10 days in Riviera Maya itinerary

For one week in Riviera Maya, your main choices are Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum, and Cozumel. You will find underwater activities, jungle, cenotes, Mayan ruins, and beautiful beaches. It really is a good combo of adventure, exploring, and relaxing on a beach. I personally did 3 days in Cozumel and 4 days in Tulum but I have modified my below itinerary based on after having been there, what I would have ideally done for my itinerary. All links you see send you directly to the company I booked with if it’s a tour or hotel or directly to TripAdvisor for information if it is a place.

Cozumel (6 days)

While Cozumel might just seem like a one-day cruise ship destination, Cozumel is so much more than this. Cozumel is world renowned as one of the best scuba diving locations in the world. Even if you are not a diver, you can do a discover scuba and snorkel trips. I found myself not having enough time to do everything I wanted to do!

Day 1: Travel day

Fly into Cancun international airport (CUN). Pre-book a car to the ferry terminal in Playa del Carmen, about an hour drive away. I used Cancun Shuttle and they were fantastic. They called me ahead of time and confirmed the details and let me know how to spot the driver upon my arrival. They were waiting for me outside the airport and took me where I needed to go. At the ferry terminal, get a ticket for the next ferry out. Check in, do a store run, and settle in for a good week!

Note: due to COVID, ferries were not always running when they said they would. I would check with Cancun shuttle or your hotel in Cozumel and see if they can let you know the ferry schedule to confirm. I did this and saved myself an hour of waiting around at the ferry terminal not realizing they got rid of the 7am ferry time the day I was going over.

Note: your hotel can easily call a cab for you to get where you need to go in Cozumel. What was annoying about the cabs is they “conveniently” never had change, hoping tourists would round up.

Day 2: Scuba dive

Scuba dive in the morning and relax at your hotels beach and pool in the afternoon. It’s always best to start your trip with scuba diving as you are not really supposed to drink before diving and you need time after diving before flying. If you have never scuba dived, I highly highly suggest doing what is called a “Discover Scuba” this morning which lets you try out scuba diving without going through the certification. Relax in the afternoon as your body will be pretty beat from diving.

We dived with Scuba Du and found them to be phenomenal. They have a well oiled, efficient machine. The first dive is always a deeper dive focused more on the stunning coral formations, while the second dive is more shallow and focused on seeing sea life such as turtles, stingrays, spotted eagle rays, barracuda, eels, sharks, and fish. You will do a similar pattern the second day of diving too. What was really cool about Scuba Du is that they have a photographer out diving and he was able to get simply once in a lifetime picture of me diving. Since we hadn’t dived in over a year we also went with a private dive master.

Day 3: Scuba dive

Scuba dive in the morning and relax at your hotels beach and pool in the afternoon. This time you can drink more in the afternoon since your early mornings are over and you are done diving! I think 2 days with 4 dives total is the perfect amount. Again, you will be tired so another lazy afternoon is perfect. If you are not a diver, I would replace diving with a snorkel trip. The snorkel trip can be booked through the same company that does diving.

Day 4: Road trip

Rent a Jeep for the next two days. This Jeep rental company was amazing! He will come drop the jeep off at your hotel and pick it up from your hotel and you literally do the paperwork on the side of the road! It took less than 10 minutes. He told us the best gas station to stop at, gave us a map, and was generally super accommodating. Everything you read online about car scams in Mexico is not present in Cozumel, I thought. Take the roof off the Jeep and take a road trip around the island. Go slow, the island is small so make sure you relax and enjoy each stop. Follow this guide on where to stop. End your day at Albertos for dinner and sunset.

Day 5: Pasion Island

Take your Jeep to Isla Pasion. The ferry to Isla Pasion is not far from town, but it is along a dirt road with potholes so be prepared to do a little off-roading! Don’t worry, even I could handle it, you will be fine in your Jeep! This island is GORGEOUS. I felt like I was in some remote Caribbean island here and not in Mexico with the warm water, lack of waves, and beautiful white sand beach. This is a must-do activity. There is a restaurant, hammocks, and swings in the ocean. Really, need I say more. I don’t know if cruise ships dock in Cozumel literally every day of the week or not, but if you can line this day up without the cruise ship there, that would be ideal.

Day 6: ATV tour

Do an ATV tour of the island! This ATV tour takes you through the east end of the island on muddy paths through the jungle and they let you go FAST! It was beautiful, adventurous, and thrilling all at the same time. You make a stop at a secluded cenote where you can take a dip.

Hint: ask the guide to see the photo spot from the top of the cenote and get a birds eye picture of someone swimming in the cenote.

Stay: Intercontinental Presidente or check out this link for PADI dive resorts, meaning a hotel with a dive shop on site so you don’t have to go anywhere in the morning! The Iberostar looked good too. The Presidente was just beautiful with multiple pools, beaches, and great snorkeling right off the resort.

Eat: you will likely eat a lot at your hotel restaurant for the convenience. The Presidente just had stunning 180 degree views of the water as you ate…it was so amazing having breakfast during sunrise on the water right before getting on the dive boat each day. When you have the rental car, try to do some meals in town. You can get some pretty cheap, delicious meals with a good atmosphere.

Tulum, Cancun, or Playa del Carmen (4 days)

If it’s your first time in Riviera Maya, go to Tulum to get a feel of this funky little Instagram town. If you have already done Tulum or are more interested in an all-inclusive resort I would go to Playa del Carmen or Cancun. I would probably choose Playa del Carmen out of those two personally.

Day 7: Cenotes

Ferry to Playa del Carmen and pick up a rental car in Playa. Don’t forget to double check ferry times with the front desk! Here is a guide on renting a car in Cancun area.

I would say after researching that there are three main scams to look out for. One is that Mexican liability insurance is required in Mexico and often not included in rental car prices on sites like Expedia. I personally booked enterprise on Expedia and found it to be included and had absolutely zero issues. They also did not press me on purchasing CDW insurance. I simply brought a printed letter of proof of insurance through my Chase Sapphire card. I simply called Chase ahead of time to get this. I had zero issues, and actually found it rather seamless. Second scam is at gas stations, attendants will run your card and say it didn’t work and then have you pay in cash when they in fact charged your card. Either that or they will try to catch you not paying attention and say you only gave them a 50 peso and not a 500 peso. Just pay attention, I personally had no issues again. Third is that police will pull you over and you will pay a bribe. Again, I drove the speed limit and had no issues. The speed limit is funky and everyone speeds so it might seem slow but I would do it to be safe.

After picking up the car, drive to Dos Ojos cenotes on your way to Tulum. This is such a beautiful cenote with a lot to explore so be prepared to spend a little time here! Spend the rest of the afternoon doing a store run, ATM, or gas stop before checking in and getting settled.

Hint: I did Akumal on the way to Dos Ojos and this was overrated and over touristy and a skip in my mind. From the second you drive up, you are harassed by locals trying to sell you a guided tour of snorkeling with sea turtles. You cannot snorkel without the guide and honestly it was just frustrating and annoying as hell. If you really do want to go, follow this guide.

Day 8: Mayan ruins

Time to see one of the 7 Wonders of the World! Take a road trip to Chichen Itza! I cannot stress enough to get there at opening before the hoards of tour buses show up. It’s a two and a half hour drive from Tulum and it’s in a different state so there’s an hour time difference. You gain an hour going there and loose an hour coming home. Hire a guide at Chichen Itza. The long tour is 2 hours and we finished up even quicker. The grounds are actually much smaller than you’d expect. You pretty much get your main photo op in front, walk the grounds, and that’s it. After that, head to lunch then cenote Ik Kil next to the ruins. It’s a cool stop and you’ll be ahead of the tour buses coming here too.

If you have time, stop at Coba ruins directly on your way home. I personally missed entering by a half hour so I did it a different day, but it is really convenient if you can squeeze it in. Last entry is at 3pm local time which is an hour ahead of Chichen Itza, meaning you loose an hour trying to get there in time. I would be leaving Ik Kil by 11:45am local time or skip the cenote all together if you are pressed on time. Coba is cool because unlike Chichen Itza, it’s less about the one amazing photo op, and more about exploring on your own. You rent a bike and stumble upon all these ruins that have been overtaken by the jungle. While the ruins are less impressive than Chichen Itza, I liked that it is a more adventurous and immersive experience. You could climb the main pyramid prior to COVID which looked amazing.

Note: because of COVID you cannot currently climb Coba so if you don’t make it to Coba, that’s ok. The main draw was climbing to the top and getting a view over the jungle…

Day 9: Tulum Beach

Tulum beach! Get your last day of tanning on! I would stay at your hotels beach or pick a beach club to go to and post up for the day!

If you are looking to pair the beach with a little something extra on your last day or you are staying longer in Tulum, there are plenty more cenotes, beaches, or ruins to check out. Gran cenote or Casa cenote looked like the best in Tulum. If you are looking for more beaches, you can check out Playa Paraíso or Sian Kian. I found Playa Paraíso, which is supposedly the prettiest beach in Tulum, to be almost like Venice Beach in California, good people watching but a skip in my mind. Too crowded. It was fun renting bikes and getting to the beach though. Lastly, you can check out the Tulum ruins, if you feel like it. I heard they are less impressive than Chichen Itza and Coba (although they are on the water) and given I’d already done the two, I’d say three was too many for me so I gave it a pass.

Lastly, if you are trying to experience any of the famous Tulum nightlife, I would suggest checking it out with Day 8 and 9 and trying to make these days a Friday and Saturday. I wouldn’t stay out late before Chichen Itza as its an early morning and a long drive. Here is a guide, but essentially, nightlife follows a set party route, where depending on the night of the week, there is the one ‘it’ bar to go to. I personally went during COVID and Thursday and Friday were fun, but Saturday was not. Unlike what the guide says, during COVID, there is extremely expensive cover as a result of what I believe to be price gauging. $20 Thursday, $50 Friday, and $200 Saturday. Yes those are USD prices!! What a ripoff! If you don’t pay the cover, there is no where else to party and bars got shut down at 12:30am regardless so you are paying cover for maybe two hours of being in the bar….but I presume this will change after COVID subsides and Tulum returns to normal.

Day 10: Travel day

Time to fly home! Enjoy any last bits of sunshine before your flight. If you went out the night before, try to make sure you have an afternoon flight time out.

Stay: Coco Tulum was an amazing place to stay. Basically little tree huts in the sand set in the jungle, along the beach with a personal hammock outside your room. There was shared bathrooms but even the bathrooms were adorable. I loved this place. It is on the end of the strip of stuff, but nothing was too far of a walk. I also considered Zamas, especially if you don’t plan on going to the restaurants a lot, or Selina for it being an even better location but a smaller, less cool room. I found Coco Tulum to be a happy medium between the two and would definitely go back. Staying along the beach was non-negotiable for me (hello that’s why you go to Mexico!) so I found these to be the most reasonably priced places without resorting to dorm beds.

Eat: lots of good places along Tulum beach or you can go into Tulum town if you are up for a small drive! Follow this guide.

Cash: Cash is king in Tulum. While most restaurants took card, there were many situations where Pesos was either required or much preferred. A bar might say they don’t take card but if you press they do. To get into ruins they took card again, but there were just so many situations (e.g. bike rental, tips, etc.) that only took Pesos, so I would have a good amount on hand for the trip.

Cost

So for the value I think it is EXCELLENT. But it is not cheap-cheap Mexico. You can make it cheap, but spending a little extra, your money will go so much further. Here is a breakdown of what I spent:

Flight: $400 roundtrip LAX-CUN booked a month and a half our (book earlier for cheaper, I was just concerned about COVID cancelling the trip)

Cozumel Hotel: Cozumel was American prices, but again for the value it was just unbeatable. We paid $250 per night for a room with a King bed including all taxes and fees, which seems pricey but SO worth it. This same resort in the states would easily cost over a grand a night, so while not dirt cheap, the value is undeniable. So assuming you are splitting it that is $750 per person for the 6 nights.

Tulum Hotel: In Tulum, we paid around $190 per night inclusive of all taxes and fees, and did the ocean view room (jungle view was $160 / night). In retrospect, I would do the jungle view room as our ocean view was pretty minimal. So that is $240 per person for a king bed room with a shared bath for the 3 nights. If you want a private bath expect to pay an astronomical amount more. There are some hostels and a cheap Airbnb shipping container (yes a shipping container) that you can stay in, but I found the value of access to the beach well worth the extra cost. Tulum beach front hotels are soooo expensive so I would try for a in-between value place like Coco Tulum that I recommended. If you REALLY are trying to save money, you can stay in Tulum town for like $10 per day at an Airbnb but again, I valued being by the beach. Waking up and going for a morning dip, coming home and walking along the beach for sunset, just the little moments I would miss by having stayed in town.

Jeep Rental: the Jeep in Cozumel was $85 / per day. You can get around $60 / day if you can drive stick, which I cannot. Seems expensive, but again just so well worth it. This was my favorite day of my trip when we rented the jeep. So that is $85 / person if you rent for two days and split it with two people. The guy who rented us the car was SO helpful, I tipped him $15.

Tulum Rental Car: SO cheap. I got a rate of $11 / per day on Expedia. Everything I read online is that as soon as I got there, there would be all these extra charges for insurance, and maybe I got lucky, but I had zero issues with any extra charges and did not have to argue against any extra charges. They did charge me $50 for dropping off at a different location than I picked up. So in total it would be $83 for the 3 days, but if you split it with one person it is $42 per person.

Gas: I way over filled the jeep. You shouldn’t need to spend more than $20 on gas, it is a small island. For the rental car, we used about $80 worth of gas. So in total about $50 per person on gas.

Scuba Diving: Diving was $180 for two days diving, not included gear rental which all comes at an added daily fee. For two days, we paid $70 each in gear rental. I also did a private dive master for $75 per day since I hadn’t dived in over a year. Assuming you have dived more recently, it will be around $250 for the 4 dives. I splurged and got the photos for $100. You also must tip so expect to pay about $10-15 per day in tips.

ATV Tour: this was $63 plus a tip of about $10. I also bought the photos and some tequila which added $30 for the tequila and $30 for all the photos.

Other activities: the rest of the activities aren’t overly expensive, but it does feel like you get nickeled and dimed throughout them. No one is that expensive, but it adds up. Isla Pasion was a $30 ferry but it counted as a credit to the restaurant. Entry to Chichen Itza was $25 plus a guide for $50 which you can split between your group, plus tip of $10. Coba was $4. All the cenotes were around $5-$15. A one way taxi in Cozumel or Tulum is $10. Parking is $3-$5.

Food: this is totally up to you and your budget. If you want, you can buy cheap tacos all week for $5 per meal. But keep in mind if you have to taxi there, add that cost into the meal. Realistically, you will probably split doing meals at your hotel for the convenience which you can expect to pay American prices ($10 cocktail and $15-$25 entrees) and do the rest of the meals at cheap restaurants. Cheap restaurants, we paid as low as $50 for 5 people eating and buying drinks!

Overall: while this can be a cheaper trip, I think its worth the value to go more middle-road budget on this trip if you are not too tight on money. Tulum and Cozumel aren’t exactly cheap and people come with a lot of money to spend. Adding everything up, that is about $2000 in expenses not including food. I would budget for $2500 or more to be on the safe side for a 10-day long trip, especially if you splurge on photos and eat at your hotels restaurant. That is quite a bit for a week long trip, but I think what stands out to me about Riviera Maya is all the activities so I really think you would be missing out if you didn’t splurge on them. If you just want a cheap beach vacation, you can do all-inclusive in Cancun, go to Cabo, or do Tulum Town minus all the activities and only eating at cheap restaurants.

Final thoughts

I absolutely love Cozumel!! I crammed that 6 day itinerary into 3 days and would love to go spend more time in Cozumel and relax more next time. I did go during COVID, so I got to see Cozumel without the cruise ship passengers. I found the island to be laid back and have more of a Caribbean feel, which was right up my ally. The diving of course was just unbeatable, like I truly don’t think I will top that in my lifetime. I can definitely see myself coming here time and time again.

Tulum was really funky, and I absolutely am in love with the place that I stayed. Like a tree hut in the jungle in the sand, what! That said, the water had lots of waves so I couldn’t go swimming like I normally would in the Caribbean Sea which was a huge drawback for me. I can sit on the beach and not swim already in California…I also did not like the instagrammy, boujee vibe. Girls were way too dressed up for a beach town in Tulum, most places weren’t actually that cool rather it was about the perfect photo, and bars charged ridiculous covers, although the last one might be a COVID thing. Combine the posh vibe with it still being Mexico with the locals and it was just kind of odd to me…I guess I prefer calm seas and a laid back attitude.

Tulum didn’t have the best beaches, or the best partying, you can find better beaches in the Caribbean and better partying in Cabo (again though this was during COVID so I’m willing to give the partying a second chance), but even though it’s not the best at any one thing, it does have a combination of everything which is a big draw in my opinion. I think it’s great to go for your first time and check it out, and it also is a great jumping off point for ruins and cenotes. On a second trip, I would stay in Playa del Carmen at an all-inclusive and enjoy that for a few days and see cenotes over there. I think the ruins you only need to do once, and don’t need to go on subsequent trips.

All in all, I am blown away with Riviera Maya area. It truly beat my expectations. I guess I thought all of Mexico is more like Cabo, but I enjoyed this much better. I found the area to be rather rich, meaning the locals seemed very well into upper middle class and had money. Hell, Playa del Carmen looked nicer than many parts of the United States. Driving around, you’d hardly even know your in Mexico.

Unlike Cabo, vendors on the beach don’t really annoy you. In Cozumel it was non-existent and in Tulum it was limited. One would come by every half hour or so but they looked very well off. I could almost mistake them for tourists. They were selling cute clothes and not just crap like in Cabo. Some were even doing fashion shows of the clothing they were selling…only in Tulum! That is my biggest grip with Mexico is I HATE the vendors selling you weed every two seconds on the beach in Cabo and you can’t take your eyes off valuables for a second, but I did not get that here. Walking around the restaurants at night there was a small bit off this that turned me off a little bit. People selling weed, cocaine, Molly, etc. Made me feel a little unsafe, that is until I saw girls walking around in 5 inch heels. Again, weird combo of things in Tulum.

Overall, this has been my favorite trip to Mexico so far and is certainly my favorite area in Mexico! It is a 5hr flight from LA and well worth the extra couple hours in my opinion. I just love the combo of jungle, cenotes, ocean, and ruins! Just such a perfect week doing adventurous stuff that was all unique and different but also partying and getting beach time in. Riviera Maya is exactly the vacation you expect it to be in pictures! It lived up to the hype!