Customer Reviews

Frommer's(r) Cancun, Cozumel and the Yucatan 2003

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have travelled many places and bought books from DK, Lonely Planet and National Geographic. I didn't trust Frommer's books because I thought the company only provides information for people who do not travel. I was wrong. After I read and carried this book with my trip to Yucatan, I found this is the best travel book I have had in terms of its practical use.

First of all, the rating is wonderful. I usually didn't trust the rating so I did my own exploration. We happened to had some restaurants for whom the authors gave 5 stars and we found they are really good. Then we decided to follow their ratings and it really saved a lot of time we have never been disappointed.

Second, although the book can be put into a pocket, the information is not only complete but detailed. It even mentioned how firm the mattresses of a hotel's is, how a BB's rooms and spaces are designed, what dishes are good and how good are the settings in some restaurants, etc. The information is so superb that I truly believe the authors have personally tried the restaurants and hotels by themselves.

The authors also provide a useful map, good references. The book also provides a lot of good suggestions so I can save my time, explore some places not many people know, and plan my trip wisely. We went to Progresso and watched flamingo for free and tasted delicious mamey sorbet in Merida - all suggested by the authors.

I also bought another Yucatan travel book and I found that one is useless althought it has average 4 or 5 stars here.

This is the most up to date of the Yucatan guides. It balances discussions of Cancun and Cozumel with the less touristy areas. I found the discussions of Tulum and the Maya ruin sites particularly rich.

I only need one guide book when I go to the Yucatan and this is it!

I purchased this particular guide book based on previous reviews, and was relying on it for most of my information for my recent vacation in Cancun. Unfortunately, not only was some of the information out of date, (I had thought that being the most recent guide it would be current) but most of the information was
incomplete. Example: Reguarding bus schedules and routes from the hotel zone to Puerto Ju‡rez. (the ferry station for Isla Mujeres) This guide states that the Ruta 8 bus, goes there. When in fact, one has to take the Ruta 1 bus to downtown Cancun city and change for the Ruta 13 bus. Also, I found out that at least once an hour there is a Ruta 1 bus that goes directly the hotel zone to Puerto Ju‡rez. Frommer's fails to mention this.
This is just one of many examples.
My advice, if you do purchase this guide, get another as an alternate.

My husband and I are going to Cozumel next year so I ordered this book as a guide. I was very impressed at the amount of data included. Not only does it give you recommendations on hotels, restaurants and beaches, but it also gives you great travel advice that our own travel agent hadn't even mentioned. I have also read the Fodor's 2001 guide to Mexico, and I have to say that although similar, the Frommer's is much more in depth. I do wish that that had more listings for Cozumel (hotels and restaurants), but I am still very pleased with it. The Cancun section is really descriptive. This guide will definitely travel with us next year.

So many guidebooks! If you're going to the area, how do you know which to get? I just spent an hour flipping through all of the Cancun/Cozumel/Yucatan books at a local bookstore, and this looks like the best all-around for our trip to Cozumel. So for all you shoppers out there: I haven't been on the trip yet, but for what its worth, an hour of browsing determined this book the winner.

I purchased this particular guide book based on previous reviews, and was relying on it for most of my information for my recent vacation in Cancun. Unfortunately, not only was some of the information out of date, (I had thought that being the most recent guide it would be current) but most of the information was
incomplete. Example: Reguarding bus schedules and routes from the hotel zone to Puerto Ju‡rez. (the ferry station for Isla Mujeres) This guide states that the Ruta 8 bus, goes there. When in fact, one has to take the Ruta 1 bus to downtown Cancun city and change for the Ruta 13 bus. Also, I found out that at least once an hour there is a Ruta 1 bus that goes directly the hotel zone to Puerto Ju‡rez. Frommer's fails to mention this.
This is just one of many examples.
My advice, if you do purchase this guide, get another as an alternate.

I just got back fromt he Yukatan, and I found this book very helpful for self-guided trips. If you like to tour the country mostly in larger tour groups, you will probably not need this book. However, if you like to rent a car and visit a number of sites, this will be very helpful. It gave us great guidance for anything from archeological sites to cave diving.

I am not sure the person who wrote the chapter on Isla Mujeres is familiar with the metric system. "1 km or 1.6 miles." The back of the book has a conversion chart showing that 1km = .62 miles. They make this conversion mistake all throughout this chapter.

This is the most up to date of the Yucatan guides. It balances discussions of Cancun and Cozumel with the less touristy areas. I found the discussions of Tulum and the Maya ruin sites particularly rich.

I only need one guide book when I go to the Yucatan and this is it!

Unless you are a first timer to the area this book will tell you very little. While the information regarding the area (complete with maps) can be helpful the information on new restaurants and hotels is non existant. (I notice they didn't list many resorts including the well known Palace properties). This can help you with local things but use some other source for where to stay/eat. I also found the web had more information then this book did. The only difference I can see with this book was that they added "great websites". Which really consist of about five very generalized sites. If you want an overall view it is fine. If you want detailed info (where to eat, where to stay) I would suggest another publication.