# Exploring Yucatan



## Jaeger62 (Mar 11, 2016)

Hola! 

My fiancé and I are really interested in possibly retiring to the Yucatan Peninsula area of Mexico. I'm am roughly 10 -12 years away, but I figure early planning and exploratory trips now will be better than moving there sight unseen.

We'd like to take an initial trip down to explore multiple areas for about 10 days. We are from Texas so are used to the heat, but we will probably go in the summer to find out right away if we can handle the Yucatan at its worst lol. 

We would fly into Cancun, then work our way westward hitting Valladolid, Merida, then explore the areas between Telchac and Chuburná. 

I was kind of thinking 2 days in Valladolid, maybe 3 days in Merida, 2 or 3 along the coast between Telchac and Chuburná, then back east to finish out the trip in Playa before flying back home.

Any suggested deviations from that plan? Our goal would be to see if there are areas we really fall in love with, then take yearly trips getting to really know the area before retirement.

Thanks for any advice!


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

I've been to Merida many years ago. It was a nice place, a little hot a and land-locked. The German couple we bought our current house from are now living in Merida - and like it. When you go to the beach in Texas, do you go to Galveston OR South Padre ? I think the Progresso area is a little like Galveston. The stretch south of Cancun - Puerto Aventuras, Akumal, Tulum - is more like South Padre.


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## RickS (Aug 6, 2009)

Well, in my opinion South Padre is much better than Galveston but it surely doesn't come anywhere close to beaches on the Caribbean south of Cancun....


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Of course - I was just trying to make a point.


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## Jaeger62 (Mar 11, 2016)

We really don't go to the beach often here. My favorite Texas beach is actually in Rockport, very clear. 

We would love to retire on the Caribbean side, but I worry about costs (will be living on about $3,800-4,000/month) and the threat of hurricanes. I'm wondering if being inland (like Valladolid) and making trips to the beaches wouldn't be the smartest option? The dream retirement would obviously be on the Caribbean, we just don't know if that's the smartest choice from those two perspectives.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

If you are not going to the beach right now you may not be beach people so why pay a premium to live at the beach. There is a whole lot more to do on cities and you have real neighbors and a real communities rather than neighbors that keep changing and people who come to be your neighbor to party..We were offered a condo in Akumal for a month by some friends of ours and I went just about crazy. We left agter 3 weeks in the area and actually after 3 days there we left to explore Yucatan and went back to Akuma about one day a week, to do laundry and leave again. Everythime we went back we had new neighbors..one particularly obnoxious family from Merida with screaming kids who did manga to do a bunch of damage. Some idiot young American tourists who arrived in the middle of the day as we were having lunch , they were drunk out of their mind , loud and took off all their clothes to go running to the sea, unfortunately they did not drown..do not remember the neighbors from the 3rd week nut we were out of there to never go back..The condo was very nice, right on the beach with a splendid view but that was not enough for us.to each its own.
We realized that when you leave on the beach your neighbors keep changing and they are not always the best crowd to be around. Give a me a stable neighborhood any day.


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

Jaeger62 said:


> We really don't go to the beach often here. My favorite Texas beach is actually in Rockport, very clear.
> 
> We would love to retire on the Caribbean side, but I worry about costs (will be living on about $3,800-4,000/month) and the threat of hurricanes. I'm wondering if being inland (like Valladolid) and making trips to the beaches wouldn't be the smartest option? The dream retirement would obviously be on the Caribbean, we just don't know if that's the smartest choice from those two perspectives.


Changing tack - do you shop at Costco/Walmart/Home Depot today ? Would you miss that ? Think twice before answering.

<edit> apparently there is a Costco in Merida, as I believe is true in Puerto Aventuras


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## Jaeger62 (Mar 11, 2016)

chuck846 said:


> Changing tack - do you shop at Costco/Walmart/Home Depot today ? Would you miss that ? Think twice before answering.
> 
> <edit> apparently there is a Costco in Merida, as I believe is true in Puerto Aventuras


We are really hoping to get away from that atmosphere. Actually we very rarely go to Walmart or Costco. I would much prefer food from a local market


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## Jaeger62 (Mar 11, 2016)

citlali said:


> If you are not going to the beach right now you may not be beach people so why pay a premium to live at the beach. There is a whole lot more to do on cities and you have real neighbors and a real communities rather than neighbors that keep changing and people who come to be your neighbor to party..We were offered a condo in Akumal for a month by some friends of ours and I went just about crazy. We left agter 3 weeks in the area and actually after 3 days there we left to explore Yucatan and went back to Akuma about one day a week, to do laundry and leave again. Everythime we went back we had new neighbors..one particularly obnoxious family from Merida with screaming kids who did manga to do a bunch of damage. Some idiot young American tourists who arrived in the middle of the day as we were having lunch , they were drunk out of their mind , loud and took off all their clothes to go running to the sea, unfortunately they did not drown..do not remember the neighbors from the 3rd week nut we were out of there to never go back..The condo was very nice, right on the beach with a splendid view but that was not enough for us.to each its own.
> We realized that when you leave on the beach your neighbors keep changing and they are not always the best crowd to be around. Give a me a stable neighborhood any day.


Would the smaller villages on the west side Techumal Puerto, Chelum, Chicxulub, Chuburná, etc be less touristy and rowdy than the Caribbean side?


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

There are mosre individual houses it seems in some of the Gulf areas where we stayed so it was quieter but I would think it varies and you still have lots of empty places and then lots of busy places, The beach is a place people go to have fun and party and I would think you still have parties,,,I am sure you can find some quieter areas and some condos that may not have as many rentals.
I do not know, after spending time in Akumal I made up my mind the beach was not for me. 
The gulf seems more sedate when we were there but it could be that is was off season or just a lucky day,

Our experiene made me realize in time that the beach was not for us as I like to have the same neighbors and not a new batch coming every week with more energy than I can bear,


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## bgirl (Sep 13, 2015)

For starters you definitely have a long time to figure it out and visit ....And things will change dramatically in 10-12 years. As they do anywhere in the world no matter where you are or where you live ( I can not stand what has happened in just the last 5 years at my beach in FL) but especially on the caribbean side...I think a lot is growing changing. But if you are interested in "retiring" on the beach...which it sounds like that was/is your dream, there are still many places on the caribbean side that are not crazy over populated and wild party places. You just have to decide how close you want to be to a big city and how far off the beaten path you might enjoy your retirement
As far as the gulf side ... I personally am just not a fan of the gulf and throughout my house hunting what I have seen looks a lot less desirable. 

Maybe check out places like Puerto Morelos, Akumal, Tulum,Puerto Bravo,(all fairly close to a bigger city) and then Xcalak of course is "the end of the road"


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

My rule: Places that tourists visit for vacations are not places to live in retirement.


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## coondawg (May 1, 2014)

RVGRINGO said:


> My rule: Places that tourists visit for vacations are not places to live in retirement.


Is Lakeside the exception to that rule? Weekends and holidays are awful there.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I guees Paris, San Francisco and many other wonderful places are not place to live and yet I loved living there.. Tourist are fine and can bring a lot to a town but there are places where they are overwhelming..it also depends on what type of tourists you get, I bet anyone living where Spring break happens would like to shoot them all..


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

No kidding Xcalak is the end of the road and a nice place to visit and leave . The gulf does not have the nice places the other side of the peninsula have but it has its charm if you like shabby places , which I happen to like. The water is not as nice either..

As far as Akumal you can have it bigb


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## chuck846 (Jan 15, 2016)

citlali said:


> No kidding Xcalak is the end of the road and a nice place to visit and leave . The gulf does not have the nice places the other side of the peninsula have but it has its charm if you like shabby places , which I happen to like. The water is not as nice either..
> 
> As far as Akumal you can have it bigb


If you ever go to Xcalak I hope you are a diver and you should bring snack-food, maybe alcohol, reading material etc with you. We had a nice stay because the American couple we were staying with were pilots and flew in (through Chetamal) most things. Xcalak has the largest mosquitoes I have ever seen.

We had the same opinion of Akumal - but I think it has under-gone some changes in recent years. And Tulum has definitely grown some.


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## Jaeger62 (Mar 11, 2016)

Would the Caribbean side be affordable on a roughly $3,800/month budget? We both feel like we'd like to be more amongst the locals. We avoid Walmart like the plague here and only go when we need some kitchen appliance, etc thst we need. 

My pension will be roughly that, and we will have about $200,000 to purchase a home with as well once we are positive we've found where we want to be. 

What about the threat of hurricanes?


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