trips to coba ..

[SaltyB]

Hi All,

been browsing here since last week and am impress at the helpfulness and sincerity of the members esp those that visit Temptation which is where we are heading this friday...hope the weather will be fine as so far all over the carribean its been wet, wet..

query, I supose this is for steve..I see that you have many tours but I cant see the one for Coba..can you assist here please..at the moment depending on weather we like to so Coba and Chitchen itza at night..and maybe some others but thats the main one ... becasue we are looking forward to a great time at Temptn..

...and maybe have a day fly fishing for me....

thanks

[Steve]

Hi,
I'm not sure there are any operators who do a public tour to Coba and Chichen Itza. I'm not aware of any, it's an extremely long trip and I dont think there are ever enough people who want to do that same itinerary on the same day to fill a coachload of 40.

You could get a private tour via the link below, and optionally add on Ek Balam (another Mayan ruin) for an extra $10.
Chichen Itza and Coba

Basically a private tour is hiring a van and driver for 10 hrs and he takes you where you want to go, when you want to go - it works out cheaper per person the more people you have, but for just two of you it's probably going to be too pricey.

One option might be to hire a car if you're feeling brave. But it can still work out expensive when you factor in gas costs and road tolls and you should expect around 6 hours of driving.

I could also direct you to separate Coba and Chichen Itza public tours for different days, let me know if you'd like more info for those.

For fly fishing, again I dont have any provider I work with for this (only sports fishing and night fishing), but you might want to check out:
http://www.cancunflyfishing.net/

There is also a lagoon fishing outfit just over the road from Temptation, not sure if they offer flyfishing more likely it will be light spinning.


One quick word of warning, tours booked through English reps in resort are extremely expensive compared to booking online.

[SaltyB]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the quick reply..Yes, you are correct about the Coba being private..works out about $100 plus per person for 2..just hoping you might know a public tour ..

Yes, please give me some places where I may perhaps add the two places with something like el bakam or ?? another ruin..

and, yes, again, I know UK reps sells them almost double..we are coming through Thomsom and the chichen itza I think was £89!!!...

At the moment we like to do the chichen itza night and maybe Coba..and not too sure about the Tulum or parks..didnt want to put too much in as we are only there for 2 weeks..and I may also fly fish a day..with only a few days choice-if its still there through cancunflyfishing..I think..

By the way, where are you in cancun?- in case we want to book through you there... at Temptations? Just wondering, we wanted to get to the place first before deciding the best days to tour. We wanted to go to the town to try get some local made tarmales and listen to some mariachis...any suggestions, please? ( I have posted elsewhere..sorry)...

We thought we would like to enjoy the lingerie night and maybe also go find a nice beach somewhere weather permiting..

ok, I think I have written too much already-too excited..lol.

and Steve, Thanks again..this site is really great..

cheers

mike

[Steve]

Here's a few links for you for public tours, as mentioned there arent any tours that combine Coba and Chichen Itza unless you go private, but here are some options to consider:

Chichen Itza Tours - 4 different options prices from $55 which is approx £35 so less than half of the £89 Thomson charge!

Coba Mayan Encounter

Coba Sunset Tour

Aktunchen, Coba and Cenotes

Tulum & Xel Ha

By the way, where are you in cancun?

I live downtown a couple of miles from Temptation. However, we are flying home to the UK tomorrow for one month. I read you're flying the opposite way and get in Friday so we'll miss each other.

All the links you need to book online are above, and of course by the time you are settled in here I'll be settled in back home and be online to answer any queries you may have, PM is probably the best way to reach me or via email to steve@cancuncare.com

Oh and if you're up for it you should really consider the cancuncare booze cruise on the 29th July. We already have 50 people signed up for this one, all of whom are staying at Temptation.

More details at:
http://www.cancuncare.com/forum/temp...confirmed.html

[SaltyB]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the reply and the links..will look at it with the other half...

sad that we will cross path way up in the skies...btw do you know that we are having raining weather here and it looks like it will be under 20 deg right up to mid aug..I suppose you will welcome that for a change and anyway, at least in cancun you can jump into the sea...

yeah, been reading about the booze trip esp 29th ..my wife's b day..but she doesnt like getting on the water unlike me who loves it esp when I am out on by myself wading the flats and stalking bonefish...

but..as said before this trip is our belated honeymoon 12 yrs late and my 60th...so, I would rather see if we can have a romantic time at temptations, do a couple of tours and ...next thing you know it it will be time to return to rainy damp UK and ready for the autumn...

...and I will maybe do a day's fishing ..but otherwise I will have to return and do that another time...

just hope the weather will be better there than here..

thanks again for all the help Steve really appreciate it..

cheers

[Steve]

Actually really looking forward to some cold weather and some decent fish and chips! Neither happens here

Have a great trip and maybe cya next time!

[SaltyB]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the info..

Do have a safe trip 'home'...and Yes, nothing like a real good fish and chip ..now thats difficult to get nowadays..the real stuffs..but, I guess the north has better F n C than south...

maybe catch u again..someday..

cheers

mike btw I like some of the smiles you have..where can I download them ..w/o any danger of virus..

[wudaben]

If you happen to be staying in Cancun after the 28th when we arrive we would be interested in going in on a private tour of Coba & Chichen Itza.

Jamie

[T.J.]

Salty,
Here is an option for you. Take the ADO bus to Valladolid. From there you can take a public bus to Coba and when you get back you can take a collectivo to Ek Balam. Having been to both of these places, plus Chichen Itza, mulitple times, Coba and Ek Balam are more interesting and less touristy than Chichen. Just less famous.

It is another bus line that serves Coba from Valladolid. I have a car but did the bus thing once. Seems like you needed to do an early morning run to Coba as the last bus back to Valladolid was about 12:30 pm.

Valladolid is a great little colonial town but it even has a 2 screen theater with most of the movies in English. You can also take the ADO from there to Chichen. It is a good base of operations if time and money permit.

[wudaben]

Is there any problems going the bus route if you speak very little Spanish?

Originally Posted by T.J.

Salty,
Here is an option for you. Take the ADO bus to Valladolid. From there you can take a public bus to Coba and when you get back you can take a collectivo to Ek Balam. Having been to both of these places, plus Chichen Itza, mulitple times, Coba and Ek Balam are more interesting and less touristy than Chichen. Just less famous.

It is another bus line that serves Coba from Valladolid. I have a car but did the bus thing once. Seems like you needed to do an early morning run to Coba as the last bus back to Valladolid was about 12:30 pm.

Valladolid is a great little colonial town but it even has a 2 screen theater with most of the movies in English. You can also take the ADO from there to Chichen. It is a good base of operations if time and money permit.

[T.J.]

Well, not really. You just need to know when to get on and off. It always seems someone is able to help translate if you really need it. But if you to downtown Cancun on the R-1 bus, it stops at a McDonalds that is across the street from the bus station. The routes and times and fares are posted on the wall above the ticket sellers. The ADO line is the First Class Bus and ADO has 2 lines that are even better, the GL and the Platino, but their times are more limited. The "regular" ADO is the most cost effective and is better than any Greyhound. For some more remote routes, there are two other lines called Oriente and Mayab. These do not have reserved seats and it is possible that they oversell them so it can be standing room only.

If you have an iPhone, Smart Phone or Blackberry, you can use Google Translator for some basic stuff. You can pretty easily write down what you want, like 2 - Valladolid - 11:20 am. They will swing the monitor toward you for seat selection, tell you the price and you are good to go. Best to pay in pesos and not worry about getting ripped off on the exchange rate. The bus station in Valladolid is much smaller as there are fewer routes from there. Now the bus station is Coba is more like a bus stop, more or less like getting out at store that happens to sell bus tickets. But "dos boletos a Valladolid" is pretty easy. Money conversion is not too hard. Simplest way is to figure the cost in dollars at $10 MXN for $1 USD. So $100 pesos is $10. The rate is a bit north of $11 now at the exchange houses so $100 is actually in the $9's but who really cares. Berlitz has a blue pocket size dictionary that you can pick up at the big US bookstores. I keep one in my car even though I rarely use it anymore.

The truth is that the more remote you get from the Hotel Zone, the less English seems to be spoken, BUT there is always seems to be someone around to help. I was looking for a Mexican friend in a hospital once and I only knew her first and last names. Here they have two last names. I did not know the room number and she was not answering her cell. The hospital was in the bowels of Cancun. At the entrance to the visiting area, I was having some trouble locating the lady and a guy in work clothes stepped up and assisted me in communicating. Very nice.

It's nuts sometimes but when you "look" American and speak semi decent Spanish to someone, they don't expect it and tell you in Spanish that they don't speak English. This happened to me yesterday at Walmart when I was asking what was the exchange rate (tipo de cambio). The bag boy laughed at the cashier and told her I was speaking Spanish to her. He even knew the exchange rate and told me what is was in English.

If you are not too skiddish I would not hesitate to take a bus ride to a touristy place, like Coba, Chichen Itze, Ek Balam, Valladolid, Merida, etc. Good luck.

[SaltyB]

thanks for all replies..

wundaben sorry I missed ur post as I didnt check email as my stupid 'orange ' got no reciprocal services..

on the 2nd last day wife booked at the hotel tour by internet station for the mayan encounter..perhaps u may have already done it and hope urs was better than ours..

we started off kayak!!, then a cenote which was great!!..and then zipline and zip down into a drop..ok, except that by the time we got to Coba we have very little time to really enjoy the ruins ..it was a fast walk and up the pyramid and then back to bus home..

on the whole it was good but we did want to see Coba..and not the activities..

there;s was a trip on fridays that did tulum, cenote and coba but we were flying back firday noon!!

hope u enjoy ur trip to coba..

cheers

[wudaben]

SaltyB- We ended up finding another couple to join us on the shorter private tour of Tulum, Coba & Cenote offered through this site/Entertainment Plus.

While I would have rather saw Ek Balam & Chichen Itza then Tulum it still ended up being a terrific trip and I would personally recommend anyone booking this excursion to ask for "Fernando" as their driver!

[T.J.]

I am pretty sure that if you book a Private Tour from Entertainment Plus, that you can pretty much go anywhere you want to go. Their link is at the bottom of this page if it doesn't link in this mesage.

[wudaben]

TJ - By the way... Thanks for all the bus info! I tired to go that route but my better half wasn't cooperating!