Mexico is a wonderful country, but many people skip visiting cities like Cancun, because they often wonder, “Do you need a passport to go to Cancun?”. There was a time when you could travel to a few countries without a passport or a visa, but times have changed and so have the rules. Therefore, you need more than a driver’s license or birth certificate to travel down to Cancun for your next vacation.
While you can easily plan your trip to Cancun without a passport, you are required to have one prior to arriving in the area. If you have a passport already, you will not need to worry, as long as it is still going to be valid for six months past the date you plan on returning home. However, if your passport is set to expire, or you do not have one, then you must allow enough time to receive one in the mail.
Basically, do not schedule a trip to Cancun less than eight weeks in the future if you do not have a valid passport! If you want to travel more than eight weeks in the future, then feel free to book your flight, map out your driving route, book your hotel accommodations, and even plan some excursions right away. There is no limit to what you can do prior to your trip, even if you are still waiting for your passport to arrive in the mail.
“Do you need a passport to go to Cancun?”, may seem like a silly question for some people to ask, but if someone has never traveled to Cancun before, or anywhere else out of their home country, there is no reason for them to know the answer to that question.
Plus, most people are not aware that there are two different types of passports that they can use, but the one that they need is dependent on how they are arriving in Cancun. A passport card is the cheaper option, and this is an excellent choice if you plan on arriving in Cancun via land or sea.
When you have a passport card, you are only allowed to drive or take a boat to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean. You will not be allowed to use this passport card to fly into any of these countries or to travel to any other country in the world.
Therefore, a passport card is not going to be your best option if you plan on traveling all over the world! It is perfect though if you only want to travel to Mexico or one of the other eligible countries by car for all your travels.
While a passport will cost you more money to obtain, you will be able to use it to drive, fly, or sail to any country around the world. The initial cost may be higher than you want, but the benefits will make it worthwhile.
When you drive to Cancun, you must be prepared to show your passport, or passport card, when you arrive at customs. If you are arriving by boat, you will probably be asked to show your passport, or passport card, when you are boarding, to ensure that you have it with you and it is valid. This is also a precaution to ensure that you will not be turned away when you reach Cancun.
Those same precautions will be used when you board a plane to fly to Cancun, but in that instance, you must show a valid passport. A passport card will not be accepted for that scenario.
In addition to your passport, or passport card, you will probably be asked to show a couple extra documents upon your arrival in Cancun. Those documents could include proof of your economic means and your return ticket home.
You will not need a visa to travel to Cancun, as long as you are a US citizen and you are not planning on staying for more than one hundred and eighty days.
While you can hope that children under the age of sixteen will not need a passport, which is the case for Canada, your hopes will be shattered. The rule for passports for entry into Cancun, or any part of Mexico, is that everyone needs a passport or passport card. Therefore, you will need to get those passports, or passport cards, for your children well in advance of your trip.
Once you obtain your passport, or passport card, think of all the amazing things that you can do once you arrive in Cancun! You can soak up the sun while sitting on the sandy beaches or participate in a few of the thrilling water sports. When you are tired of the beach, head over to the ecological parks or the ancient Mayan ruins before heading to one of the popular nightclubs to dance the night away.
The answer may be yes to the question, “Do you need a passport to go to Cancun?”, but that shouldn’t stop you from a vacation of a lifetime! It is almost impossible to not have a good time in Cancun, so do not let yourself skip this type of vacation simply because you do not have a passport. Simply fill out the paperwork, get it approved, and then have the time of your life after it arrives!
