Mexico with a toddler – what can go wrong?

It was another trip when the family was catching on to our idea, and friends were asking if we were afraid to go to Mexico with a baby. No, we were not afraid, because the key to success is good planning.

Mexico as a country is regarded as a dangerous destination. This is what we learned from many people who, when asked “then where to now?” were told that to Mexico. Fortunately, the Yucatán peninsula is not Mexico City. The region, which increasingly relies on tourism, can’t afford to let a tourist’s hair fall off.

We decided that it would be a good destination to travel with a child under several conditions:

• We choose a convenient air connection,
• No need for additional vaccinations and no risk of exotic diseases,
• We are not moving all over Mexico, but only on the Yucatán peninsula,
• We book a hotel that is family-friendly with children,
• not going into the jungle with a machete :)
• We WANT to see Chichén Itzá, but not at any price,
• And we don’t intend to spend our entire stay at the hotel pool.

Have we been able to meet these few conditions in practice? What was our stay there like with an almost two-year-old?

Preparations for the trip

Travelling with Olive has already become so much a part of our lives that, apart from consulting a doctor, we don’t make much preparation other than packing and taking out insurance :)

As for vaccinations, no additional vaccinations are required for Mexico, but hepatitis A and typhoid are recommended – including for adults (assuming both the adult and child have been vaccinated for hepatitis B, DTP and MMR)! It is worthwhile to get an idea here much earlier, because, for example. Hepatitis A is given in two doses at several monthly intervals, so you need to take this into account when planning your trip.

For more details on the vaccinations themselves, the intervals between doses and who can be vaccinated, we refer you to your doctor.

In preparation, it’s also a good idea to buy appropriate clothing for Mexico and something for mosquitoes in advance. Why do I mention it? It’s hard to look for sandals in stores in late February, so it’s best to do it online, and here it’s good to take some stock for possible return/replacement of clothes and shoes. Also, it can be a problem to get something for mosquitoes in stationary stores (although we only saw isolated mosquitoes during our stay).

A trip to Mexico

We wrote a separate post about flying to Mexico by plane, so here we just throw in some highlights.

We took advantage of a direct charter flight from Warsaw to Cancun. Non-stop flight, a whole 12 hours in the air. Although it was a charter we got a meal on board included in the ticket price, but unfortunately not for the baby. It’s a good thing we had plenty of food with us, because we would have been left with meager portions to share.

Olive was less than two years old, so we paid only for two adults (yes, this is possible in charters as Paweł wrote about in the post“Flying on a plane “for free”, that is, with a child under 2 years old”), but the condition is that the child must sit on the lap of the parents. In theory, of course, because in practice it is impossible for a running two-year-old to sit still, so you need to take care of other entertainment on the plane :)

On the Dreamliner, the cradles are probably up to 10 or 12 kilograms, so we gave up on them. Now, after several other trips, we know that this limit in other lines is significantly higher (even 18kg!), and children even older to the cradle will gladly jump in ;)

Hotel in Mexico

At the hotel, we were met with the biggest disappointment of the entire trip (two, to be exact). But let’s start from the beginning how the whole process of booking a hotel looked like.

We bought the flight in a last-minute offer and did not know ourselves until the end when exactly we would be flying. So we couldn’t afford to book a hotel well in advance, which probably would have worked out cheaper.

We also rejected the possibility of buying the entire vacation package, because it was more cost-effective to buy the flight alone, and with the hotel to mess around and…. buy through a German travel agency ;)

We wanted a child-friendly hotel with various attractions, slides, a playground and paddling pools. We chose the one from the Gran Bahia chain because we had a good experience after the Dominican Republic. The one we chose had a kids club, water activities, shallow pools, a beautiful beach (at least in the pictures) …so just right for us :)

On the first day, we immediately went to the pool with water attractions for the little ones, and before we knew it Olive was already up and getting ready to go downhill. In all the excitement and haste, we didn’t notice the placard that said the water attractions were only for children 3 years and older! We were quickly made aware of this by the lifeguard, and the parents’ pleas to go down with their child were of no use. We were left to use the miniature slides, which were not attractive in any way. Unfortunately, for the rest of the trip, we avoided the pool with slides by a wide distance :( Fortunately, there were other pools on the hotel grounds, including paddling pools in which the three of us could freely splash.

We also walked to the beach, which was a second disappointment. The sand was fabulous, but the amount of seaweed on the beach and in the water, the partially rocky bottom and the deterrent breakwaters discouraged beachcombing. Fortunately, the sand itself was great entertainment occupying even for a few(!) minutes ;-)

We mentioned the children’s club and playgrounds. The truth is, we never got there ;) During the day, we either made excursions, sat in the water, or walked around. In the evenings we were too tired to go to the playgrounds or participate in children’s activities yet.

As for other aspects, it must be said that the hotel met expectations. In restaurants where there was a buffet there were special tables of food for children with plastic dishes. They were discounted, so children could choose for themselves what they wanted to eat (this buffet, however, was dominated by those less healthy snacks). There were chairs for children everywhere – washed and served by the staff every time!

On the territory of the hotel drove meleks, which were fun in themselves for the little ones :)

Getting from the airport and getting around locally

Exceptionally, we did not rent a car during this stay. We know that many people do this, but we were discouraged by the warnings and stories of being blamed on a foreigner, problems communicating in English, etc. We didn’t have the pressure to drive down the entire peninsula length and breadth so we decided on the spot to see what we could arrange.

So how did we travel? By buses and coaches. We took more expensive transportation from the airport because we depended on a car seat for Olive. Much more expensive. Both the seat and the entire vehicle left a lot to be desired, but at least we got to the hotel as well as later to the airport relatively smoothly.

When traveling in Yucatán, we chose tours from a local travel agency and traveled by bus or minibus. They were never 100% full so we were able to move to free seats without any problems and had plenty of space to ourselves.

What to do on the ground?

Is there a point in flying to Mexico to sit in a hotel? Definitely not! Is it reasonable with a child to impose a high pace to see as much as possible? Practice shows that the answer to this question, too, is no.

We cared about a few places, but we knew we wouldn’t be able to get everywhere. Above all, the most important thing was for all three of us not to get tired. Are there any attractions specific to children? As much as possible, but rather for the older ones. There are many interesting parks on the peninsula, which we wrote about in this post. There are plenty of water attractions, places to commune with nature and many educational activities.

We went to Tulum, which was quite close, to see how the bus ride and tour of the ruins would go. Let’s not hide, this is not the most interesting attraction for a child. Just before entering the archaeological park, there were many more interesting activities in the numerous stores than just walking among the ruins with a guide. The weather was not good for us, as it was terribly hot and we focused on finding shade the whole time.

Instead, we counted on a moment of respite on the beach at Tulum, but even that didn’t work out as we wanted, because even though we took all the beach gear with us, it was windy, the sun was heating up and we were once again greeted by numerous seaweed….

We were also in Chichén Itzá, and here we rate the tour very much on the plus side. Although the bus journey was long, Olive slept at her best. It was cooler on site than in Tulum, the sun didn’t heat up as much, so the climate was favorable for walking among the ruins. Well, and the most interesting attraction was the ubiquitous pebbles that can be collected, thrown and rearranged…. :)

The cenotes are also interesting, but you have to get it right. Where we were it was easy to slip or fall on the stairs. There are some where special wading platforms are prepared and swimming vests are available.

Summary

As you might have read above, not everything went our way. However, we are glad that we were able to get away from the hotel several times and see the most interesting places on the peninsula.

We hit an age when Olive is still too small for many activities and too big for her to sit quietly in a stroller or carrier. He wants to walk around, explore, touch and try everything. And you need to take this into account when planning a vacation with your child. Approach casually, hoping that maybe, however, the parents will also see something on occasion :)

We also recommend you our other posts about traveling with a baby >>