We are heading over there shortly and the transfer company is wanting to pick us up 4 hours prior to the flight. This seems a bit excessive to me and I was wondering if there is some major construction along the route. In the past it is normally a 30-45 min ride to the airport.
Thanks

I've been dealing with this with my clients. Just this week I heard traffic was bad. We kept ours at 4 hours but we were an hour away. Of course we didn't end up needing it. But I've been having most of my clients changed to 3-3.5 hrs depending on hotel location. It's a gamble.

I do always buy the lounge access ahead of time so at least I have somewhere comfortable to sit for 2+ hours.

We are at the Finest and never seemed to have an issue but I am not sure what is going on there construction wise. Would you mind telling me a little more about the lounges at the airport? I didn't know they had any I never looked I guess.

It's small and not fancy. Terminal 4 is bigger than terminal 3. $33 per person. They have alcohol and light meals (salads, chicken strips, guacamole etc.

They always sell out day if so I recommend buying in advance.

https://www.plazapremiumlounge.com/en-uk/find/americas/mexico/cancun/cancun-international-airport/mera-business-lounge-terminal-three

They aren't joking. If you time it wrong you will miss your flight. There's a lot of construction around the airport. More so south than north, but every taxi driver we've had has told us the same thing: it will back to all the way to PM on bad days and takes easily 2-3 hours from playa. That's the different direction but they aren't wrong.

We go to Finest a lot. To avoid this we always schedule a travel day before and after....and stay at an airport hotel (The Hilton Garden Inn is literally across the street from the airport).

This allows us to get extra time on arrival, and stay late on our departure day, from Finest at least. However, we have been close to missing our flight in the past due to 'pushing back' the 4 hr recommendation to 3 hours.

Does not checking a bag factor into this at all? Just blows my mind that last time in 2021 the transfer to/from the airport was like 40 minutes.

I appreciate everyone's responses.

Not really. On bad days the traffic to get in is multiple hours +. They're e redoing the entire carretera interchange between the hotel zone shamrock and 307 and then multiple areas of 307 south and north. And for reference its 13 miles from Cancun Airport to Puerto Morelos so yeah that's a lot of traffic.

He visto ese trfico con mis propios ojos.

There is a lot of construction within the Riviera Maya Area for sure. For my clients depending on the time of year if it is holiday I recommend 3 hours prior to departure. Depending on who your transportation is booked through I would contact them to see if it can be modified to 3 hours.

A lot of the time the ground transportation will have you sign a liability waiver to take responsibly if you modify to what they recommend.

We will arrive Monday and fly out on Friday. Just hard to fathom it taking that long from the finest. Appreciate all of the input.

If folks would stop going to Playa Mujeres, the rest of us could enjoy it more without the traffic hassles.

Burrus86 said:

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If folks would stop going to Playa Mujeres, the rest of us could enjoy it more without the traffic hassles.

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Agreed! Been going since 2018 and took a break last year to go to Belize a few times. We like it better than Playa Del Carmen especially since it is closer to the airport and a quick transfer.

Transfers weren't too bad. Took about 40 minutes to get to the Finest and about 50 or so to get to the airport on Friday morning.

Headed to Tulum 10/28 - 11/4 and 11/23 - 11/30. Airfare wasn't too bad at all. I'll lyk about the traffic.