Taxi Cabs Versus Rental Cars

By US and European standards, taxi fares in Mexico are cheap.  Even airport taxis, which are notoriously expensive by Mexican cab fare standards, are reasonable when compared to their counterparts in places like Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris.

Taxi cabs in Mexico’s three big cities are all metered.  Elsewhere in Mexico, cabs are charged by zone, metered, or not metered.  In the latter instance, passengers should agree their price before they board.  Locals will ‘know’ what the current fare is from A to B, but visitors may be charged a premium on that.  As a rule of thumb for local trips, ten to fifteen pesos per kilometer is fair.   We publish a comprehensive guide to taxi travel in Mexico, which includes details about taxi types and the latest fares.

The price of car rental in Mexico has fallen dramatically of late.  Car rental used to be quite expensive here—almost prohibitively so.  Today, the car rental market is changing, and renting a vehicle has become affordable when you book online, in advance.  If you book a rental car through Mexperience, you can drive around in a small economy car for as little as US$13 a day—a rate that includes taxes, fees, compulsory third party insurance and unlimited mileage.  All our car rentals are furnished by Hertz.   If you don’t mind the driving, renting a car—especially in popular resort towns where taxis charge a premium—could prove financially worthwhile and will give you a lot of extra transport flexibility.  We publish very complete guides to renting a car and driving in Mexico.

Car rental is ideal when you want to explore the local area.  Taxis are better if you plan to stay in one place (for example, your beach resort) and walk or take a small few taxi trips to places locally.   If you’re visiting Mexico City during your stay, we recommend you take cabs unless there’s a very good reason for renting a car from there; one example is to take an independent day-trip to nearby Teotihuacan, another would be to use Mexico City as your start and end point for a fly-drive vacation around central Mexico.

Mexico offers visitors and residents a thoroughly comprehensive—and eminently affordable—choice of public transport options.  For more details about taxis, car rental and virtually every other form of transport in Mexico, visit Getting Around, part of the Travel Essentials section here on Mexperience.