Taking a taxi in Cancun. Is it safe?
You wouldn’t imagine how many people ask if is it safe to take a taxi in Cancun every day. It’s perfectly understandable since safety is fundamental when traveling to a new country. But, is there a disappointing answer for this? Not at all.
So, are taxis safe in Cancun?
Forget about the “unsafe” misconception.
First of all, let’s put this clear. We focused on this question because, as stated above, is a question that we nearly always hear from clients. We do not like this kind of judgment since puts the whole destination as some sort of wild place, which not. Cancun works as any important-for-tourism destination. Hotels, restaurants, places of interest and a lot of local merchandising. For the sake of safety, there are cameras installed across the hotel zone and downtown. So, let’s forget about the “unsafe” misconception that has been rumored about this Caribbean destination.
Expensive, a bit rude and dishonest, but safe.
Now, talking about the main subject of this post: Taxis are fairly safe in Cancun, a bit dishonest but safe. Some taxi drivers set their rates according to how they see passengers. It gets to be really expensive most times.
Taxis in Cancun
Noticing that you are a tourist, they will try to get from you as much money as possible, and not in the most friendly way. Some get upset when a user prefers any other type of transportation instead of their service, and this produces a rude attitude. That is the main reason why Uber has not been able to fully establish and operate normally. There have been protests from taxi drivers demanding to get them out of the street, because “it affects their job and their families” (oh, come on!) That is, according to us, the actual “problem” with taxis in Cancun as far as touristic activity concerns.
Look for taxi sites.
You may have read in some news portals about criminal activity with taxi drivers involved. These taxi drivers operate in specific areas (ghetto) of downtown, not in the hotel zone. Matter of fact, there are “taxi sites” where you can nearly always find available taxis willing to take you anywhere. They actually look way different from downtown taxis.
It is a complete different market the one targeted by taxi drivers in Hotel Zone from the one targeted by taxi drivers in Downtown. For many people that need to travel to their workplace in daily basis, taxis condition is not very important, but getting fast to their destinations. For this reason, there are still many taxis in poor conditions which still operate normally, even that the vehicle is falling apart. Taxis at Cancun Airport are also different. In fact, it’s not very probable you see the damaged ones around touristic areas, since they just don’t get much tourist clients (for obvious reasons).
Opposite to that, taxi drivers who pretend to give service to tourists do take a little bit of care of their vehicles and are a bit more trustable than downtown taxi drivers. Anyhow, it’s a good practice to ask two or three taxi drivers about the price for a service to the same destination. Chances are, the last of them is going to notice you are not someone to fool and is going to give you the actual price of the service, without adding even a peso.
In a nutshell
So, is it safe to take a taxi in Cancun? Taxis in hotel zone are safe, but you should be cautious if taking a taxi in downtown.
We recommend considering Private Transportation for any kind of service. It is comfortable, totally safe and always available, plus it counts with fixed non-incrementable-by-drivers rates.
In case you are trying to move around Tulum, we also provide transportation services in Tulum. At your service!