Hwy 307 that you will be driving on is somewhat dark in btwn the big resort entrances at night. And yes, it is going to be dark when you get in your rent car to drive. It is getting dark at 5 pm down there now (I was in Playa at Thanksgiving and my husband and daughter arrived there last evening at 5:30 in the dark), and I recall from your other post that you are going down in January.

Personally it does not freak me out to drive on Hwy 307 early in the evening. There are TWO official military/police checkpoints (little concrete huts w/wwindows where cops are stationed) on that hwy btwn Cancun airport and Playa del Carmen. You slow down (TOPO speed bumps all along the hwy., GO SLOW and beware!)and there are cops w/guns who they randomly pull over cars once in awhile, not all the time, just when they feel like it (they do seem to pullver SUVs w/tinted windows). I got pulled over once, they looked in trunk and car briefly, and told me to go on (no bribes or any other interaction). Once they saw I was a tourist they didn't seem to interested in me.

You can drive past Playa del Carmen and you will see a very large Chedraui shopping store on right side of Hwy 307 just before Puerto Adventuras. You can stop there and get drinks, beer/wine, fruit, etc for your hotel room or whatever. Then cont. on Hwy 307 south, and here is a picture of the HUGE sign you will see overhead alerting you to the UTurn for Akumal playa. Take a look, I nt know ho yuo can miss the huge sign.

http://www.travelyucatan.com/akumal_mexico.php

Personally I would be ok driving this route early in evening when it is dark. I wouldn't want to do it late at night though.

I would strongly suggest that you read the US State Dept advisories. Then, if at all possible, have carryon baggage or mail some clothes ahead to get you to Akumal before the light goes, dusk, darkness falls, etc. You DO NOT want to be on the roads at night (and we are in Mexico now). Read the advisories.

jan47ete, I recall that you were driving across the border and through Northern Mexico states to get to your destination, is that right?

That is very different than renting a car at Cancun airport and driving to Akumal. The latest advisories from the U.S. State Dept regarding MX state that there are no advisories at all for Quintana Roo

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5815.html

"Quintana Roo: Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Riviera Maya and Tulum are major cities/travel destinations in Quintana Roo -see attached map to identify their exact locations: No advisory is in effect."

jan47ete, Thanks for the State Dept advice. I have done that, and while grim reading the word on Yucatan and Quintana Roo is "No advisory is in effect". Even if we had only carryon we'd still not make it to Akumal before dark, so the only option is to spend a night near Cancun. That is possible, so we have an out if we decide.

Note that we are not reckless, and in fact changed plans for this trip because we didn't want to deal with malarial risk. While not happy about driving at night this one drive is, so far, falling into the "acceptable risk" category. We could always change our mind at the last minute if the vibes are wrong and stay somewhere en route or in Cancun. One takes one's chances!

But thanks again for the advice.

emd3, muchas gracias once again for your info. The photo of the sign is helpful for sure.

I saw on another thread where you use Caribbean Car Rental. They get mixed reviews online, as does everyone else except Ace/Executive, but their prices and advertised policies are good, for what those are worth. I'll probably use them.

Our replies crossed ...

I use Easy Way often and like them.
As far as not driving at night that is ridiculous in this area. Sorry, but I've lived there for 7 years. This is a very populated place and, believe it or not, people do go out at night. We drive to restaurants, shopping malls and to visit friends. This is not a border town. There are police checkpoints. I have been pulled over before. No one has ever tried to get me to pay a bribe but they did try it on a friend of mine last summer who lives there full time. She said no, he said ok and we drove away.
Will it be dark on the highway further south going toward Akumal, sure. Will you be able to find your way, sure. Don't worry, people are not out to take advantage of you unless you act like a complete fool and flash your money around. Which I wouldn't do anywhere.
Do not mail your clothes ahead of time. They may or may not arrive on time and then what would you do? There is absolutely no reason to do this.
Mexico is a big country. Statements that cause fear because people are uniformed or who state blanket warnings without any knowledge of the area are doing a disservice.
Akumal is a beautiful place. Go and enjoy.

I agree with colokid - we've been visiting Akumal for 8 years, and frequently drive at night. The biggest hazard to night driving is being aware of bicyclists along the side of the road. 307 is a heavily traveled road with several new gas stations, shopping malls, etc. As in the USA, there are stretches that are dark. There are many expats in the area driving about at all times.

Nelson, one more thing about renting a car. The smaller local agencies, which are much cheaper, (like Carribean) usually meet you at the airport and shuttle you over to their office, a few miles away. It can be a little confusing trying to find your driver. The car rental drivers DO NOT stand with the limo drivers and bus drivers directly out front, but off to the side along the front wall of the terminal building. We wasted nearly a half hour trying to find our shuttle driver who was there all along, but not where we were looking. We have used Easyway the past two years, they were great.

Thanks for the info guys! I just booked with Easyway. One deciding factor is their office location looks to be within a stone's throw of the Marriott Courtyard hotel, where we are staying for our final night before the return flight.

Anyway, the car is now booked. If we were only going to Akumal we wouldn't bother with the car, but we are pushing farther south on this trip and the car makes sense.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Good choice, Easyway is a good reliable company I have used them 3 times now with positive results. Enjoy your trip, where are you staying?

PS - We often have to drive partially in the dark because the nonstops from LA often get in the same time as yours, no problems.

Easyway responded promptly with confirmation and detailed instructions on how to find their representative at the airport. So far so good!

jamie99, we are spending a week in Akumal at Vista Del Mar, which is close to the wedding events we are attending. Then we'll spend another week in the Mayan Beach Garden down the coast near Majahual. Looking forward to it.

Vista del Mar looks real nice, never stayed there myself but know folks who have, and you are right next door to La Buena Vida beach bar. Be sure and eat at the Loncheria at least once near the arches - great local inexpensive food.

there are no state department advisories applicable to this part of Mexico.

True about the current advisories as Nelson did not originally say when they were traveling.

I was just trying to say that when we mentioned to friends, relatives and people we just met at parties that we were traveling to Mexico, everyone, absolutely everyone said "don't drive at night--even the staff at the Mexican Consulate I went to see. And no one had even known where we were going--just don't drive at night, don't drive after 5pm.

Another situation to consider is many highways (like the ones outside of Sa Miguel Allende) have topes--those bumps in the road to slow you down. There are no signs indicating that they are ahead.

Suppose you break down--it's bad enough during the day, let alone at night and we have a Mexican cell phone.

We've traveled that Cancun-Akumal road, so not as though I am unfamiliar with it but times change, conditions change and Mexican conditions change.

Correct jan47ete, I never did state when we were going, an oversight on my part. It's next month, three weeks from now! Your advice to check the State Department advisories was sound, so thanks again for that.

I'd prefer not to drive at night, but am willing to make this one trip. Actually my wife will be driving and I navigate. That system has worked out well for us over the years.

On another topic, for those interested, last night we watched the DVD "Breaking the Maya Code". We got it from Netflix, but here's the amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Maya-Code-Richard-Agurcia/dp/B001B2U1BE

Fascinating! Very highly recommended for anyone planning to visit Mayan sites.

We've stayed at the Vista del mar several times. It is in a very beautiful, quiet area. The beach there is well groomed, and quite empty. Just be aware that Half Moon Bay is not ideal for swimming - the bottom is covered with coral, rocks and seaweed. Because of this there is lots of sea life, and it's a good spot for snorkeling (for an experienced snorkeler). If you want to swim, you can walk, bike or drive down to Akumal Bay beach, which is about a mile away.

Nelson, is that the show (breaking Maya code) where they dive w/intense lights into the deep centoes around Merida that were used for ritual sacrifice by the Mayas? If so, I saw it last night on cable. It was amazing!

emd3, No, different show. This one is about how people working over the course of last 200 years figured out how to decipher and read the Mayan glyphs. Commentators in the show included Mayan experts like Linda Schele, David Stuart, Michael Coe, and Merle Greene Robertson.

My wife and I both found it fascinating and mind boggling. Made me want to read the book of the same title by Michael Coe.

Next we are going to watch a Nova documentary on the same subject, which you can see here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/cracking-maya-code.html

Thanks for the snorkeling info, zootsi.

Nelson, take a look at the video link on this page for INAH Cenote LAs Calaveras, about the puzzles of the Yucatan's cenotes and the Mayan Underworld (water underworld). Watch all 5 of the videos (it is broken into 5 sections) Other interesting links on that page also. Amazing.

We snorkeled in Dos Ojos underrground cenote near Tulum, also included on that page.

I will look for info on the show I saw last night on cable. Some divers dove into this very remote and sacred cenote near merida and found hundreds, thousands, of skulls and total body bone remains of Mayan sacrified people, sacrified during times of stress (drought, etc.) once it was realized the priests could not get thru to Chac (water god). The divers left it all alone but filmed it for the program, whihc was on trying to undertand the mayan prophesies.

http://sacredmayancenotesandcaves.blogspot.com/

The show I saw last night was on Natl Geographic channel, and wa s called "Maya Underworld, the Real Doomsday."

Info and videos aboout the expedition, watch this:
http://interactive.archaeology.org/cenotes/index.html


info abt the underwater explorer"
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/guillermo-de-anda-alanis/

Sorry but mailing your clothes ahead into Mexico is not a good suggestion at all. Mail service is extremely unreliable.

suze, lol. It's true, the saying is only mail something into or out of MX if it is something you don't ever want to see again.

Thanks much for the Maya links emd3, they look good, will spend some more time there. Looking forward to our trip!

Reporting back that the drive at night went smoothly. Our plane was an hour late departing so by the time we left Easyway with the rental car it was already dark.

My wife drives and I navigate. We immediately had a "Returno" to negotiate which was slightly stressful due to traffic volume near the airport, but not too bad.

After that the only confusions were the constant changes in speed limit (which had no effect on traffic), and the occasions where the road split and we had to decide right or left half. It didn't matter since they merged later on.

No doubt the topes are highly dangerous, but this section of road had enough traffic that we had plenty of advance notice. However the road to Mahahual had one that comes up suddenly without warning, and it was obvious from road damage that not everyone saw this one. At night you'd never know about it, the warning signs having been blown down by hurricane Dean.

Easyway car rental was great to work with, no hassles at all and no hesitation recommending them or using them in the future.

emd3, the picture you linked to of the Akumal turn on the highway was very useful, so thanks again for that.

We drove Cancun to Vaalladolid (ate lunch, swam cenote), then to Chichen Itza, stayed overnight. Toured CI, in afternoon drove to Merida, then to Temozon (tiny village south of Merida). Got there after dark. Only problem Hacienda has no outside identification. Just guessed it must be the place. It was. Stayed overnight. Drove to Uxmal next afternoon. Drove back after dark. Stayed overnight Hacienda. Next day drove to Coba. Toured and then drove to Akumal. Two days later, drove back to Cancun and found our hotel again. All the roads were excellent by any standard. Very little traffic anywhere. Good road markings. We had bought a good roadmap and it was useful and helpful. Absolutely no problem driving at all. On the highway (307) it can be confusing to find your hotel exit when driving south from Cancun since most are on other side of road and you could pass it but there are returnos. It was much easier than driving in many European countries.
Every Mayan site very different and all extremely interesting. We did try to do our touring before or after the heat of the day. Staying overnight at these places was lovely.

Elaineee, nice to see your post about your trip! You were ON THE MOVE! I stayed at Hacienda Temozon last July for a few nights, so I can laugh at your description of finding it.

Did you stay any nights at all in Merida? I was there for 4 nights in Nov. for the 1st time in many yrs and it was so wonderful, very full of culture, music, art, dance, a lot of it free like the concert in the park next to my hotel one night. Such a beautiful colonial city. If you didn't spend much time there, put it on the list for next time, esp in the winter months when the weather is great.

Did not get to Merida..just drove around it to Temozon. Temozon is quite a place. Taking the donkey train to the cenote was the highlight. Younger folk swam but I was not going to try that ladder.
Rooms and grounds, pool beyond lovely. Food ok.
Trip was busy but it always is when traveling with daughter and family.
We liked Western Yuchatan so much would like to spend most of another vacation there. Want to go to more Mayan sites. Also like beach.

Next time try to get to Palenque, it is quick and easy flight from Cancun to Vilahermosa then an easy 2 hr bus right from airport to Palenque. Great ruins and museum, in the jungle. Huge waterfalls to see and swim in, Misol-Ha and one other.
The beaches north of Merida are not like the ones further south by Cancun and Playa and further down, but you can see the pink flamingos there, in Celestun.

http://www.yucatantoday.com/en/topics/celestun

http://www.locogringo.com/past_spotlights/mar2005.cfm

Just got back from Akumal for a week, super easy don't worry. Our plane also got in at 3:30, and I who am the navigator had a migraine so couldn't help at all. But its easy, go south on 307, its about 40 miles I think, you'll see the Akumal exit you want to go past it to the next "RETURNO" make a u-turn there ( about 100 yds) then turn right right before the overpass. If you actually take the Akumal exit, no big deal it just takes you the "pueblo" section of town, do a uturn and go over the overpass to the "playa" section of Akumal. The most confusing thing about Akumal is that you go under the arch that looks like its an entrance into a hotel, its an entrance to the playa section of Akumal, just go through it.
I miss it already, have fun.