In Chiqiula: Buses will drop you off at the dock for the Ferry. Before you enter the dock you’ll see a ticket both. Here the price is P$90 for foreigners. If you head down the dock, there is another Ferry Company, 9 Hermanos, where tickets cost P$80. Basically, the Ferrys to Holbox run hourly, beginning at 6am and ending at 9:30pm. The exceptions are that there are no ferrys at 7am, 3pm, or 6pm.
Isla Holbox >>> Chiquila
Getting off of the island is your first step to getting anywhere else. Boats leave hourly. Check out the schedule below, and be sure to plan the next step of your journey for catching ongoing buses, which aren’t as frequent as the ferry. You can get just about anywhere from Chiquila in a taxi, but the rides aren’t cheap.
Cancún >>> Isla Holbox
The ferry to Isla Holbox.
On the map it looks as though it should take 2 hours to get to Chiquila (the port town for Isla Holbox); in fact, it takes nearly double that – depending on the day of the week. Second class buses leave the Cancun bus station at 7:50 am and 12:40 pm daily and cost $80 pesos ($6.40 usd).
A new highway has sped up the process a bit, but the ride is a good excuse to take a nap or take in the local towns and villages along the way — thatched-roof cabañas with television satellite dishes affixed to the sides, an intriguing juxtaposition.
And, if your appetite starts to poke, your driver may be like ours and take rest stops at the roadside stands of coconut ice cream, strawberries and cream or the like along the way.
Once you’ve arrived in Chiquila the ferry to Isla Holbox is straight down the pier in front of where the bus dropped you. It’s best to get straight there because the ferries tend to leave promptly after the bus arrives.
Isla Holbox >>> Valladolid/Merida
If you are an early riser, you can catch the first ferry of the day at 5 am and get a direct bus to Valladolid or Merida. The bus is scheduled for 5:30, and will wait on the boat to arrive, so don’t stress if the boat is a little delayed. While we do like to get an early start on the day, 5 am was a little early for us. So we hopped the 7 am ferry and went straight on to the bus bound for Tizimin (There is also a bus from the 1pm ferry). A second class bus from Chiquila to Tizimin cost $5usd/$70 pesos and took around 2 hours. Once in Tizimin you have to go around the corner to the other bus terminal and catch the bus to Valladolid for around $27 pesos. Or it could be worth looking for a colectivo. You could also catch a bus to Merida from Tizimin for $6.25usd/$85 pesos.
The other option here is taking a bus or colectivo from Chiquita to El Ideal. Any of the buses headed to Cancun should be able to drop you off here. This tiny town, really just a taxi station and bus stop, intersects with the main road between Cancun and Valladolid/Merida. As long as buses are running from Cancun to Valladolid, you’ll be able to catch one here, and the price should be around $50 pesos. It will take around an hour to get to El Ideal, and around an hour and a half from there to Valladolid.
Isla Holbox >>> Cancun
Check out the information on the Ferry above. Buses leave from Chiquila for Cancun at 5:30am, 7:30am, and 1:30pm. And if heading onward, you can get just about anywhere from Cancun.
GETTING // GOING • SLEEPING • EATING • DOING • MAP
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