What eating here is really like
Airport food, at airport prices, with one twist specific to Cancun: opening hours follow the flight banks rather than the clock, so a terminal that is busy at six in the morning can be shuttered at eleven at night.
- Most of the choice is airside, after security. Landside options are thinner and are mainly for people waiting to check in.
- Prices are quoted in dollars in many places. Paying in pesos is cheaper — the same rule as everywhere else here.
- Bring a bottle. Empty through security, filled after. Bottled water airside costs several times what it costs in town.
- Terminals differ. The newer ones have more choice; a long wait in a quieter terminal is worth planning for.
By the hour you are flying
Very early departure
Not everything is open before dawn. Coffee and pastries generally are; a full
meal may not be. Eat at the hotel if you can.
Midday
Everything open, everything busy. Sit-down restaurants have queues at the
peak of the departure bank.
Late night
The thinnest window. On a flight after ten, assume limited choice and eat
before you come.
Long wait
A lounge day pass includes food and drink and often costs less than buying both
separately. What it costs.
Landing hungry
Arrivals areas have far less than departures — the food is on the other side of security, where you can no longer go. If you land late and hungry, the honest advice is to eat where you are staying rather than hunt for something in the arrivals hall.
If you are being collected by a pre-booked transfer, that is twenty to sixty minutes to your hotel with no detour. If you are taking the bus, the downtown station has more options around it than the terminal does.