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Cozumel is an island off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The island has its own international airport that is served by Continental Airlines (www.continental.com) Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com) Delta Airlines (www.delta.com) US Air (www.usairways.com) American Airlines (www.americanairlines.com) United Airlines (www.united.com) and several charter airlines, including Sun Country (www.suncountry.com)
Typically Continental connects via Houston (IAH), American connects via Dallas, and Delta connects via Atlanta. In the high season Northwest usually runs a non-stop from Minneapolis. Sun Country and other charters also flying out of Minneapolis often have very reasonable ticket prices. Also look for connections from Miami, San Francisco and Mexico City on Mexicana Airlines (www.mexicana.com)
Airline ticket prices to Cozumel can vary quite significantly. Depending on the amount of time that you have to spend in Mexico, because there are far more flights into Cancun, it is often considerably cheaper to fly into Cancun rather than directly to Cozumel. However, there are many variables that make the Cancun option one that you want to consider very carefully.
In order to get from Cancun to Cozumel, you will need ground transportation from Cancun to Playa del Carmen, about a 40 mile ride, and then you would take the ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel. The ground transportation from Cancun is getting to be less of a mystery than it used to be. You can now easily take a taxi to Playa del Carmen (about $70 for up to three people) and there are scheduled buses as well that are much cheaper. Once you get to Playa del Carmen you will need to get from the taxi stand or bus station to the ferry pier. That distance is only about three blocks, but if you are traveling with a lot of gear, it is a long three blocks.
The ferries to Cozumel from Playa del Carmen are very nice. A one-way ticket to Cozumel is about $9.00 US and the ferry ride is about 45 minutes. Once in Cozumel you will need to take a taxi to Casa Carlita. In summary, if you can save alot of money by flying into Cancun, consider it. However, part of those savings will be eaten up by transportation costs and, of course, the time it takes you to make those connections.
Over the years there also have been shuttle flights from the Cancun airport to the Cozumel airport. To our experience, these short flights can be problematic. We are aware of shuttle flights being cancelled without notice and of problems with the allowable weight of baggage. If you are considering one of these shuttle flights, do your homework very carefully.
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