The Journal 8 min read
Ferries to Cozumel and Isla Mujeres: Schedules, Prices, Which Company and Whether a Tour Beats Them
Ultramar and Winjet from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel, Ultramar from Puerto Juárez to Isla Mujeres — how long, what it costs, where to park, and when a catamaran tour is the better deal.
By The One Happy Aruba Team · Updated Sep 30, 2026 · How we know
The ferry is the cheap, flexible way to both islands: about $12 each way and 45 minutes to Cozumel from Playa del Carmen, a shorter and cheaper hop to Isla Mujeres from Puerto Juárez, with sailings frequent enough that you never need a reservation. Take the ferry if you want to control your own day, pick your own beach club, and eat where you want. Book a catamaran tour instead for Isla Mujeres if what you actually want is snorkeling, an open bar and a beach-club lunch in one price, because at $35 to $88 the boat costs about what the ferry plus a golf cart plus a beach club would anyway.
The two crossings
| Route | Companies | Crossing | Typical fare | Frequency | Departure terminal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playa del Carmen to Cozumel | Ultramar, Winjet | About 45 min | About $12 each way | Roughly hourly | The pier at the foot of 5th Avenue, downtown Playa |
| Puerto Juárez to Isla Mujeres | Ultramar | Short (well under an hour) | Not in our data; check the posted fare at the pier | Frequent through the day | Puerto Juárez, north of downtown Cancún; secondary Hotel Zone departures near Playa Tortugas |
| Calica to Cozumel (car ferry) | Transcaribe | Longer than the passenger ferry | Not in our data | A few sailings daily | Calica, south of Playa del Carmen |
The Cozumel figures come from our Cozumel hub and match what guests report. For Isla Mujeres, our data is thinner: guest reviews confirm the terminals and the routine, but we don't hold a current fare or a timetable, and both change often enough that the posted board at the pier is the only source worth trusting. Expect the Isla crossing to be shorter and cheaper than the Cozumel one, and plan the day around the return sailings rather than the outbound.
Playa del Carmen to Cozumel
The pier sits at the bottom of 5th Avenue, which is the easiest thing about it. The hardest thing is the walk to it: the last block is a gauntlet of people selling "ferry tickets" and tours. Buy at the company windows on the pier itself, not from anyone on the street. Ultramar and Winjet sell from adjacent counters at roughly the same price, so pick whichever boat leaves next.
Seasickness is real on this crossing. It's 12 miles of open water and the channel gets choppy on windy days. The advice from the Isla Mujeres side applies here too: sit low and central, and take the tablet 30 minutes before boarding, not once you're already green. The upper open deck is nicer in calm weather and worse in swell.
Cars and the Calica ferry. If you've rented a car and want it on Cozumel, the Transcaribe car ferry runs from Calica, a few kilometers south of Playa. Our data doesn't hold its schedule or price, and the honest advice is that most visitors shouldn't bother: Cozumel taxis and the tour boats cover a day trip, and a rental on the island is easy if you decide to stay. Leave the car in a Playa parking lot near the pier and walk on.
What to do once you're there. The snorkel boats meet at the Cozumel ferry pier or a few blocks from it. The group boats price at $48 to $70 including the ferry and four or five reef stops, and a la carte, Cozumel H2O at $75 for four hours (5.0 on 1,375 reviews) is the best-reviewed snorkel trip on the island. Certified divers should look at Scuba Life Cozumel at $120 (2,780 reviews). If you'd rather have your own boat, the National Park and Beach Break private tour is $148 for five hours. One thing to check before you commit to any of them: the cruise calendar. Three ships in port means the reef sandbar at El Cielo is a snorkel scrum by 10 a.m., and the first boat out at 8 or 9 is your only escape. Our Cozumel area page has the beach-club rundown for the days you'd rather just sit.
One guest at a Cozumel hotel summed up the logistics as a 45-minute ferry and a $10 taxi, and that's about right for a downtown-area drop.
Puerto Juárez and the Hotel Zone to Isla Mujeres
Puerto Juárez is the main Ultramar terminal for Isla Mujeres, on the mainland north of downtown Cancún. From the Hotel Zone, that's a taxi or Uber of 20 to 30 minutes depending on where you start. Several Hotel Zone resorts also sit a short walk from a ferry departure near Playa Tortugas, and guests at The Royal Cancun repeatedly mention a five-minute walk to the ferry building; Melia Casa Maya and Crown Paradise Club guests say the same, or that the local bus gets them there cheaply. Downtown, All Ritmo guests are a few minutes from the Puerto Juárez pier.
If you'd rather not sort the taxi, the Private Transfer between Cancún, the Isla Mujeres ferry and Puerto Morelos is $50 for the run, rated 5.0 on a small 14 reviews.
On the island. Isla Mujeres is small and flat, and the default move is a golf cart. Expect a cash deposit, cash-preferred pricing, and a queue at the rental stands in the hour after each ferry. A guest at Moon Palace described the whole independent day, Uber to the pier, ferry, golf cart, then a pre-booked beach club, as a fantastic day and worth doing, which is the typical verdict. Bring cash: beach clubs and carts prefer it, and the island's ATMs run dry on busy weekends.
Playa Norte is the beach everyone crosses for, and our beach data backs the reputation: swimming 5 out of 5, safe, rated 4.6 on 8,354 reviews. The catch is crowds, which score 4, and which peak between roughly 11 and 3 when the catamarans unload. If you took the ferry, be on the sand by 10 and you'll have had the best of it before the boats arrive. The Isla Mujeres area guide has the rest of the island.
Ferry versus tour: the math
Here's the honest comparison for a couple on an Isla Mujeres day. The ferry is cheap, but it's only the crossing. Add a taxi to the pier each way, a golf cart, a beach club with a lounger minimum, lunch and drinks, and an independent day lands somewhere in the $60 to $120 per person range depending on how you eat and drink. That's roughly what the catamarans charge, and they include the snorkel stop and the open bar.
| Tour | Price | Hours | Rating (reviews) | What you're buying |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isla Mujeres Rush: Catamaran Snorkeling and Buffet in Beach Club | $35 | 8 | 5.0 (18) | The full loop at the lowest price; small review base |
| Isla Mujeres en Catamaran All Inclusive + Free Transportation | $71 | 7 | 4.5 (3,013) | The big-boat workhorse with hotel pickup |
| GOLDEN CARIBEAN TRAVEL | $75 | 4 | 4.7 (3,048) | A shorter, well-reviewed loop |
| 3 Hours VIP Semiprivate Isla Mujeres Full Snorkeling Experience | $88 | 3 | 4.8 (469) | Snorkel-first, small boat, skip the buffet line |
| Snorkel Tour at MUSA and Manchones Reef | $64 | 4 | 4.8 (49) | The underwater museum, no island time |
| Private Isla Contoy and Isla Mujeres Tour with Snorkeling | $170 | 6 | 4.8 (822) | Your own boat, plus the bird-sanctuary island |
The catamaran wins if you want snorkeling, you're happy on a boat with dozens of strangers, and an open bar of well liquor and beer sounds like a feature. Our Isla Mujeres catamaran hub covers the differences between the boats, and the short version is that the cheap ones fill three or four days out in high season.
The ferry wins if you want Playa Norte before the boats arrive, a long lunch at a restaurant you chose, a golf-cart lap of the island, and no schedule. It also wins for families with small kids, who don't drink the open bar and won't love four hours of deck time.
For Cozumel the math tilts harder toward the ferry, because the island's best experience, the reef, is sold by local boats that already assume you arrived on it. A Playa-side yacht charter is a different product at a different price: the private boats out of Playa run $1,079 to $2,526 for the vessel, and often exclude the roughly $15 per person marine park fee, so confirm what's covered.
The last-ferry-back trap
Both islands run late sailings, but "late" is earlier than you think once you've had a beach-club afternoon, and the last few boats are the crowded ones. Two rules:
- Check the return schedule at the pier when you arrive, take a photo of the board, and decide on your target sailing then, not at 5 p.m. with a cart to return and a queue forming.
- Aim for the second-to-last sailing you'd accept. If the last boat is full, or delayed by weather, you want a fallback that isn't a night on the island you didn't pack for.
Golf-cart returns, cash-only beach-club checkouts and the walk to the pier all eat 30 minutes you didn't budget. If you're staying in the Hotel Zone, a return ferry to the Playa Tortugas-area dock rather than Puerto Juárez saves a taxi, but check that your ticket is valid for that route, because the two terminals are run as separate departures.
Weather is the other variable: a strong norte in winter can cancel crossings for an afternoon. If the ferry company has stopped selling tickets, it's not a negotiation. Build your island day on a morning where the forecast is calm, and see our getting around guide for the ADO and colectivo options that get you to either pier without a rental car.