Navigating Cancun Airport
Navigating Cancun Airport as of February 2022
This is a short blog post for those who live in Boston, MA, or New England and are want to know about the best way to travel to Mexico City. I received many questions about how I flew from Boston to Mexico City? what was the best flight route? this post will cover the answers.
If you Google Boston to Mexico City flights, most of them are long flights and the flight gets pricer if the duration is short. Most of the flights are to Cancun since it is one of the most visited cities in Mexico from the United States.
After doing some research, I found the best and most affordable travel route (and what worked for us) is to go to Cancun and stay there on one of your ways. Then, book a domestic flight to Mexico City.
We booked a round trip “Boston to Cancun” as our flight. We avoided Frontier and Spirit airlines and we paid $320/ ticket. Then, we booked a domestic flight from Cancun to Mexico City with Volaries; we paid $90/per ticket.
The total price is $410 (Usually $480 Boston to Mexico City)
Going to Mexico City
We decided to stop by Cancun on our way back and go directly to Mexico City. Our trip from Boston to Mexico City was long. We had a couple of layovers… It took us a total of 13 hours to get to CDMX.
Boston to Philadelphia to Cancun: We had an early flight at 7 AM from Boston. The flight had 2 hours layover in Philadelphia. Two hours later, we were on the second flight to Cancun.
Immigration Form: During the flight, we were handed out a form to fill out, this form is what you will need to give to the immigration officer. The flight is about 3 hours. At Cancun airport, we went through immigration, the line was long and took I would say about 30 to 40 minutes. The officer took the form from us and gave us our entry form. The entry form has how many days we were given to stay in Mexico, usually, it is 180 days. Keep this form because you will need it when you leave Mexico.
Switching Terminals at Cancun Airport: After immigration and baggage claim, exit the international terminal (Terminal 4). Outside of the Terminal, there were many taxi drivers; no need for a taxi to go to the domestic terminal (Terminal 2), there is an airport shuttle that comes every 10 minutes and stops at every terminal.
Cancun to Mexico City: At Terminal 2, we had to go through security again. We checked our Volaries flight online through Volaries App, so there wasn’t a need to stop at the airline desk. Our flight was at 6 PM but it had one hour delay.
Mexico City: We finally made it to Mexico City at 9 pm. Once we exited the airport, we were able to order Uber. I remember our Uber driver asked us to wait next to Gate 4 in order to pick us up. We Ubered from the airport to our Airbnb.
Mexico City to Boston
Our flight to Cancun was three days before our flight to Boston. We chose to stop by Cancun on our way back to relax by the water and to explore Cancun. This really worked very well for us and I highly recommend it.
Mexico City to Cancun: Our flight was delayed by an hour and 30 minutes. The flight is about 3 hours. One thing I learned is that Volaries is similar to Spirit airline and delays are normal. Once we landed at Cancun airport and exited the airport terminal, we were welcomed by many taxi drivers.
Navigating Cancun Airport Transportation: Cancun Airport is a mess! Uber is unavailable at Cancun airport. Uber drivers still face many issues from the local taxi companies. Once you exit the airport terminal, you will notice many people are just waiting for their rides, and taxi companies representatives try to recruit people to use their services. All this caused so many traffic jams. Each car (usually a minivan) is booked for an individual or couple; this is so inefficient.
There are three transportation methods from Cancun Airport:
Book a shuttle or taxi service online.
We booked with Cancun Airport Transportation. $35 USD for one way for 2 people and $50 USD for a round trip. The company representative waited outside with the company sign. We checked in with him but we had to wait almost 40 minutes for our car and it took us 45 minutes from Cancun Airport to our Cancun hotel in Centro because of the traffic jam.
Get a taxi from the airport
There are many taxi drivers waiting. You may get a very high rate for your trip because taxi drivers don’t have a meter. Also, taxi drivers take only cash.
Public Transportation
Yes, there is a bus that takes you from the airport to downtown Cancun. The bus company is called Ado. The bus is very affordable; it costs 98 pesos to Cancun ($5 USD) per person. Once you are in downtown Cancun, you can get an Uber to your hotel.
Ado Bus Rates to Yucatan cities
No matter what you ended up choosing for transportation, you will have to wait for at least20 minutes. I would give the bus a try when I visit Cancun next time.
Cancun to Boston: Three days later, it is time to go home. Make sure to get to the airport at least 3.5 hours before your flight. We ordered an Uber from our hotel to the airport for 300 Pesos ($15 USD). You will need to give the immigration form to the officer at Cancun airport. Our flight was a direct flight from Cancun to Boston Logan airport. The flight duration is about 3 hours.
I hope you found this post and my travel diary helpful and it gets you ready for your trip. I would appreciate it if you write a comment in the section below your travel tips.
Have a safe travel
