5th avenue Playa Del Carmen

gujarwala · August 9, 2010

I read on another site one reviewer recommended going here to get tickets for various tours as they apparently cost much less than what is charged at the resort, the example given was a tour to the Chichen Itza that is about $45 if purchased from 5th ave vs. about $100 when purchased from the Princess resort.

If this is the case I was going to recommend to our group to go 5th avenue on the first day since it's only 15 mins from our resort, but before decided on that I was hoping to verify it with some of the experienced travellers from here.

Norma83 · August 9, 2010

Hi Gujarwala -

I just got back from Playa and I can't confirm if the prices are cheaper on 5th Avenue but I can confirm that the price to Chichen-Itza was about $100 with going through our travel rep at the resort. We stayed at the Gran Porto Real and the tour group was Best Day. They are really nice to work with. Gran Porto Real is litterally less than a block from 5th Avenue. I don't think I've ever booked outside from the resort so I can't say what's a better deal. I will say that when we booked Chichen-itza with Go Natural Tours (through Best Day), we definitely got our monies worth. They picked us up at our hotel at about 7 in the morning and drove out to Chichen-itza which is about 2 1/2 hours from Gran Porto. The $100 included pick up/drop off transportation, lunch (which was really good), 3 hours at Chichen-itza about an 1 1/2 was with a tour guide and the rest you were on your own to look around, a stop at a Cenote (sinkhole) that you could swim in, a stop at a historic little town (I can't remember the name) but it was pretty cool. After that we were taken back to our resort. We ended up getting back to our resort at about 7, close to 8 in the evening. To me, I thought the tour was well worth the price. I don't know what all the tour comes with if you purchase off 5th Avenue but I hope my info will be a good comparison.

I hope this helps!

gujarwala · August 10, 2010

Originally Posted by Norma83

Hi Gujarwala -

I just got back from Playa and I can't confirm if the prices are cheaper on 5th Avenue but I can confirm that the price to Chichen-Itza was about $100 with going through our travel rep at the resort. We stayed at the Gran Porto Real and the tour group was Best Day. They are really nice to work with. Gran Porto Real is litterally less than a block from 5th Avenue. I don't think I've ever booked outside from the resort so I can't say what's a better deal. I will say that when we booked Chichen-itza with Go Natural Tours (through Best Day), we definitely got our monies worth. They picked us up at our hotel at about 7 in the morning and drove out to Chichen-itza which is about 2 1/2 hours from Gran Porto. The $100 included pick up/drop off transportation, lunch (which was really good), 3 hours at Chichen-itza about an 1 1/2 was with a tour guide and the rest you were on your own to look around, a stop at a Cenote (sinkhole) that you could swim in, a stop at a historic little town (I can't remember the name) but it was pretty cool. After that we were taken back to our resort. We ended up getting back to our resort at about 7, close to 8 in the evening. To me, I thought the tour was well worth the price. I don't know what all the tour comes with if you purchase off 5th Avenue but I hope my info will be a good comparison.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for your detailed response! What I read was from a guest in 2008 who said the resort fee for the tour to the Chichen Itza was $100 whereas on 5th ave they were going for about $45. Not a huge difference but since we are going with a large group and may be going on more than one tour if indeed tours are cheaper at 5th ave then it would be worthwhile for us to go there on our first day to pick out some tours

TATrisha · August 10, 2010

You'll definitely find better deals if you go out of the resort. On the resort property part of what you pay is convenience, so it’s higher priced.

When you deal with the locals on 5^th ave you’re definitely going to pay less. You’ll also pay less if you buy tickets directly at the facility, or in the case of Xel-Ha and other attractions, you actually save money if you buy online ahead of time.