Isla Mujeres with Kids: Things to Do + Day Trip Tips

Just a short ferry ride from Cancun, visiting Isla Mujeres with kids is an easy way to add a fun island day to your family vacation. We loved the slower pace, the chance to explore by golf cart and how simple it was to combine sightseeing with time by the water.

We visited Isla Mujeres as a day trip with our kids and found it very manageable for families. In one day, we were able to explore Punta Sur, spend time around Playa Norte and town, and drive around the island in our golf cart. The ferry ride and golf cart were part of the fun for our kids, which made the day feel like more than just another sightseeing outing.

In this guide, we share the best things to do in Isla Mujeres with kids, along with practical tips for taking the ferry from Cancun, getting around the island, renting a golf cart and deciding whether Isla Mujeres is a good fit for your family.

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How to Get to Isla Mujeres with Kids

Taking the Ferry from Cancun to Isla Mujeres

An affordable way to get from Cancun to Isla Mujeres is by ferry.  There are several ferry departure points from Cancun:

The main ferry port in Cancun is Puerto Juarez, located just outside downtown. Puerto Juárez offers frequent ferry service to Isla Mujeres and is convenient if you are staying outside Cancún’s Hotel Zone.

Playa Tortugas and Playa Caracol are both on the northern leg of the hotel zone and each offer direct ferries from Cancun to Isla Mujeres. For our family day trip, we took the ferry to Isla Mujeres from Playa Tortugas as it was the only port which we could confirm had parking.

Fun Tours to Isla Mujeres

Of course, taking the regular ferry isn’t your only option. If you want to make the journey to Isla Mujeres part of the experience, there are plenty of catamaran, trimaran and sailboat tours from Cancun that combine the crossing with snorkeling, swimming and sightseeing.

Our kids were only 2 and 4 when we visited, so we decided they were a little young for this type of outing. With older kids, though, I think this would be a really fun way to visit Isla Mujeres, especially if your family enjoys being out on the water and you want more than just transportation to the island.

If that sounds like a good fit for your family, take a look at these Isla Mujeres tours to compare catamaran, snorkeling and sightseeing options.

Getting Around Isla Mujeres with Kids

Most of the shops, restaurants and popular beaches are concentrated around the northern end of Isla Mujeres. It is small enough to walk from end-to-end in 10 minutes, so if your day trip to Isla Mujeres was for shopping, eating or a family beach day at Playa Norte, all you need to get around is your feet.

If you want to explore the rest of Isla Mujeres, which we recommend, you can take a taxi or rent a golf cart or scooter.

Renting a Golf Cart on Isla Mujeres

Golf carts and scooters are everywhere on Isla Mujeres, and many visitors use them to explore the island. As you’d expect, the Isla Mujeres golf cart rental shops are all located immediately outside the ferry terminal, you can’t miss them. 

We rented a golf cart for the day and found it was a super fun and convenient way to explore the island independently. Our kids loved riding in the open-air vehicle, while we enjoyed the ocean views and sea breeze as we drove around.

Things to Do in Isla Mujeres with Kids

There are plenty of things to do on Isla Mujeres with kids. Here’s what we did on our day-trip to Isla Mujeres:

Tortugranja

As soon as we got our golf cart rental near the ferry terminal, we headed south to Tortugranja, a turtle farm located about halfway down the island.

Update: Sadly, Tortugranja is now permanently closed.

Visit Punta Sur

Next we drove our golf cart to Punta Sur at the southernmost tip of Isla Mujeres. The epic scenery alone, with the jagged cliffs and the open ocean makes it worth the trip down to Punta Sur. There are two main sections to explore on Punta Sur:

The free area of Punta Sur has a few nice sculptures (a giant iguana and a half-naked Mayan woman). There is a short path along the north side of the island with great views of ocean waves crashing on the rocks.

The other section of Punta Sur is the quirky “Punta Sur Sculpture Park”, which extends all the way to the actual tip of the island. Along the Punta Sur pathways are a lot of interesting, modern-art sculptures. Whatever your taste in art, it was an undeniably cool setting for a display of artwork like this. 

Near the southern tip of Isla Mujeres was a small set of ruins honoring the Mayan Moon Goddess. From here the path descends towards the ocean and turns back towards the entrance. This is a very scenic path along the bottom of rocky cliffs with waves crashing alongside.

On our way back to town, we stopped at Green Verde for lunch. This was a fun little Isla Mujeres restaurant with a small menu of mostly Mexican dishes. The food was very good and the kids ate most of theirs.

Spend Time at Playa Norte

Once we got back to Isla Mujeres town it seemed like we had hit rush hour. The streets were filled with cars and golf carts and forward progress was pretty slow. We decided it would be faster to return our golf cart rental and walk.

We walked north along Avenida Rueda Medina to Playa Norte, Isla Mujeres’ famous beach. Playa Norte was beautiful and looked like a great place to spend time with our kids. Unfortunately, we visited on one of those rare cloudy and windy days in Mexico, so we didn’t stop to enjoy some family beach time. On a typical, sunny tropical day, Playa Norte would be an excellent thing to do with kids on Isla Mujeres.

Explore Isla Mujeres Town and Avenida Hidalgo

From here we worked our way back toward the Isla Mujeres ferry terminal along the charming, pedestrian-only shopping street, Avenida Hidalgo.

As a parent with small kids, I love pedestrian-only streets because you don’t have to worry as much about them running into traffic. Of course, the kids love the freedom to roam too. This street is lively and colorful, filled with many restaurants and shops. 

Things to Do On Isla Mujeres with Older Kids

Families with older kids have even more activities to choose from on Isla Mujeres. Swimming with whale sharks is high-up on our bucket list, so I’m certain we will be back with the kids as soon as they are old enough!

Here are some of the many great things to do on Isla Mujeres with kids:

• Small-Group Eco Friendly Whale Sharks Tour
  
• Isla Mujeres Snorkeling Trips
  
• Isla Mujeres Water Park (Parque de Los Sueños)

Where to Stay on Isla Mujeres with Kids

We based our 28-day trip to Mexico in a beautiful 3-bedroom condo rental in Playa del Carmen.

We didn’t stay on Isla Mujeres with our kids, but I’d love to return one day. I like its laid-back vibe and the smaller hotels compared with the mega-resorts in Cancun.

When traveling with kids, we generally prefer a condo or vacation rental for the family-friendly benefits of having separate bedrooms, our own kitchen and laundry facilities. There are many Isla Mujeres condo vacation rentals to choose from.

Of course, staying at a resort is a super-fun thing to do with kids while on holiday in Mexico. When we stay in hotels, we use Booking as they have an excellent family-friendly search filter. View family-friendly hotels in Isla Mujeres.

We hope you enjoy your visit to Isla Mujeres with kids as much as we did!

Planning a Family Trip to the Riviera Maya

Planning a family vacation to the Riviera Maya? Our guide to Things to Do in Riviera Maya with Kids has more family activities, planning tips and links to our Riviera Maya posts

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