How to get from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen

If you are planning your trip and you want to stay in Playa del Carmen, you are surely wondering what is the best way to get from the Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen?, taking into account that to arrive by plane to Playa del Carmen the most viable is to do it by taking a flight arriving at the Cancun airport.

Getting to the Cancun airport is the most viable option since it is a highly connected international airport and has a large number of direct routes and if there is no direct flight you can get there from practically anywhere in Mexico or the world with few stops.

To plan and quote how to get to Playa del Carmen from the Cancun Airport, the first thing you should consider is that they are not so close to each other, Playa del Carmen is approximately 60km away from the airport, so getting to the center or your hotel / airbnb in Playa del Carmen will take you at least 1 hour, if you take a direct transportation.

Due to this situation, at first sight many people find transportation from the airport to Playa del Carmen very expensive, but it is important to consider the distance traveled to get from one point to another and to choose the best transportation option to another important point to to take into account is how many people are traveling with you, if there are several people it is usually convenient to take private transportation.

Next we will see the different options to go to Playa del Carmen from the Cancun Airport and their pros and cons:

Book Private Transportation from Cancun Airport to Playa Del Carmen

It is undoubtedly the best option for transfers from Cancun Airport towards Playa del Carmen if you are traveling with more people, since it will be cheaper compared to taxi fares at the Cancun airport or even than in ADO if you consider all the related costs.

Among the advantages that you find when reserving a private transportation service is that when you arrive at the airport you can immediately transfer to your hotel or airbnb in Playa del Carmen without delays and without waiting for the van or truck to fill up with other passengers, since in this type of services only you and your family travel.

Another benefit is that a private transfer if your flight arrives late, they monitor it and They wait for you until your arrival 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

These services private transportation in Cancun They are often offered in recent model vans with air conditioning, very comfortable and operated by qualified personnel, we recommend a good option of private transportation to Playa del Carmen that you can book here.

Shared transfer to Playa del Carmen

There are also shared transportation services, which have a medium price and make few stops, they can be a good option if you are traveling alone or with another person and you want something comfortable and not so expensive.

One disadvantage is that most of them can take you to a hotel or meeting point but normally they do not apply to accommodation in Airbnb since in these you normally have to wait for the van or van to fill up and it is distributing to the tourists in their respective hotels during the journey without going through specific addresses.

Rent a Car to go to Playa del Carmen

It can be a great option as transportation from the Airport to Playa del Carmen or Riviera Maya and to move around the city and the area, especially if you already know What to visit in Cancun, Riviera Maya or Playa del Carmen during your stay.

However, as in any other place, driving implies certain risks if you do not know the roads and even the traffic regulations, you must also take into account that to go from Cancun to Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Tulum or any point of the Riviera Maya You have to drive on the road, it is not complicated because it does not have any curves and it is very difficult to get lost but extra precautions should always be taken for road trips.

If you rent a car to go to your Airbnb in Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya or Tulum, something important that you must verify before and that many people forget is to make sure that the vacation home or apartment you are renting has parking available, either free or payment or that you can confirm with the host that there is a safe area to park nearby, because if you have to park your car far from the accommodation it is no longer so comfortable.

ADO bus to Playa del Carmen

It is a good option (if you travel alone or with few people) and you want to save as much as possible.

Although in groups or social networks you can realize that many people recommend taking the ADO bus at the Cancun airport to go to Playa del Carmen as the cheapest option, but the reality is that most do not know the prices of private transportation And if you travel with more people on very few occasions, it ends up being cheaper than private transportation.

Here we show you some examples to give you an idea of ​​how much each ticket costs, based on the ADO table that they have published at the counter, so you can do the numbers and choose the best option in terms of time, mobility and price.

All these ADO prices are in Mexican pesos, per person and departing from the Cancun airport:

Therefore, taking into account this table of cost per person, let’s do some exercises:

• Example 1 – Travel for 2 people from the Cancun airport to any hotel in the Hotel Zone:
  • In ADO they are $240 mxn taking into account that you have to wait for the bus to fill up, they drop you off at the ADO terminal in downtown Cancun and you have to haul bags to the taxi site that charges you approximately 400 mxn to go to your hotel or Airbnb, so the total is not $240 but $640 mxn.
  • A private transportation charges you around $700 pesos from the airport to any hotel in the Hotel Zone, they pick you up only, once you get on the van leaves immediately, you don’t have to be loading and unloading suitcases, it leaves you directly at your hotel or Airbnb and the difference is only $60 pesos in addition to the fact that all private transporters have Air Conditioning and vehicles with civil liability insurance, unlike taxis.
• Example 2 – Travel for 6 people from the Cancun airport to any hotel in the Hotel Zone:
  • In ADO $720 mxn for the 6 of us with the same dynamics of getting to the central and taking a taxi, which in this case should be a van, so the cost will be approximately $600 pesos extra, for which the total would be: $1,320 pesos
  • In private transportation, the cost is normally $900 pesos, they pick you up at the terminal you arrive at and drop you off at your hotel or Airbnb.

So as we can see in this exercise, in many cases it is an urban myth that traveling by ADO is cheaper, in reality it “depends”, sometimes it costs the same and sometimes more expensive than pre-contracted private transportation.

Now let’s see some examples to go to Playa del Carmen and Tulum:

• Example 3 – Trip of 2 people from Cancun airport to Playa del Carmen:
  • In ADO it is $480 mxn and again it leaves you at the Playa del Carmen bus terminal where you will have to go out with your suitcases to find a taxi. Suppose that the taxi would cost the same because Playa del Carmen has higher prices than Cancun. The total cost of transportation would be $880 mxn.
  • In private transportation you would pay an average of $1,000 – 1,300 mxn which makes a not so big difference and you are more comfortable, you do not have to transfer, you travel with air conditioning and the security that someone you trust will take you, besides it is much more travel faster in a car than on a bus.
• Example 4 – Trip of 4 people from Cancun airport to Tulum:
  • In ADO you would pay $1,600 mxn and in the same way they leave you at the terminal and from there you have to take a taxi of approximately $400 mxn to your destination, so the total you will end up paying is actually $2,000 mxn.
  • A private transportation to Tulum costs around $1,800 mxn.

Therefore, we can realize that in reality this urban myth that traveling by bus is always the best and cheapest option is just that, a myth.

Taxi from Cancun Airport to Playa del Carmen (not recommended)

Now, what about the “official” taxis to go to Playa del Carmen.

I would definitely leave that option as a last resort since that is the most expensive transportation you can find and taxi drivers are unfortunately not always very reliable. To give you an idea of ​​the prices, for 2 people from the airport to the Cancun Hotel Zone they can charge you $1,200 mxn when private transportation costs around $700 mxn.

The problem is that there is no “official” tariff, so many carriers charge what they want and more if they see that you are a tourist.

It is also important that you know that there is a very common and not very legal practice at the airport with people who approach you to sell you the transfer right there, if they see that you have just arrived, and even if you have the transportation already reserved, many times they try to deceive tourists by saying that they are from the same company and put them in the vans or taxis and when they arrive at the hotels they charge them arguing that it was not paid.

So if you have already paid for a transfer, make sure you know who is going for you, that they give you the name of the operator that will pick you up, do not give data that is not necessary to anyone because they can use it to get into other vans or taxis with deception and They charge you for transportation at the end of the trip.

If a transportation company responds quickly, tells you the name of the person who is going to pick you up, if they contact you when your flight arrives to tell you where they will pick you up, then it is a reliable company.

Can I use Uber from Cancun Airport to Playa del Carmen?

Unfortunately no, although Uber was recently approved in Cancun, you only find drivers in the city, with certain difficulties, and they are not allowed to pick up people at the airport, in addition to the fact that there is no Uber service in Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

In summary, if you already have your vacation to Playa del Carmen ready but you have not thought about or booked a transfer to get to your hotel or airbnb, do not risk having to wait and see what transportation rate you can get once you arrive at the Cancun airport , play it safe and remember… It is better to prevent!