Isla Holbox, Mexico
Getting there:
We took a direct flight JFK to Cancún on Jet Blue, which took about three and half hours. We arranged a transfer through Holbox Tourism (car and ferry for $130USD) to the town of Chiquilá where you can catch the ferry directly to Holbox. The ride was just shy of two hours. There are two ferry services that leave from Chiquilá – 9 Hermanos and Holbox Express. One leaves on the hour and the other on the half hour and costs about 140-150 pesos. It is a super easy trip that only takes about 25 minutes.
Isla Holbox is a car-free island and all the streets are sand, so modes of transportation are walk, bike or golf cart. Through our hotel, we arranged a taxi (yellow golf cart) and our driver was waiting for us when our ferry arrived. The ride was about five minutes.
We decided to do it a little differently on the way home – we walked to the ferry (about 15 minutes), paid for the ferry separately ($150 MXN) and had reserved the transfer with a different company which saved us about $80 USD. A quick ferry ride back to Chiquilá, two hour shuttle ride to Cancún airport, 3+ hour flight to JFK and we were back in NYC.
Anything with a *, I highly recommend.
Where we stayed:
Casa Las Tortugas* - Located on the western edge of the “hotel district.” Breakfast is included (a savory option and a sweet option) and was delicious. It’s right on the beach with plenty of chairs and umbrellas., has a pool, and spacious rooms that have a very Anthropologie-Bohemian-beach-white washed stucco-wood beamed-airy style.
Where we ate:
Mandarina* - The restaurant at Casa Las Tortugas and rated as one of the top five on the Yucatán Peninsula. Breakfasts - chilaquiles, chicken crepe, fruit, yogurt and granola. Lunches - Veggie sandwich, chicken sandwich, seafood sliders. Dinner* - Cocktails, Mexicá salad, tagliatelle with shrimp, lobster special with garlic butter sauce(one of the best meals of the trip!).
Et Voila - Cute restarauant with a mint green VW Bus parked inside. They were having a special the night we were there which included three tacos and a beer for next to nothing. We both ordered the chicken tacos and they were exactly that – chicken laying in a tortilla. Seasoned well, but nothing to write home about.
Barba Negra* - Block from the hotel. Drinks were great, guacamole was amazing and the tacos were literally some of the best I’ve ever had. You get three tacos per order and we tried three different ones – spicy, garlic fish, baja shrimp, and cauliflower. All SO GOOD!
La Botana - A cute two story restaurant / sports bar. Fish tacos and beer.
Por Qué No - Gelato.
Viva Zapata* - Large restaurant tucked back off the street between buildings with open kitchen/grill. The owner has his own fishing boat, so you’re eating the freshest of the fresh. Queso fundito with chorizo, arrabiata pasta with shrimp, fish in a banana leaf and Margarita Zapata.
Luuma - Tapas bar next door to and owned by Casa Las Tortugas. Many of their handcrafted cocktails, fish croquettes, empanadas, tacos, and a few others and every single one of them was delicious and the presentations were amazing. A top meal of the trip.
El Hornito Argento - Pizza place in the center of town. Pizza was great and went perfectly with a refreshing glass bottle of Coke.
Where we drank:
Básico - A block off the beach and also serves food. Drinks were great and the vibe was very chill.
Mandarina (rooftop)* - Above the restaurant at Casa Las Tortugas. Delicious mezcal drinks and complimentary sushi roll (apparently, it’s the best sushi on the island). One of the nights we were there was the weekly Sunset Cocktail Party for all hotel guests which included a complimentary cocktail and sushi roll.
Hotel Arena - Rooftop bar on the tallest building building in Holbox - three stories. Great 360º view and is right off the town square. Met a cool Dutch couple and one drink turned into four.
Villa Mar - Beachfront bar with swings. Had a few Sols.
Salma* - Very cool bar. After passing under a red neon side, you walk through a short “tunnel” from palm fronds making your way to dimly lit taverna that smelled of a campfire and had this chill trans music playing. Swings replaced bar stools.
Where we saw/did:
Relaxed on the beach.
Many strolls through the town filled with shops, restaurants, a town square and some beautiful murals painted on the pastel buildings.
Rented bikes for a day to explore the island.
Flamingos* - Ride as fast east as you can go (about 15 minutes) and when you think you can’t go any further, keep going. Leave your bikes. Cross the “river” to Punta Mosquito. Walk along the beach (about 20-25 minutes). Walk out into the shallow water until you hit the sandbar. And there they were. Over 100 bright pink flamingos enjoying a late breakfast of whatever they could find in the sea that day.
Whale Sharks* - Booked with Turística Moguel ($120 USD). 2 hour (rough) boat ride to the whale sharks - take dramamine even if you don’t get motion sickness! This is definitely very touristy, but also pretty awesome. There were many boats at the spot when we arrived. Once El Capitán would spot a whale shark, he would yell “GO GO GO!” and two people would jump in (with snorkel and fins) with Naní (our tour guide) to swim alongside these amazing creatures. They are HUGE! You get the opportunity to swim twice for about 5-10 minutes. We made a few stops along the way, the first, so that El Capitán and Naní could fish for our lunch. Using no poles, they’d throw in a line with a hook holding some chum and out they’d pull a fish every single time. They were catching what they called Rubio, a silver fish with a lemon yellow dorsal fin and tail. After filling their bucket with Rubio, we made our second stop to snorkel in much calmer water. While the coral wasn’t that impressive, the sea life we saw was! Several huge stingrays, a moray eel, fish of various species, and the most exciting, a sea turtle! The third stop was on shore at a private little beach that was home to a rustic snack shack selling chips, soda and beer. While we’d been snorkeling El Capitán and Naní had been preparing our lunch from the fish they had caught – ceviche. It doesn’t get much more fresh than this and it was so good! The trip back, while not nearly as bumpy, ended in a down pour which wasn’t exactly a great way to conclude the long trip…but hey, it was an adventure!