Mexico Budget Advice

So I'd really like some advice on how much I should budget for my Pacific Coast of Mexico adventure.

I plan to be there for 6 months with a visa run into southern California to keep things legit!

Aside from some small (ish) bus journeys up & down the coast I pretty much plan to have a very relaxed beach time vibe with a majority of my time spent surfing.

How much would you guys anticipate on spending on rooms, food & a few beers thrown in for good times?

I'm basically looking for reassurance as I've just been fired from my job. Thankfully I've done the hard part of saving most of my planned amount of $$$ but still have 2 months of limited employment (i hope) till my flight.

Any insights of current costs/budgets would be super appreciated.

I plan to be on the pacific coast from Jan - June 2013.

if you want a nice beach check out Maroma (see link)http://www.locogringo.com/maps/tour/161a-t.html

Try looking around Akumal. The best thing I can offer/warn you about is the Cancun Airport. After you go through customs, don't talk anyone selling/giving anything away (it is a big scam). Go direcly outside where you will find your transportion . Good luck in your search & enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the input footsteps but looking for more info on recent budgets people have experienced of late!

Certainly learnt the hard way in the past with airport scams during my rookie years! Won't stand for it anymore! haa! Thanks for the heads up!

Cheap hotels near the beach in Rosarito Beach or in Ensenada run around $45 to $50 a night, slightly less during January and slightly more in June. Food can be cheap (lobster meals for $7-10, and tacos with beans and rice for $3-5 or less). Beers are cheap also ($2-3 if you buy them at a restaurant and less at the local store), but tequila is a bit more (varies from $8 to $23 for the bottle, depending on quality.

Not sure why someone was recommending Akumal when you said you wanted to go to the Pacific, but hey, it is true that Akamal is pretty--of course it is near Cancun, which is on the Gulf of Mexico. Hotels in major resort areas like Cabos San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta or Acapulco run much more of course--but even in those areas, just go out of town a ways and look for lower end places and the price drops quickly.

If you want the "high end", then book ahead a month, go for a longer stay and try to find an all-inclusive rate. I go to Puerto Vallarta for five days at a time with my wife and get the nonstop flight plus hotel plus meals plus drinks for a total of around $1,630 for the two of us. Since the flight alone runs around $900 for two, that means I'm paying $730 total for the two of us to have four nights at a fancy resort hotel with two great pools, eating two nights at fancy restaurants (on property), and eating two dinners plus four breakfasts and four lunches (24 meals in all--12 meals each), plus all the booze we can drink at the buffet or around the pool, plus getting Vegas-type shows each night--and the service is all included in all cases. Of course, there is no place to surf near here, but the snorkeling is great.

Enjoy your trip.

[ Edit: Edited on 17-Oct-2012, at 16:02 by Calcruzer ]

I see you want to head to the Pacific Coast of Mexico-for the kind of surfing action/accommodation you want that means Michoacán.

I'd say $50/day would set you up right -a week's hotel could be as little as that but travelling in/out of some of those one palapa pueblos can be surprisingly expensive.

There's a site called coast_of_michoacan that's down right now-I suggest you try some of the surfer sites for added detail this particular forum caters to relatively mainstream tastes as I'm sure you've noticed.

I think you should search on google you find the better way to solved your problem.

Thanks for all your input guys it's always appreciated!

I probably should have stated I was looking for more Hostel advice rather than Hotels but still, I've taken all info in!

I've been doing my research pretty heavily of late & due to the fact I'm looking to stay in certain towns (Puerto Escondido for example) for longer periods of time (1 month - 6 weeks) I've found some great accommodation super close to the beach that offer monthly pricing schemes which is perfect & heaps cheaper than prices per night!

In term of eating out on a backpackers budget - what can I be looking @ per day? Street food widely available?

I've read a beer in most bars will run me around 1 GPB - cheaper if buy from the stores!

Keep it coming amigo/a's

When in Puerto Escondido (and especially if you head further south toward Huatulco) have an eye for your personal possessions.

The area attracts some rather down-on-their-luck gringos who are nothing more than thieves/small time dope dealers and worse-don't trust people because they seem friendly and they love to hit newcomers hard especially if they're staying in accommodation that's not particularly secure.

The whole surfer scene @ Puerto Escondido makes me ill but maybe that's just me-the California flakes & douchebags the Euro idiots are just people I'd rather not share the planet with.

Waves @ Playa Zicatela can be serious once the rains start in April I hope you have the experience to deal with them.