Punta Langosta cruise port guide
Cozumel, Mexico · from CozumelThings, the offline iPhone guide
Where ships dock
Punta Langosta pier, downtown San Miguel
The downtown pier: you walk off through the Punta Langosta mall onto the waterfront. The main square and the ferry to Playa del Carmen are about ten minutes' walk north. Taxis for everywhere else wait at the stand by the mall; the tariff is posted there.
Typically 7–8 AM to 4–6 PM · Cozumel is UTC−5 all year — check which clock your ship keeps
All-aboard is in ship time. Check the daily programme and be back at the gangway 30 minutes early.
Top places near the pier
Walking times come from the app: straight-line distance plus 30% for streets, at an easy 4.5 km/h. Places further than an hour on foot show the distance instead.
DizzyDJC · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Malecón (Avenida Rafael Melgar)
The seafront boulevard that runs the length of downtown, from Punta Langosta past the ferry pier and the main square to the museum and beyond.
La Choza
A family restaurant a block inland from the waterfront serving Yucatecan and Mexican home cooking — cochinita pibil, pollo en relleno negro, fresh tortillas — under a big palapa roof.
David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Parque Benito Juárez
San Miguel's main square, a block back from the ferry pier: a shaded plaza with the clock tower, benches, snack carts and, on Sunday evenings, local families, music and dancing.
David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Iglesia San Miguel
The island's main Catholic church, a block from the main square.
Mercado Municipal
San Miguel's municipal market, a few blocks inland: fruit, meat and fish stalls and, at the back, the cocinas económicas — little kitchens serving cheap home-style lunches to people who work in town.
Wet Wendy's Margarita House
A lively downtown bar-restaurant known for its long margarita list and Mexican dishes, a short walk from the main square.
Kinta
A downtown restaurant serving modern Mexican cooking in a courtyard garden a few blocks back from the waterfront — one of the town's well-known dinner spots.
David Stanley · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Museo de la Isla de Cozumel
The island museum in a former hotel on the waterfront boulevard: rooms on Maya Cozumel and the sacred pilgrimage to Ixchel, the coral reefs and their creatures, pirates, chicle and the fishing town that followed.
Guido's
A long-running Italian restaurant on the waterfront boulevard north of the main square, known for wood-oven pizza and home-made pasta.
Playa Caletita
A small public beach just north of the International Pier, on the coast road: a patch of sand, a few palapas and calm, clear water.
Cozumel Country Club
The island's 18-hole golf course, laid out among mangroves and lagoons north of town.
Playa San Juan
A strip of sand and shallow water on the hotel strip north of town, fronting the northern hotels and a couple of beach clubs.
Saúl Peláez S. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons San Gervasio
The largest Maya site on Cozumel, in the forest in the middle of the island: plazas, small temples, the arch and the sacbé roads of the sanctuary to Ixchel, goddess of fertility and the moon, which drew pilgrims from the mainland before…
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Ready-made port days in CozumelThings
Each is a timed plan in the app, starting and ending at the ship (8 in all for this port).
- San Miguel on Foot
From Punta Langosta: the waterfront, the plaza, the island museum and lunch in town - San Gervasio & the Maya Island
The island's Maya sanctuary in the forest, then Discover Mexico and the beach - Ferry to Playa del Carmen
Only on a long port day: across to the mainland for Fifth Avenue — back early - San Miguel for (Almost) Free
The sea wall, the square, the church and a market lunch in pesos - Museum & Malecón, the Easy Way
A taxi to the island museum, pizza on the waterfront and the shady square - Market, Museum & a Yucatecan Lunch
Fruit and spices, Maya Cozumel, then cochinita pibil under the palapa
Getting around: what the app tells you
- Ask the tariff, not the driver
- Every pier's taxi stand posts the union tariff by destination. Read it (or photograph it) before you get in, and agree the fare for the return too. It's per car for up to four people, so sharing with people from your ship halves the cost.
- Carry some pesos
- Dollars work, but a few hundred pesos from a bank ATM make tacos, markets and in-town taxis cheaper and simpler. Keep small bills; many small shops can't change a 500-peso note.
- Island time, ship time
- Cozumel doesn't change its clocks. Set your phone to the ship's all-aboard time and add a margin: taxis from the far beaches take 30–45 minutes, and the pier gates close before the ship sails.
- Playa del Carmen is a gamble on a short day
- The ferry takes about 45 minutes each way, plus queues, plus the taxi between the ferry pier and a southern cruise pier. With less than seven hours ashore, Cozumel's own beaches and reefs are the better day.
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