I just got to Catalonia Royal Tulum yesterday and I felt I had to say something about the current road construction which is occurring in the Riviera Maya.  If you may recall from a previous post, construction is now occurring for the most part to repair sinkholes to secure the roadway; all this is happening prior to the construction of the Mayan train which will take a couple of years.  Be prepared for CRAZY traffic once you travel south of the Cancun airport.  My private shuttle driver was delayed (due to traffic) coming back to the airport from a Riviera Maya resort; since I wasn’t in a hurry I decided to wait for him.  Here’s the timeline though–I landed at 6 p.m. and didn’t get to my room until 9 p.m.  With the driver’s delay and the absurd traffic, you may want to rethink your transportation from the airport to your resort if you will be staying somewhere south of Dreams Natura. I know I won’t be taking any more USA Transfers rides after this trip if I’m going to be going south into the Riviera Maya while this fiasco continues.  It may be best to sign up for a cab in order to avoid any unnecessary waiting at the airport–you may pay a bit more, but you will get there faster.  You may also want to check out the private driver I had back in November–he also does transport to resorts from the airport.  His name is Juan Jose Vicente Tiquet, and his company is Friendstravelcancun.

There were several really sticky traffic points along the way to Puerto Aventuras (where my first resort is located).  The first actual construction spot was located where the road leads to Secrets Maroma; however, the traffic (at night) was stop and go south of Vidanta resort (that’s by Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya resort).  A three and four-lane road northbound and the same southbound both reduce to two one-way lanes, and the jockeying for position was outrageous!  I’ve never worried about actually getting into an accident in a hired transport since I was in Cairo years ago–sitting in the back seat with my eyes closed!  But, I digress.  Let’s just say you may have some anxiety about it.

The next major spot was just north of Playa del Carmen; what with the normal traffic going in and out of this rather large Riviera Maya city, again the traffic was stop and go.  The third was just right around where my resort is located.  Southbound traffic has to take the Retourno (U-turn) to enter the resort from the highway, and needless to say, with the traffic backup going north it makes for an adventure.

I rearranged with my return transport to pick me up 4 hrs. prior to my flight, and now I’m starting to rethink this since I leave on a Saturday from another resort even further south in the Riviera Maya.  If the traffic was such a mess on a Wednesday evening, how will it be on a Saturday?  I will let you know how this turns out.

What do you think?  If you go to Cancun would you now stay in the Hotel Zone, Playa Mujeres, or Costa Mujeres areas?