Cheap holidays in Cancun – tips for budget vacation in Cancun

Cancun wasn’t always a holiday destination.

Before Cancun became the go-to holiday destination for all-inclusive luxury holidays and cheap holidays, it was just a fishing town waiting to burst open.

After the 1970s, its location – on the northeast coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula – and its pristine beaches couldn’t stay hidden from the World.
As of today, Cancun is one of the best beach holiday destinations in the world.

And if you are looking for cheap holidays, there is no place like Cancan in this part of the World.

Cancun Holidays

The city of Cancun is divided into two parts – the downtown area and the Cancun Hotel Zone.

The Downtown area consists of the markets, a few activities for tourists, malls, and the residential areas of the locals.

The Hotel Zone has restaurants, nightclubs, shopping malls, and lots of fun activities.

The Cancun beaches run for 22 kilometers.

The cheapest activity in Cancun during your holiday will be idling on the beach.

Once you are done with all the excitement of the city of Cancun, you can take the 90-minute drive to Tulum, one of the best-preserved Mayan coastal sites.

This pre-Columbian Mayan walled city has ruins of a once-thriving civilization on top of 39-feet high cliffs.

During your vacation in Cancun, some of the must-visit sites are pyramid-shaped El Castillo, the Temple of Descending God, and the Temple of Frescoes.

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Cheap holidays to Cancun

All vacations in Cancun do not cost the same. If you are on a budget, you can still have a cheap holiday in Cancun if you follow our tips.

Book in Advance

As is with any holiday spot, with Cancun, there are only so many resort rooms and airline tickets available at a low price.

When most of these rooms and airplane seats are booked, their cost goes up.

The best thing you can do while planning a cheap holiday to Cancun is to book your flight and your hotel rooms in advance.

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Plan your budget holiday in Off-Season

There are three off-seasons you can exploit so that you don’t spend a fortune during your break in Cancun.

December through February (barring the Christmas and New Year times) is the first off-season in Cancun.

Planning a holiday during these three months can drastically bring down your travel expenditure.

The second off-season for tourists in Cancun is immediately after Easter in April.

With the summer months bringing humid and hotter temperatures (in the 35ºC / 95ºF range), many resorts drop their prices to continue to attract vacationers.

The third off-season is between a little after Labor Day in the US (first week of Sept) until mid-November, when folks start their Thanksgiving holidays.

During these low seasons, you will get cheap Cancun holiday packages on every travel website. For a more detailed analysis, check out the best time to visit Cancun.

Use a travel agent

Travel agents are still popular for a reason.

These agents know how the industry works, and a good one will be aware of Cancun holiday deals that may not be out in public yet.

They may also help you get more bang for the buck from the resort – a buffet dinner perhaps, or a massage at their spa thrown in at the same package cost.

Go for bids

Websites such as Sky Auction offer opportunities for tourists on a budget to try out their luck and bid for cheap Cancun holiday packages.

Various packages are on display and mainly include both the flight tickets and the hotel accommodation.

Do keep a close watch on the auction details for packages that suit your budget.

Check for ‘Inclusive Tour’ fares

‘Inclusive tour’ is a setup wherein flight tickets get sold as a package combined with hotel accommodation and/or a hire car.

Do check if your favorite travel website is offering inclusive tours to Cancun.

Depending on when and where you book, a combined holiday package to Cancun can end up cheaper.

You must watch out for the fine print before booking an inclusive tour.

Choose flight timings carefully to save money

If you are NOT going with an all-inclusive package for Cancun, you will have to book your flights and hotels separately.

Many Cancun-bound tourists look at it as an opportunity to cut down their costs further.

All you must do is visit a website such as Skyscanner.com, to see all available ticket fares to Cancun on or around your preferred dates.

The cheapest fares to Cancun can sometimes be almost 1/5th the cost of the costliest fare to the beach destination.

If you use such websites wisely, they can be a great tool to ensure a cheap holiday to Cancun.

Choosing an indirect flight can help you bring down your holiday costs by up to 10%.

Find out everything about Cancun International Airport, where you will be landing.

Most popular tours in Cancun
Outdoors Cancun activities	Top sightseeing tours
Food and Drink tours	Cancun Culture tours
Amusement Park tickets	Shows & Performances
Transfers & transportation	Kid-friendly tours

Use budget hotels for stay in Cancun

During your Cancun holiday, you are going to be sunbathing on the beaches, attending parties, or enjoying the Cancun nightlife.

If our guess is correct, you will go back to your hotel only to sleep.

Why, then, do you need to spend an excessive amount of money on your hotel.

One of the best ways to have a cheap holiday in Cancun is by cutting down on your hotel costs – after all, that’s just a place where you will spend six hours to recharge.

There are numerous branded budget hotels in Cancun, whom you can try out.

Negotiate your deal

Since you have decided to have a budget holiday in Cancun, don’t shy away from negotiating.

The travel industry runs on negotiation because they hold one of the most time-sensitive commodities: a seat in an airplane and a bed in a hotel. If both go unused one day, they get wasted.

When you speak to travel agents, tour operators, or hotels, always bargain.

You will be surprised at the money you will end up saving.

Once you have started the negotiation, don’t try to close the deal soon – if you are not in a hurry, you can strike a better bargain.

Look for last minute deals

If you don’t have the luxury of ‘booking in advance,’ do precisely the opposite.

One of the keys to bargaining a cheap vacation in Cancun is to do it all at the last minute.

Last minute deals are easier to grab if you are not traveling to Cancun in a large group.

With large groups, last minute deals become an issue because getting everybody on the same plane in a short time is difficult.

However, if just a few of you can quickly decide and hop on a plane, one of the best ways to ensure a cheap holiday in Cancun is by exploring last-minute deals.

Cancun Tips Book

Your holiday saving doesn’t need to end once you reach Cancun.

Once you land in Cancun, you will get the free Cancun Tips Book. Please don’t ignore it and instead keep a copy.

This booklet has some great coupons which can help you get good discounts during your holiday.

Note: While researching tips on how you can have the cheapest holiday possible in Cancun, you must have come across the $15 discount card. Most tourists didn’t find it helpful. Would you please not buy it?

Save on eating and drinking during your holiday

Once you are in Cancun, one of your most significant expenses will be eating and drinking (if you aren’t into gambling, that is).

We have two tried and tested tricks to keep your costs down all through your holiday in Cancun.

Always order a draught beer

Like in most places, in Cancun also the draught beer is half the price of bottled beer. Since Cancun is a party holiday destination, there is bound to be a lot of beer drinking.

Imagine reducing 50% of your drinking cost.

Walk around the corner

Since you will be mostly outdoors during your Cancun break, most of your eating will be outside.

We all tend to walk into the restaurant closest to the tourist attraction.

Did you know that restaurants closest to the tourist destinations charge 3 to 4 times more than the regular price?

We highly recommend you walk a block or two and then walk into a restaurant – the dining experience will be better, and the savings will be massive, thus ensuring you stay within your budget for the Cancun break.

Cancun is as cheap as you are willing to make it.

Sources

# Thomascook.com
# Onthebeach.co.uk
# Tripadvisor.com
# Teletextholidays.co.uk

The travel specialists at TheBetterVacation.com use only high-quality sources while researching & writing their articles. We make every attempt to keep our content current, reliable and trustworthy.

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