Prices in Mexico are unpleasantly surprising. My impression is that they are designed for the American consumer, and for tourists from other countries they may seem quite high. But if you have vacationed in the EU, a lot will seem to you multiplied by 2, and sometimes by 3 if you come from Eastern Europe.

Let’s note that of course:

• My trip was centered on touristy places, not somewhere in Mexico City.
• Surely all the prices are aimed at tourists, but…
• I visited supermarkets, although it’s possible that a supermarket is a luxury for locals.
• Maybe the high prices are due to the cost of security for tourists.

When I will compare, I will compare first of all the cost of services and services with Western Europe, namely, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, France, as well as with Turkey, Egypt, which we often associate with cheaper but quite high quality countries.

What’s cheap in Mexico

Of all the things I had to deal with in Mexico that are relatively affordable, I would single out only apartment rentals. Here you can rent large, modern apartments at a fairly low price compared to Western Europe.

What’s expensive in Mexico

1.  Beach and beach supplies – sometimes prices are higher than on the coast of Italy or Nice, France.
2.  Food in restaurants – prices are comparable to Europe, and sometimes 2 times more expensive than at resorts in the EU. What we eat in restaurants for 80 euros in the EU, for some reason came out to 180 dollars in Mexico. And believe me, it is not fish, caviar, it is quite simple food.
3.  Cab – I would say it is very expensive, if you compare it with the price in Berlin, 2 times more expensive for sure.
4.  Groceries in the supermarket – equal to or more expensive than in the EU.

An example of Gelato ice cream – one scoop in Germany will cost you 2 euros, most often it is 1.6-1.8 euros. I ate expensive ice cream in Greece, it was very tasty and cost 2.5 euros per scoop. But in Tulum, Playa del Carmen, ice cream costs 7 euros for 1 ball. Of course here I compared the prices of Gelato in a waffle cup with 1 ball.

Perhaps the prices that I indicated are not so expensive in comparison with …., but when working with prices I took the salary of workers in Mexico, and if you get 600 dollars – it is very good, that is not everyone has so much, at the same time when in Germany it is 2000 euros.

Fruit and seafood

When you come to a tropical sea country, you want to eat more fruit and seafood. If with seafood I did not experience any particular difficulties, although nobody canceled burritos and tacos as the main course)), but with fruit it was somehow not super.

In our view there should have been a lot of shops, fruit vendors and other things. But as it was immediately explained to us in Cancun, you want fruit – go to a big supermarket, like Walmart.

Since in Cancun we lived on the coast, and there was no such supermarket nearby, we did not get fruit. The situation became easier in Playa del Carmen, where we found a large supermarket and bought fruit there, but in Tulum, to the supermarket added all-desirable shops. They can be found in local neighborhoods and buy everything you want: bananas, watermelons, melons, peaches, plums, pineapples, and …