Travel, live, and retire in Mexico!

with
Rosana Hart

Ways to Travel to Mexico

See also my page, Entering Mexico on a Tourist Visa if You're Thinking of Living or Working in Mexico for some useful tips.

Going by air

Flying to Mexico is the most common way to go to the main resort and tourist destinations. Major U.S. airlines offer non-stop or direct flights to a wide variety of Mexican cities. You can work with a travel agent or you can book your flight over the internet. There is a tremendous variety in price, so it's worth doing some homework. Booking way ahead sometimes gives you a bargain price -- but you can also sometimes get very good prices if you have an impulse to go right away, or within a week or two. Look for U.S. or Mexican airlines.

Charter flights can offer rock bottom prices at times, but do be aware that the charter operator may have the right to cancel the flight if it doesn't fill, and they can do this up to about 10 days before the flight. However, if you want to cancel your reservation with them it may not be possible.

Vacation packages to Mexico

Combined airfare and hotel packages can offer you very good value. The hotels may not be the best known, but sometimes they are. And in this internet era, it's easy enough to do a search on the name of the hotel and town. Especially if you are traveling to Cancun, Acapulco, Ixtapa, or any of the many other vacation type destinations in Mexico, vacation package deals are well worth exploring.

Another kind of package is the guided tour, often of several cities and typically with hotels and transportation included. This can be very good for people who haven't explored Mexico much or who speak little or no Spanish.

Travel to places in Mexico

See my discussion of traveling to Acapulco, to Cancun, to Cuernavaca, to Guanajuato, to Mexico City, to Puerto Vallarta, and to Tijuana.

Cruises to Mexico

Cruises leave from both coasts of the U.S., and vary in how long they last. The shorter cruises can be very economical. Cruises will only give you a taste of Mexico compared to other vacation choices, but that might be just the thing to whet your appetite!

Mexican buses

Mexico has an incredibly good network of buses going between cities. Most foreign travelers prefer the deluxe buses or the first-class ones, which typically offer movies, comfortable seating, rest rooms, and an easy schedule of many departures a day. Between the smaller towns you may get retired school buses from the U.S. and more rigorous conditions.

Driving a car or RV

See What's it Like to Drive in Mexico? This is from my book Mexico with Heart.