Costa Maya Pocket Port Guide

Costa Maya is worth understanding before you arrive, because it isn't quite what the name suggests. There is no town called Costa Maya. The name belongs to a stretch of coast in southern Quintana Roo and to the privately built cruise port that sits on it — a self-contained complex of shops, bars, pools and a performance square, laid out to resemble a Mexican village.

It's well run, and some Escapaders are happy to spend the whole day there. But the actual place is two miles down the road. Mahahual is a fishing village that became a beach village, with a paved seafront walkway, restaurants on one side and the Caribbean on the other, and the reef close enough offshore to keep the water calm.

This port divides opinion more than most, and we think that's down to expectation rather than the place itself. Arrive expecting a historic town and the purpose-built port will disappoint. Arrive knowing the village is a five-dollar taxi ride away, and the day tends to go rather well.

What's inside — 19 pages:

• Port at a Glance — the pier, the complex, walkability, currency, language, and what a Costa Maya day costs you in time
• Getting Around — the ten-minute walk out through the port, taxi fares into Mahahual, golf cart hire, and why walking it isn't the idea it sounds
• Things to Do — Mahahual and the malécon, Chacchoben's jungle temples, Kohunlich and Dzibanché, reef snorkelling, Bacalar lagoon, and what the port itself offers if you'd rather stay put
• Beaches — Playa Mahahual, the beach clubs and how their day passes work, Maya Chan, and Xcalak for anyone wanting somewhere genuinely quiet
• Food & Drink — cochinita pibil, ceviche and aguachile, sopa de lima, and a word on whether that price is in pesos or dollars
• Shopping — real vanilla versus the other kind, Yucatec embroidery, silver, habanero sauce and melipona honey
• A One-Day Port Plan — out early, lunch on the sand, back in good time
• Practical Information — money, tipping, safety, water, sun and insects, entry requirements, and the all-aboard margin this port needs
• What to Take Ashore — short and specific, including what the ruins need that the beach doesn't
• FAQs — including a straight answer on sargassum
• A closing note
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Who it's for: Anyone with a Costa Maya call who'd rather know what this port actually is before the gangway goes down.

Format: PDF, 19 pages, sized 5.5 × 8.5in. Reads comfortably on a phone and prints as a neat half-page booklet. Yours to keep, no subscription.