk wear because most things are 0.5-1.5kms away. I wore Adidas slides.
- Ear plugs and a sleep mask. You’ll be close to the street and the studio is very bright during the day if you like to sleep in.
- Pesos, which will have to be ordered at least 5 days in advance at your local bank, or you can use Apple pay. You can also use US dollars quite easily but it’s better with pesos. To make sense of the conversion, I thought of a peso as a penny. So 100 pesos is like a Mexican dollar and one Mexican dollar is like $6 USD $8 CAD. Easy calculation, 400 pesos is $24 US or $32CAD, just times by 6 or 8.
- Wired headphones for the plane if you want to watch a movie.
- A tablet for Kindle books and other entertainment. Remember to download your Netflix content if you end up on a flight with no movies. Our trip entertainment was Ozark, which probably wasn’t the best choice while we were in Mexico.
On Site Expenses
I spent about $650USD locally including groceries, alcohol, restaurants, essentials and souvenirs from local shops as well as a beautiful beach hat and bag at one of the local resort’s gift shop. After the trip I couldn’t stop thinking about the lace Zingara beach bag I’d seen in the resort gift shop that matched my hat and ended up buying it online.
Local prices were as marked, there wasn’t really any opportunity for bargaining as it was a tourist town.
In Parting…
Heading into this trip, Margaret and I had been bombarded with constant negative hysteria about how dangerous it was to rent an AirBNB in Mexico, which significantly impacted our enthusiasm and our interactions with locals initially, as we were very paranoid. I still feel sick about the distrust I exhibited towards local people due to the influence of others.
If you are considering following in our footsteps, please find comfort in the fact that Akumal and Half Moon Bay are very safe. Most of the people who live in the area are from Canada and the US and (almost) every local we met was incredibly fair and kind. If you go exploring outside of the community by car, probably be careful.
I hope this article has been of use to you and that you have an amazing vacation!
Ageless Optimization 