whole box or rather holbox which i didn't learn until later in this week's video i'm sharing with
you all of my most helpful tips for traveling to this amazing island in mexico this is one of many
videos i have on my channel about traveling here so if you're new here
welcome i'm christine with where in the world of seattle i make travel videos every week to
help you get up get out and go travel so if you like to travel consider subscribing
let's dive in with helpful tips let's start with where it's located holbox island is located
north of cancun and it's a little bit of a project to get there you need to take both a shuttle and a
ferry and then you need to walk or take a golf cart taxi to your eventual hotel and this is
one of the reasons why not that many people go there it's kind of a project to get there versus
other places from cancun airport which is why it's not as touristed and why i love it so much
so not only does it feel a little bit off the beaten path but it's also really really small
this is the island overall but the part in which people are actually hanging out on because a whole
portion of the island is not inhabited it's a very small part in which all the hotels the restaurants
the bars etc are located at let's talk about the weather because we're all wondering what's the
best time of year to go there at right december through march are the coolest months and may
i was there in may it was hot may is the hottest month although some sources say august regardless
it's hot and by the way it's really hot out here so i'm gonna go back inside there is one key thing
to know is that this is an island that you spend a lot of time outdoors so it is really important
that you go with good weather i've put a link to this article below but april is the driest month
try to just make sure you're there when it's not raining and understanding the seasons of things
like these is important for timing your trip and we'll get to things to do in a minute but there
are no cars on this island golf carts atvs and bicycles are king on this island golf cart taxis
should cost around five dollars per ride and if you want to rent your own an example would be a 15
per hour rate or 300 pesos per hour rate to get a golf cart if you want to rent a bike there's tons
of bike places around town they're everywhere but i paid 80 pesos or four dollars ish per hour to be
able to rent a bike but also helpful to know if it's been raining at all not only will you need
a more rugged golf cart but biking is basically out of the question if it's been raining hard
it's flooded let's talk about the beaches i mainly stayed at the beach that was just
at my hotel i stayed at holbox dream full review in my channel link in description below
the beach on the side that i'm staying on is like awesome where you can like go out
it's pretty shallow especially during low tide you can see this woman over here swimming
but what's really cool about the other side is there's like a sand bar near the beach so it's
kind of cool because like a lot of the setups are right on the beach so you can be on a beach chair
like literally on the water and then you can walk out and then go chill on the sand bar that sounds
like way more of a vibe i personally love hammock time so that's where i will be staying on my next
trip which i'm planning my return trip if you have suggestions tell me in the comments below and tell
me if you're traveling to this island i'd love to know and share that like button if you're getting
some value out of this also on the north side is the nude beach whether that is your vibe or
is not your vibe fyi that exists also more north is playa mosquito which is somewhere i actually
really wanted to go to and it's a beautiful beach that one of my friends katie wine totally
recommends it was her favorite beach on the island i passed it when i was kayaking out to the lagoon
and it really did look beautiful a lot of people like to head to the other side of the island
to playa punto cocos and this is what that vibe looks like but to be honest it's an island that is
really really beautiful so we're kind of comparing eights out of ten to nines out of tens you know
what i mean it's pretty good here let's talk about tips around food and drinks on this island and i
want to preface this by saying these are just my experiences and it doesn't mean it's going
to be yours and add your tips if you have any suggestions around food and drinks my first tip
is around coffee it's helpful to know that this place is an island that's on island time which is
fine but if you want a coffee before 8 or 9 a.m it's basically not going to happen and do know
that places like pino pol are really great for breakfast but don't have the option of take away
coffee because they don't actually have lids and if i could redo things i would go to clandestino
every single day because they're one of the only places that has an actual espresso maker and they
have a phenomenal atmosphere as well as really great coffee and avocado toast when it comes
to drinking i love drinking at capitan cafetan which is right on the water also where i rented
a kayak from but a really great spot for drinks and watching the sunset i tried two different
spots for dinner the first one was at basico and maybe it was an off night when i was there but
they were out of just about all of their wine on the menu portion sizes were super tiny and a very
basic appetizer main dish one shared dessert ran me 140 for two people to eat there before tax and
gratuity i do recommend the second spot which is mahi and i really love that dinner there burritos
and tacos with drinks and that bill was only 40 and it was a really great atmosphere oh and
really good service yeah body is where it's at and actually that leads us into night life don't
forget that hobash is super tiny but mahi does turn into a nightlife vibe open till 3 or 4 a.m
on the weekends part of the reason why my friend ebis chose staying at holbox dream is because it's
right next door to tribu which is a hostel that supposedly has really great drinks and a cool vibe
closed on mondays which is the night that we tried to go out there and along the main road where the
whole bosch sign is you'll find tons of live music going on so it's a really cool nighttime vibe but
definitely not anything like cancun or tulum but it does have some really great options oh i
almost forgot going back to the eating thing i do regret not eating the lobster pizza i thought it
was going to be overrated but everyone that's been watching me post on instagram about holbox really
really likes that place let's talk about a general overview of what there is to do on
this island and you're gonna find a common theme which is it's all outdoors which is why it's super
important to be here when the weather is good i was very lucky it had torrential downpours
before i got there island was flooded out but when i was actually there it was amazing and there are
seasons for different things on this island but it doesn't mean that that's the final answer so i'll
give you some tips to find out how things look for when you specifically are going to be there
the first one is whale sharks and i was really hoping to catch them while i was in holbox
and the season runs mid-may to mid-september i was there at the end of may and not one had been
seen yet they didn't start being seen until the week after i left how do you stay in the know for
your trip i have a couple suggestions for you one check out willie's instagram he's awesome he was
my tour operator which leads into two really great with communication i highly recommend vip holbox
experiences i've linked the exact tours that i did with them in the description below and also
so you can read their trip advisor reviews really important to get other people's perspectives the
next thing people love to do on this island is the bioluminescence which is a really fun experience
you can see from my amazing footage that it was one of my favorite things to do but it's
impossible to capture but it's really really fun but the main months that happens in is june july
and august it doesn't mean those are the only months but i was able to catch it again at the
end of may and by the way if you want to see the full experiences of what these are like make sure
you watch my other video link in the description below so you can get a full taste of what it's
like as well as a full taste of my weirdness i digress the next thing people love to see on this
island are the flamingos oh they're so special but flamingos on this island are generally april
through october i've got three activities for you that you've got to do and these are year round
and i would actually do them kind of differently than the way i had done them so let me give you
some suggestions the first one is kayaking a sunset kayak is a must oh i love doing that
but for kayaking in the lagoon which is amongst the mangroves so beautiful and so special i would
actually recommend finding a tour operator and ask willie and ask vip hold wash experiences if
they will take you out at sunrise i could imagine this experience being significantly more magical
it was magical already but at sunrise i think it would be even better the second one is riding a
bike oh riding a bike on the beach is beautiful i definitely recommend doing that you can find
bike rentals all over the island for super cheap but that's a great one to do and the last one you
gotta go to the three islands you have to go check out the islands on the island tour again i use vip
whole wash experiences love them chris was my guide she was awesome but one thing i would do
differently i would go out earlier especially if you do a private boat like i did you can choose
what time you want to go out at and i wish i would have gone even earlier oh and if you are at all
into birds bird watching on this island is really phenomenal but one thing that i didn't do on this
island is dive or snorkel so if you're snorkeling with the whale sharks that's a different thing
but this is an island that's about mangroves and not a reef there's no reef on this island
that doesn't mean you won't see anything if you throw on a snorkel and go in the water but for me
it just wasn't top of my list in terms of this is not an island i was going to try to go diving at
definitely spend time in and on the water what you need to know about atms it reminds me of tulum in
the sense that every single atm and i went to five of them and there's only five on this island every
single one of them is out of pesos and so i'm really glad that i brought a good amount of u.s
cash to be able to exchange just in case because that is the only thing that's going to carry me
through on this trip that awesome day i did stand in line at the atm for about 30 minutes and i did
hit up all five that were on the island and again i was not successful that day i was able to pay
for some things such as my tours with my credit card in advance which was awesome but for the
most part everything else was cash only like even when i was trying to go kayak and drone the sunset
ibis was yelling this at me which i showed in my other vlog chris you have cash on you though right
because they only take cash but some of the atms will dispense u.s dollars which isn't
super desirable but it does allow you to get us dollars which then
you can take and exchange at a semi-okay exchange rate who wants an atm that dispenses us dollars
then you gotta go exchange it again bonus tip for you if you were someone who like me doesn't like
the vacation where the wi-fi is weak i liked a vacation where the wi-fi is strong and as a
solo female traveler i am connected and my mom can see me on fine friends let's talk about sim
cards this is not an island to run lots of errands on we found that out with the atm but there are
just a couple places to get sim cards i'll link in the description below for the google map of
where i went oh the lady that works there she's so nice but prices are basically five dollars or
100 pesos for the actual card and then depending on how much data you want i wanted a lot of data
so i paid 15 in addition to that to get my sim card and connection for 20 and the connection on
this island wasn't that bad it was actually way better to use the sim card connection
than it was to use the wi-fi at my hotel but then again i'm very honest and in that video
i share that i don't recommend that hotel okay friends i'm christine i'm here every week with new
videos if you have tips ask them in the comments below and i'll see you in the next adventure
ciao