Mexico has one of the widest gaps anywhere between travelling like a local and travelling like a tourist. The same meal costs thirty pesos in a market and four hundred in a hotel zone; the same distance costs sixty pesos by colectivo or twelve hundred by private transfer. Knowing where that gap sits is what decides the budget.
Prices are in Mexican pesos; in 2026 the rate runs around 18 to 20 pesos to the euro, but check it.
Three daily budgets per person
- Tight, 600-900 pesos. Hostel or simple room 300-450, market and street food 150-250, public transport and colectivos 80-150, one entry fee every other day. This travels perfectly well and eats better than the next tier up
- Mid-range, 1,500-2,500 pesos. Three-star hotel or a good apartment 700-1,200, restaurants 500-800, first-class buses and the occasional Uber, entry fees most days
- High, 4,000-8,000 pesos or more. Boutique hotels, chef restaurants, domestic flights, private guides. In Tulum and Los Cabos it exceeds western European levels easily
Reference prices
- Street taco: 15-30 pesos. Three or four make a meal
- Comida corrida at a market fonda: 80-150 pesos for soup, a main, rice, tortillas and a drink
- Neighbourhood restaurant: 150-300 pesos a main course
- Beer at a shop: 20-30; in a bar 60-90
- Speciality coffee: 60-90 pesos
- Hostel dorm: 250-450; simple double room 600-900
- First-class bus, 5 hours: 400-700
- Mexico City metro: 5 pesos, the cheapest urban transport on the continent
- Federal archaeological site: 90-100 pesos. Chichén Itzá adds a state fee and reaches around 650
- Cenote: 100-400 pesos depending on how developed it is
- Day tour with transport: 800-2,000 pesos
Where the wasted money goes
- Private airport transfers. The ADO bus from Cancún to Playa del Carmen costs around 250 pesos and takes an hour; a private transfer costs ten times that
- Eating inside hotel zones. Two streets away the same food costs a third as much
- Changing money at the airport. Withdraw pesos from a bank ATM instead; the rate is far better. Avoid independent-brand street ATMs, which charge heavy fees
- Paying in dollars. Many tourist businesses accept them at a terrible rate. Always pay in pesos
- Tours booked at the hotel. Booked in the destination town or directly with the operator they cost half
- The expensive counter insurance when it could have been arranged in advance for less. But you must have third-party liability: it is mandatory and credit-card cover does not satisfy it
Tipping and payment
- Restaurants: 10-15 per cent, not included in the bill
- Supermarket bag packers and informal car watchers: 5-10 pesos
- Petrol station: 10-20 pesos, since it is attended service
- Hotel housekeeping: 20-50 pesos a day
- Cash in 50, 100 and 200 notes: 500s are awkward to break at stalls and colectivos
- Cards work in hotels, supermarkets and mid-range restaurants; not in markets, colectivos, tolls or street stalls
How to spend less without giving anything up
Eat in markets at midday, when the food is freshly made. Take first-class buses instead of flights for anything under six hours. Sleep in the town rather than the hotel zone. Travel in the rainy season, June to September, when lodging drops by a third and the afternoon storms are predictable. And buy crafts at the village workshop: you will pay less and the money reaches the person who made them.