There are two different ferries to Isla Mujeres – one in the hotel zone behind Fat Tuesday and one in Puerto Juarez in the downtown area. The main difference is the frequency and the price. The Puerto Juarez ferry is every half hour, 70 pesos round trip. The Fat Tuesday is less frequent and twice the price at 150 pesos round trip.
Fat Tuesday is at km 6.5 in the hotel zone, RPLA is at km 8.5, so 2 km apart. Downtown to Puerto Juarez will be the 8.5, plus (I am guessing) another 2 or 3 km, perhaps a total of 11 or 12kms.
There are actually two ferries from Puerto Juarez very close to one another. Make sure you go to the Gran Puerto ferry terminal. It’s nicer, faster, and the same price. It’s the first one you will pass and you will recognize it because it has a very tall lighthouse type structure with a restaurant on top.
The ferry from Puerto Juarez was a larger, enclosed ferry without air conditioning. They also seemed to have a bit of trouble getting it going. The one from Fat Tuesday was a smaller, open-air ferry that we thought was much nicer to be on.
The original information for this thread came from the following forum thread: http://cancun-hotels.tripadvisor.com/…
There are two different ferries to Isla Mujeres, one in the hotel zone behind Fat Tuesday, one in Puerto Juarez in the downtown area. The main difference is the frequency and the price. The Puerto Juarez ferry is every half hour, 70 pesos round trip. The Fat Tuesday is less frequent (not sure exactly of the departure times) and twice the price at 150 pesos round trip.
Fat Tuesday is at km 6.5 in the hotel zone, RPLA is at km 8.5, so 2 km apart. Downtown to Puerto Juarez will be the 8.5, plus (I am guessing) another 2 or 3 km, perhaps a total of 11 or 12kms.
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So from Omni would it be better to take the ferry to isla from fat tuesdays or take a taxi to the ferry downtown? Just curious with taxi price factored in plus having two kids in tow.
ContributorI would always go with the downtown ferry at puerto Juarez. The frequency of the departures and the fact that they run from like 6 am till after 10pm is a huge factor as well. The ferry at fat tuesday you only have two or three return options and with the puerto juarez ferry you can come back anytime you want.
There are actually two ferries from Puerto Juarez very close to one another. Make sure you go to the Gran Puerto ferry terminal. It’s nicer, faster, and the same price. It’s the first one you will pass and you will recognize it because it has a very tall lighthouse type structure with a restaurant on top (but the restaurant has been closed since Wilma).
gringa…about how much would a taxi run to the gran puerto ferry from GCPS….definitely leaning towards spending a day there next week…and can we find taxis back to the HZ from there??
Easy180 – I’m not sure how much that taxi fare would be. Just as a guess I’d say around 120 pesos there, and more going back because you’d be taking a taxi from the taxi stand there and then they can always charge a bit more from a taxi stand as opposed to hailing them on the street. Maybe someone else has a better estimate of the exact price.
A cheaper option is to take the bus to downtown Cancun for 6.5 pesos per person, then grab a cab to Puerto Juarez for 20 pesos or so. On the way back you could do the same thing… take a taxi to the main part of Tulum Avenue where the buses run, then take the bus back to the GCPS from there.
Contributorgringa…maybe this will be obvious once I am there..but how do I know where to get off the bus to catch the taxi to PJ? None of the buses go straight to PJ?
As soon as the bus hits downtown (Bonampak Avenue), get off and hail a taxi. It really is the easiest way to get to Gran Puerto. Just tell the bus driver you want Bonampak (or first stop downtown).
There is a bus that runs directly to the puerto juarez ferry now. It will say Puerto Juarez ferry right on the front of the bus. It is the same price as any other bus. Problem is you will have to wait because there are not that many buses that run that specific line. You might be looking at a 15 minute wait give or take.
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We made two trips to Isla Mujeres during our stay a couple weeks back. The first time we took a taxi to Puerto Juarez (based on the suggestions here) from the Riu Cancun — it cost us $17 (too much, I’m sure). We paid the $7 each for the ferry and then paid $15 for a taxi back to our hotel. Total = $46.00 USD
The second time we went over, we took the bus (6.5 pesos or about 65 cents each) to the Fat Tuesday pier (Playa Tortugas terminal), paid $15 each for the ferry and then took the bus back again. Total = $32.60 USD
Also, the Fat Tuesday ferry runs quite a bit more often than mentioned above. Here is the schedule (I have the slip in front of me):
From Cancun: 9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 4pm
From Isla Mujeres: 9:30am, 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 3:30pm, 5:30pm
Just another thing worth mentioning, the one from Puerto Juarez was a larger, enclosed ferry without air conditioning. They also seemed to have a bit of trouble getting it going. The one from Fat Tuesday was a smaller, open-air ferry that we thought was much nicer to be on.