Please email me your approximate arrival time so the caretakers known when to expect you. ARRIVAL You will ideally want to rent a car to get to Tres Delfines. We have had good experience with acerentacar.com. Allow 1-2 hrs from arrival in Cancun to get through customs, immigration and to get your rental car. Allow another 1.5 hrs to drive to Tres Delfines. Let me know when you have your flights booked so I can tell the caretakers when to expect you. If you are arriving in the evening you will need to figure out dinner. There's not much at the airport. There is a McDonalds on the highway pretty soon after you leave the airport, and another one in Playa itself. There are a lot of good restaurants in Playa, but you may be too tired to stop. What we often do is take a packed dinner along from home and microwave it when we get to Tres Delfines. This seems the least tiring option with kids. You may also be wondering about breakfast for the next morning. We provide you with a small selection of groceries on arrival: fruit, milk, bread, eggs, cereal, coffee, so you should be set for the first morning at least, after which it is 10mins into Tulum to the grocery store. DIRECTIONS Exiting the airport, follow signs towards “Playa del Carmen / Highway 307”, not towards Cancun. This will be a right-hand exit. (If coming from the Cancun hotel zone, you’ll have to ask the best way to Highway 307 South. The strip connects to the highway at both ends. Which way to go depends on where your hotel is located). Heading south on Highway 307 you will pass Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Xcaret, Puerto Aventuras, and Akumal. When you pass Xel-ha, and then Hidden Worlds Cenote you are getting close. Keep an eye out for “Oscar y Lalo’s” restaurant on the right. Immediately past Oscar and Lalos you will need to use the “retorno” (U-turn route) to make a U-turn on the highway. Make the U-turn carefully, yielding to the highway traffic, and move to the right-hand lane. The access to Tres Delfines is a dirt road directly across the highway from Oscar y Lalo’s. There is also a sign for “Sahara Café” and “Hotel Jashita”. Turn right onto this road. The transition from the paved highway to the dirt access road can be a huge bump, so watch out & take it slow. Use the paved shoulder to slow down from highway speed. Once you are on the dirt road, go straight about a mile. When the road turns sharply right you will pass a security checkpoint (you will have to tell them you are renters for Tres Delfines). Drive slowly past a number of villas. Watch for speed bumps and potholes. Tres Delfines is a white & blue house with an empty lot just before it. If you see villa Buena Suerte you have gone one house too far. The caretakers live on site and will be expecting you.
GPS latitude/longitude: The coordinates for the villa are 20.281037, -87.380955 (+20° 16' 51.73", -87° 22' 51.44") Please don’t use Google Maps. Their directions are wrong. Directions from Bing are reasonably accurate. If you are using a Garmin, Tomtom etc. the directions may not be accurate. Please use my directions above. However using these coordinates with a GPS device will at least confirm when you have arrived.
Our cell phones: +1 425 785 7020 / +1 425 736 8965 call any time if you have any problems Caretaker (Cristobal) number: +52 1 984 120 9422 (speaks *only* Spanish) Property manager (Zenaida): +52 1 984- 168-0405 (speaks a little English) Be sure to call your cell carrier and enable international roaming before you go. If you are trying to call the Mexican numbers you may need to ask someone how to dial it. You could try with the + as shown above or 011 followed by 52 and everything after that, or you may need to dial 0 followed by 984 and everything after that (leaving out the +52 1 part). Best bet if anything goes wrong is try to call our US cell phones ========= General Mexico driving advice: Most of Highway 307 is a 4-lane divided highway, but keep in mind that even though people drive at freeway speeds, unlike a US freeway it is not controlled access, so cars, trucks, etc can and do pullout directly onto the highway or make left turns across it where they can, people walk along the side, and sometimes walk/run across, so keep a sharp eye out. When you come into a town, stay in the inside lanes, as these are the thru-lanes. The outside lanes often split off into frontage roads. Also in towns (and elsewhere) keep a sharp eye out for speed breakers. They have humongous speed breakers right across the highway. These are usually signed “Topes”, but the sign is sometimes obscure. Pay attention to how the numerous “retornos” (U-turn routes) work. You will have to use one (see above). Whatever you do, don’t stop in the middle of the road to make a left turn like we do here! That is totally not done in Mexico and you’ll likely get rear-ended! Use a “retorno”. ========== Safety reminders -- You *MUST* always wear life jackets when using the kayaks. People have under-estimated the ocean and drowned in the area, even though the bay is usually calm and is fairly shallow. We have assorted adult, youth and child life jackets. Also remember the pool is unfenced. Always watch your young kids to make sure they do not go near the pool unaccompanied. The floor tiles can be slippery when wet. Please remind kids not to run with wet feet etc. Finally the shower uses a booster pump to ensure adequate hot water pressure, but that means the temperature can sometimes be inconsistent -- please monitor the temperature so kids don't get scalded.