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5 Best Breakfast Places in Isla Mujeres You Need to Try!
If you’re looking for the best breakfast places in Isla Mujeres, you’ve come to the right place!
Experts say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As a family, we agree. It’s by far our favorite meal to enjoy together.
So, it’s been essential to find the best breakfast places Isla Mujeres has to offer throughout our multiple visit to this fun, foodie island.
For a breakfast restaurant to be a winner for us, we need it to have kid-friendly options as well as fun fare for mom and dad.
This can make it tricky in foodie meccas, like Isla Mujeres. After all, the typical popular places don’t always offer a kid’s menu.
Thankfully Mexico is pretty kid friendly overall, so each of these breakfast Isla Mujeres restaurants is great for families and adult travelers. Let’s go!
Our Top Picks: Isla Mujeres Breakfast Restaurants
Overall, the restaurants in Isla Mujeres were definitely geared toward tourists rather than locals. It was a very different vibe from Playa del Carmen. This difference isn’t a bad thing.
However, the prices and styling of meals were certainly more gourmet. We often found entrees – even at breakfast – cost between 150 pesos (~$7.50 USD) and 250 pesos (~$12.50 USD).
This is a lot higher than local breakfasts cost us in Playa del Carmen, but about the same price point as the tourist-oriented restaurant places there.
It was hard to find local eats in Isla Mujeres, except at the food carts on both ends of Avenida Manuel Hidalgo. These cheap eats in Isla Mujeres serve everything from empanadas and tacos to churros and marquesitas.
Unfortunately, they are only open in the afternoons and into the evenings, so they weren’t an option we could try for our daily breakfasts.
The local place we did find didn’t have as tasty of food as our favorite local places in Playa del Carmen, so we didn’t bother trying it for breakfast.
Maybe on another visit to Isla Mujeres, we can see if it is actually one of the best breakfast in Isla Mujeres options around.
1. Rooster
Rooster is located in Centro, at the northern end of the island. There are several unique features that make Rooster one of the best breakfast places in Isla Mujeres.
Pro Tip: There’s also a Rooster in Cancun Centro on the mainland.
Before the main courses arrive they serve fresh, homemade bread to patrons. This is different every day and is really tasty! In general, they have excellent bakery items and smoothies.
Little Man loved the chocolate muffin and mango smoothie! He even wanted to order fresh muffins to take home the day we left. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to make the stop.
One of my favorite things about being back in Mexico after almost two years in Asia was eating chilaquiles whenever possible. Thankfully, it has become a popular breakfast food on menus here!
Eventually, I’ll probably make a post about the best chilaquiles in Riviera Maya. But for now, I’ll just use it as a metric for evaluating breakfasts where ever we visit.
The chilaquiles at Rooster was really good. The salsa verde wasn’t too spicy, and the chip-to-protein ratio was fairly balanced. We actually ate at Rooster twice during our stay on Isla Mujeres, and I ordered different chilaquiles each time.
They were both tasty and highly recommended to order for anyone who dines there. Overall, Rooster was our top breakfast choice on Isla Mujeres. The food just suited our palettes best. We’d return to eat there in a heartbeat.
2. Lola Valentina
Lola Valentina is also located in Centro. This restaurant is a bit on the pricier side. However, it was right across from Rooster and easy walking distance from our hotel.
Plus, Little Man loved the swings at the bar. Swings are a common feature in various bars throughout Riviera Maya.
As a traveling family, we tend to have breakfast earlier than the late-night, partying brunch crowd. Often we’re the only ones in the restaurants before 9 am.
This means kiddos get free reign of the place. Not that we let ours run wild, but kids love sitting on the swings while waiting for the food to arrive. Generally, restaurant staff don’t seem to mind as long as kids don’t scream or misbehave.
Just as I love chilaquiles, David loves eggs benedict. I’m pretty sure his greatest disappointment in our marriage is my failure to learn how to poach eggs. Ha!
Thankfully, eggs benedict seems to be a popular food item in Riviera Maya. He’s been grateful to have gotten so many chances to try them. The ones at Lola Valentina were no exception.
3. North Garden
This restaurant lives up to its name. It is at the northernmost part of Centro, a half block from Playa El Cocal. That is the beach along the actual northwest border of Isla Mujeres. Playa Norte is a bit south of it.
North Garden also has a lot of greenery around it, which makes the restaurant feel like it’s in a garden. The overall vibe is really relaxing and it’s easy to see why this place is a favorite for so many people.
The location is also ideal for people planning a beach day. It’s easy to stop here on the way to the beach, or even to pop over for a late breakfast after spending the cooler morning hours at the beach for a while.
The idea of dark salsa chilaquiles seems a bit odd. However, it does have a good flavor! And you can never go wrong with pancakes, especially when they’re smothered with chocolate sauce in addition to bananas.
There’s even an option to get Nutella on top instead, which personally would be my preference. I do love pretty much all things Nutella!
4. Cafe Mogagua
Cafe Mogagua is a strong contender for a delicious and satisfying breakfast on Isla Mujeres. They also serve great coffee!
They offer a variety of menu options, including familiar choices, like pancakes, alongside traditional Mexican fare. This makes it a great choice for both adventurous and picky eaters, including kids.
Plus, they cater to vegetarians and vegans, accommodating dietary restrictions that can sometimes be a challenge while traveling.
With positive reviews praising the quality of the food, Cafe Mogagua is a solid bet for a tasty start to your day in Isla Mujeres.
5. Mango Cafe
Mango Cafe is the one noteworthy restaurant not located in Centro. It’s in the Meteorologico neighborhood in the middle of the island, about 3km south of Centro.
We include this one on the list because it was recommended by so many locals on the island. Even other restaurant owners told us it’s one of the best breakfast places in Isla Mujeres.
Unfortunately, our opinions of the food were mixed. David loved the stuffed poblano. It was enormous and filled with cheese, eggs, and ham. Truly a breakfast masterpiece. I wish I’d ordered it.
The chilaquiles were a breakfast special. Our server assured us that they are a customer favorite. Since he also promised they were not spicy, I was optimistic.
He neglected to tell me that they add sugar to their salsas. A lot of sugar. Chilaquiles are a savory breakfast dish. I could not get past eating sweetened chips and eggs.
David tried some of my food and agreed the sweet salsa did not taste pleasant on chilaquiles. Thankfully, Little Man enjoyed his eggs and bacon so 2/3 of us enjoyed our meals here.
Pro Tip: Because it’s highly recommended, get there before 9:30 am. That’s when all the golf cart day-trippers start to arrive since all the rental places open at 9:00 am.
Oddly enough, we ate at Mango Cafe during our previous visit to Isla Mujeres before Little Man was born. I had really positive memories of the food here. So, we’re summing up our experience here as follows: definitely try it but SKIP the chilaquiles.
Getting Around Isla Mujeres
Isla Mujeres isn’t a big island. One can walk the entirety of it if they aren’t in a hurry. That’s exactly what we did pre-kids during our first visit to the island. Most people don’t do this, though.
Golf Carts
And it’s completely unnecessary now that golf carts are so prevalent as a means of transportation for tourists. That said, while most of the restaurants are located in Centro at the northern end of the island near the beaches not all of them are.
Golf carts cost 1,100 pesos (~$55 USD) for all-day use from 9 am to 5 pm. There are a few outliers that cost a little less, but they all seem to charge the same price.
Unless you book online at a lower price, you generally won’t find one lower when you walk around asking different places for their rates.
The best rate we found was in line at the Cancun ferry port for 850 pesos (~$43 USD). If you don’t pre-book a golf cart, go for the Ultramar offer. It’s a decent savings!
Bus
For tourists not planning to rent a golf cart, there is now a public bus system. It’s called the Islenos Bus. Tourists pay 38 pesos (~$2 USD) per person per ride and can purchase an all-day pass for 175 pesos (~9 USD).
You pay as you board and exit thru the back door. The front seats are for seniors, disabled & pregnant women. The buses are air-conditioned and run regularly on set routes between Centro and the rest of the island.
Taxis
While there are also taxis available, we do not recommend them because the rates are determined at the leisure of the driver.
Although the rates are supposed to be 40 pesos (~$2 USD), we’ve found we get severely overcharged most of the time.
Drivers can make so much more overcharging tourists that they have stopped picking up locals. This is why the public bus system was implemented on the island a few years ago.
Final Thoughts: Best Breakfast Places in Isla Mujeres
There are many more restaurants to try than there are days in a week. Despite two trips to Isla Mujeres, we’ve still barely scratched the surface of where to dine.
When you go to Isla Mujeres, make sure you have a lot of pesos handy. Everything is either cash only or there is a markup for credit cards.
Because the fees for accepting credit cards are very high, restaurants often pass these fees on to paying customers.
For our family of three, meals at restaurants in Isla Mujeres were typically between 500 pesos (~$25 USD) and 800 pesos (~$40 USD). This included breakfast.
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