5 Ways to Save Money on Your Trip To Cancun
Have a great time on the cheap with these 5 tips for a cheap vacation in Cancun from Hopper.
Hopper Editors - Thu Oct 26 2017
Golden sands, year-round sun and glittering turquoise sea. Some of the wildest nightlife on the entire American landmass. Endless opportunities for sensual indulgence, from sunbathing to top-end restaurants. World-class diving and mind-blowing Mayan ruins... Cancun’s popularity as a vacation hot spot is firmly rooted in some fabulous attractions. But this same popularity can make it quite an expensive place to visit and an even easier place to accidentally stumble far beyond the confines of your budget while you’re there. This handful of money-saving tips will help you keep your costs low, so you can stop worrying about the contents of your wallet and focus on all that this wonderful destination has to offer.
Cancun is actually one of the most expensive travel destinations in the world, so keep reading for money-saving tips
1. Check out Hopper’s When to Fly and Buy Reports to find cheap flights to Cancun
Airfare pricing mechanisms figure among the great mysteries of the modern world, but here at Hopper we’ve managed to cut through the sorcery and pin down some hard stats on booking the cheapest flights possible. Small details can make a big difference, such as which day of the week you depart and return on, and even which day you book the tickets. Our when to fly and buy reports will guide you through all these factors and ensure you land on the best ticket deal possible. In the case of Cancun, details will vary depending on where you’re flying from, but generally it’s best to buy your ticket on a Wednesday, depart on a Thursday and return on a Monday.
2. Be flexible to find the best hotel rates
Whether it's with an opaque booking site like Priceline, a last-minute travel app like Hotel Tonight or just on the hotel website itself, there are lots of good deals to be found on hotels in Cancun... you just have to look for them. One way to find them is to stay flexible and search in a bit of an alternative way. Sometimes, if you try searching for your nights separately on a hotel booking engine, you'll find great one-night only deals at hotels. Change hotels during your trip to save a cool hundred dollars? A little inconvenient, but sign us up!
Check out this article on the five best hotel pools in Cancun to get an idea of the possibilities awaiting
3. Book your transfer from the airport before you arrive
Cancun is a hugely popular tourist destination, with thousands of visitors flying in every day. This, of course, nourishes a highly active and inventive local scene of touts and guides aiming to milk every penny they can from the frequently wealthy visitors arriving in their city. At the forefront of this informal industry are taxi drivers offering transfers from the airport to your hotel. If you haven’t booked anything, this deluge of offers of lifts can be quite useful, and will speed you to your destination very efficiently. But they’re usually going to inflate the cost of doing this as much as they can get away with, so it’s invariably much cheaper to book something in advance, settling on a price away from the hectic atmosphere of the airport arrival lounge. If you’re on a tight budget, then, it’s definitely worth taking the time to arrange your transfer from the airport before you arrive.
4. Stay at an all-inclusive or buy your alcohol from the supermarket
From ramshackle bamboo bars precariously perched on the sand, to pounding UV-drenched super clubs in the center of town, Cancun’s wild nightlife and hedonistic abandon is definitely among its biggest draws. But bar owners throughout the city know this and consequently drink prices are usually sneakily expensive; heavy alcohol consumption will burn a big hole in your pocket. Bear this in mind, though, and you can easily cut down on your booze costs: either book into an all-inclusive hotel (making sure alcoholic beverages are encompassed in this title), or stock up on drinks from the local supermarket, where prices are a fraction of the costs of buying booze over a bar and enjoy some drinks from your oceanfront balcony.
Check out Hopper's picks for the five best all-inclusive resorts in Cancun for some ideas on where to stay
5. Travel during the low season: May-November
Cancun is absolutely sweltering through the high summer months of May and June; after this, the rains begin, and hurricane season comes to the Caribbean. It’s pretty evident, then, why May-November is the destination's low season, with far fewer visitors and hotels either closed or open with slashed prices. It takes a little more hardiness and organization to visit at this time of year, but for some tough travelers keen to experience the heart and soul of Cancun and its surrounding Mayan and natural wonders, the low cost and fewer tourists make it an ideal time to visit.