The island is characterized by having colorful houses and sandy streets. It has several activities to do, although one of the favorite activities of the tourists who visit it is to enjoy its beaches and sunsets.
There are no paved roads or resorts or banks. But yes mangroves, turquoise blue beaches, street art festivals, bikes and golf carts to get around, charming boutiques and small hotels to stay to live… barefoot. This is the most bohemian Mayan island.
It is still one of those few half-virgin, half-hippie, half-carefree havens where there are no cars, no paved streets, no big wristband resorts, no banks and only one ATM, wifi comes and goes and electricity it didn’t arrive until well into the ’80s.
The exact location is 145 kilometers from Cancun, the largest tourist destination in the Riviera Maya. The journey by road takes about two hours to the town of Chiquilá, from where the ferries depart to Holbox (the journey takes 20 minutes).
Taking into account the large offer of Yucatan (Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Chitchén-Itzá…) not many choose to travel here. Even for many Mexicans it is something like the end of the world.
The beach borders boutique hotels like Las Nubes
Beaches of fine nuclear white sand, mangroves, cenotes, wild rivers, a single town with colored houses and thatched roofs, craft stalls, street food markets, locals carrying ponchos, coconuts and chickens.
also flirty stores of independent and local firms such as Lolita or Shalon, small art galleries, such as Hoyo Negro, located in front of the main square, boutique hotels such as Las Nubes or La Casa de las Tortugas, as if to stay to live.
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Holbox has a street art festival.
We should add to the list live music venues (from jazz to salsa) and avant-garde multi-venues where you can just as easily buy a glamorous shawl or a designer chair as devour a crab in coconut sauce or have a margarita or a mezcal , the trendy agave distillate.
Luuma is one of those top sites that brings everything together. Holbox also organizes every year a festival that has washed the face of run-down streets and buildings through colorful murals. It has its own name, IPAF-Soñando por Holbox, and has already extended its tentacles with urban art spaces in other regions of the country.
Until not so long ago, the island, 1,500 souls and 40 kilometers long by two wide, was nothing more than a refuge for fishermen. Before, yes, the Mayans had coveted it. And the Spanish. And the English pirates. But, although it seems so, the name has nothing British. It is of indigenous origin and means black hole (in fact, it is pronounced holbox, with an accent on the second o), the color of the sacred lagoon located in the south of the island.
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How to get
You can get from Buenos Aires to Cancun on Aerolineas Argentinas by direct flight or, making stops, through Aeroméxico, Latam, Copa Airlines, American Airlines and United.
To get to Holbox, you must take a ferry from the Chiquilá terminal, which can be reached from Cancun by ADO bus or by car from the other towns in Quintana Roo. From Cancun, for example, it takes approximately 3 hours and then 30 minutes by ferry to the island. They leave every 30 minutes and the ticket costs 220 Mexicans round trip, that is, just over US$10.
Where to sleep
The Clouds (www.lasnubesdeholbox.com). Charming ’boutique’ hotel with a familiar and intimate atmosphere located at the end of Playa Norte. Made up of bungalows and suites, its Orquídea spa offers treatments of Mayan origin with traditional herbs such as mint, tobacco or aloe vera. Its owner and perfect hostess, Bárbara, has another hotel in the center of town, Casa Sandra (www.hotelcasabarbara.mx, more welcoming and surrounded by a courtyard with gardens and a swimming pool.
La Casa de las Tortugas (www.holboxcasalastortugas.com/es) is another exclusive hotel that respects the environment and is located on the beach, created by an architecture lover, Gianni Golinelli, together with his wife Greta and their daughter Francesca. It has the Agua spa, a yoga center, a kiteboarding school, a craft store and the Mandarina beach club.
In relation to lodging, the Airbnb platform shows offers that start from US$48 per night to US$95 for an apartment in an entire residential complex.
Hotel values vary according to location: from US$55 and escalate to a maximum of US$122 at the exclusive Hotel Mittoz, with ocean views and full service.
Where to eat
Both Las Nubes and La Casa de las Tortugas have restaurants with sea views to taste island cuisine. In the first, you have to try the shellfish ceviche, the cochinita pibil, the lobster risotto or the seafood fettuccini from El Sabor de Las Nubes. Also their homemade bread and mezcal with Jamaican water.
Mandarina is the Mediterranean restaurant of La Casa de las Tortugas, with organic cuisine. We recommend any seafood or fish dish.
In town, Viva Zapata (www.vivazapataholbox.com) stands out, on Damero Avenue, a good place to order the island’s specialty, lobster pizza. Their pasta seasoned with seafood also comes with a tail. A mural with the characters of the Mexican revolution acts as a backdrop.
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To do
Those who prefer intensive tourism can visit some of its nearby attractions such as: Isla Pajaros, a refuge for a great diversity of birds; Cenote Yalahau, a “water hole” surrounded by mangroves and abundant vegetation; and Isla Pasión, an ideal place to enjoy nature.
On the Holbox beach itself you can enjoy a massage session or the bars and restaurants that are on the coast. Another peculiarity is that the island is about 40 kilometers long, so you do not need a car to travel around it. It can be done by bike or in golf carts.
Source From: Ambito
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