Mexico or Dominican Republic, Which is Cheaper?

Undoubtedly Mexico and the Dominican Republic are among the most popular tourist destinations in the Americas and the comparison of which of the two destinations is cheaper is valid.

I did thorough research on the subject and I think I can provide results that you might find interesting in case you are about to make a decision between these two destinations.

Mexico is a country with a low cost of living

Before getting into the subject, I must point out that Mexico is one of the countries with the lowest cost of living in all of the Americas.

With this, it is evident that Mexico has a lower cost of living in general than the Dominican Republic, although the difference between the cost of living is not so abysmal.

According to data collected, the cost of living in Mexico is lower than in the Dominican Republic by 15% in general, in some items, Mexico is much cheaper and only one item is more expensive than the Dominican Republic.

I am referring to the cost of living in general, not to tourism or the hotel world, we will touch on that topic shortly.

in breakdown these are the statistics of the cost of living in Mexico in comparison to the Dominican Republic:

Food – 1%
Housing – 0%
Clothes – 39%
Transportation – 36%
Personal Care – 29%
Entertainment + 4%

The cost of living in Mexico in relation to housing and food is practically the same as in the Dominican Republic, these two items would be the most important.

In relation to clothing, transportation, and personal care, Mexico is much more economical than the Dominican Republic, of this I can testify.

I have had friends who have visited Mexico from the Dominican Republic, they have bought original perfumes from me there, and they tell me that the prices are ridiculously cheap compared to the cost of perfumes in the Dominican Republic.

The same with soap and other personal items, the only area where Mexico is slightly more expensive than the Dominican Republic is entertainment.

Which one has the cheapest hotels?

Ok, now we start getting into tourism, specifically hotel price comparisons in the destinations of Punta Cana, Riviera Maya and Cancun.

I did my research on the internet, I looked for the cheapest hotels in Riviera Maya and the cheapest in Punta Cana, and immediately I noticed a huge difference between the prices.

Regarding hotels, Punta Cana is more economical than the tourist sites in Mexico in general terms.

The cheapest Riviera Maya hotels are much more expensive than the cheapest in Punta Cana, that is, the hotels and resorts in Punta Cana are much cheaper than those in Riviera Maya.

This is probably due to the huge competition between hotels in Punta Cana, maybe the difference in price is not abysmal, but in reality, Riviera Maya as a tourist destination is more expensive than Punta Cana.

A clear example of this is, for example, the Hard Rock Punta Cana hotel, which is considered among the most expensive in Punta Cana, currently costs 324 US$ per night.

In contrast, when researching the Hard Rock Riviera Maya, the cost per night is US$633.

Hard Rock Punta Cana is significantly less expensive than Hard Rock Riviera Maya.

The same applies to the comparison between Punta Cana and Cancun, as a tourist destination, Punta Cana is more economical than Cancun.

Punta Cana offers quieter days and its main diversions are on the beaches and local resorts, including excursions. Cancun, on the other hand, is a livelier place and offers several tour options as well as Riviera Maya which has much more excursion options.

For this reason, also, you should be better prepared financially to visit Mexico as a tourist destination as opposed to Punta Cana.

Which flight is cheaper, Mexico or the Dominican Republic?

Considering that Mexico is practically next door to the United States, if you live in the U.S. it is certainly cheaper to fly to Mexico than to the Dominican Republic.

Also, I must say, as a native Dominican myself, that airline tickets purchased here in the country, are incredibly expensive for us Dominicans, due to the fact that the state has charged a lot of taxes on airline tickets.

So, what you can save on hotel expenses while visiting Punta Cana, you will probably have to spend on airfare, unless you have special miles or take advantage of one of those special offers offered by some airlines where the flight will be much cheaper.

Conclusion

I would like to visit Mexico one day, and do tourism in different ways, of the Dominican Republic, as a native I can tell you, that tourism here is incredibly cheap.

It is so cheap that it is ridiculous, recently, I made a trip to Rio San Juan in the north of the country, it is a tourist destination with a lower profile, but incredibly beautiful, I took 250 US$ for a weekend, I paid a hotel (modest) we ate on the beach, all my family fish and seafood (4 people), we drank, we ate in a restaurant (the previous day), we ate on the road.

I paid the road tolls and tipped at the beach and the restaurant.

We bought cheese to bring home, and I had money left over, in my opinion, it is ridiculously cheap compared to the great experience.

References:

https://www.expatistan.com/es/costo-de-vida/pais/comparacion/republica-dominicana/mexico