Mexico travel tips

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NOTE: This page is a daughter page of: Travel

I live in San Francisco and I haven't been to Mexico that many times, but I have been to Playa de Carmel and to Cabo in sep 2020 (yes, during covid) here are some rapid bullet points to make your trip great:

• Carrying Money:

• • Always Check Conversion Markup: Most tourist traps in Mexico accept US dollars (they might even prefer them), but you have to be careful of markup. As of Oct 2020, the conversion rate from US dollars to Pesos should be 21.2, but most places set it more like 18 to get an extra 15% or more from you, and restaurants often have two different prices. Always check!
  • Get Pesos from an ATM: Money exchange places at airport are always a rip off! Assuming you have Visa/Mastercard, you can usually wait till you get to a hotel and you'll probably pretty quickly find an ATM for pesos.
  • Mexico isn't like Barcelona, people are pretty honest and there are fewer pickpockets, but that doesn't mean no theft - you still want to be a little careful.
  • Tipping: Tipping isn't expected in much of Mexico, but in tourist cities 15% to 20% of the bill is still polite (if not already added). You can tip in US dollar or pesos. It varies from place to place, but for Cabo, recommendations are:
    • Shared shuttle driver ~ tip $2-3 US each way.
    • Taxis ~ only if the driver does something extra - taxis are already expensive enough!
    • Bellboy at hotel ~ $2 US.
    • Maid ~ $4-5 per day.
    • Room Service ~ $3 per delivery
    • Hotel Pool Service / Beach Service / Bar ~ $1-2 per round.
    • Tours ~ 15% of the value.
  • Given how hard covid hit tourist areas you might want to be generous during this time.

• Dink Safe and Cheap:
  • Most places, even Cabo, the water is slightly questionable. Locals might drink it directly, but it has minerals your body is not used to... so why take the risk. Unfortunately, buying the little (1 liter or less) bottles of water for $2 each is expesnive. The smart thing to do is find a store like Oxxo (Mexico's 711) and they can have huge (as is hard to lift) multiple gallon water containser for more like $4. Get two of these to cover you for 4 day (for 2 people) and you just saved yourself $40.
  • Bring your own water bottles from home! Mexico can get hot, so always have water on you (decanted from your bigger bottle).

• Food:
  • Ask locals for recommendations... the further you walk from tourist traps, the more likey you are to find places that are authentic, and suddenly you realize you just ate a huge meal of incredible tacos and all drank beers for less than $8 a person. Score! If you are paying American prices for food, you are not far enough from the tourists.

• Avoiding Scams:
  • There are a few scams in Mexico, but it is very city dependent. Really the biggest one isn't about outright theft, it's more like time share presentation scams. Taxis are also a scam, how much they are. Shop around and ask multiple quotes then negotiate.. never assume the first price is the one you take. The longer you stay in Mexcio the cheaper things get because you realize everything can be negotiated down - often to 30% of what was originally offered. It's not so much a scam - it's just the barter culture.

• Local Sim:
  • Internet can be spotty so before you go, Download Google Maps Offline for your destination!
  • Bring a Spare Phone and Get a Local SIM on your first day (if staying for a while). I actually have failed at this before... I got a SIM and couldn't get it working. My tip is to bring a spare phone... keep your normal SIM In your normal phone and then you can use that for internet and photos... hopefully your second phone is SIM unlocked, so you can go into one of the local phone provider shops (in any mall) and ask them to install something with 4GB internet (should be $5-10 US only) and make sure you set the phone mobile data off whenever you are not using it. Use this phone to call locals and only turn on data/internet when you are in a jam!
  • If you have friends you want to meet, one or both of you will probably lose connectivity, so make solid plans for a time and place to meet beforehand. In a pinch, most Mexican's are friendly enough that for a couple of dollars they'd let you borrow their phone a few minutes.

See Also

• Cabo Time Share Presentation Scam - How To Make it Fun
• Packing for a trip

Links

• Traveling to Mexico? 19 Tips You Need to Know - pretty basic.