Travel to Cancun - Your Guide - Suggested Itineraries
Cancun - More Destinations - Cozumel > Puerto VallartaCancun may not have the history or culture; it may not have the solitude. But if you want to sit on beautiful, white sand beaches, surrounded by hotels, restaurants, nightclubs and shops, and cosseted by a tropical atmosphere averaging 25 degrees year-round, this is the place.
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The city is a government creation, a purpose-built, showpiece resort constructed on a huge sand spit off the tip of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The first hotels were completed in 1974 and the island has not looked back since. It is now the biggest tourist draw in Mexico, attracting more than 2 million visitors each year. Cancun's weather is hottest in May and coldest in January, with rain most likely between September and November, but sun is virtually guaranteed.
The city's two parts - the island, Isla Cancun, and the mainland, Ciudad Cancun - have two distinct atmospheres. Isla Cancun is skinny, 14 miles long and shaped like a number '7', with most of the hotels (the 'Hotel Zone') on the spine. A single thoroughfare (Kukulcan Boulevard) links all the beaches, hotels and restaurants, and is connected to the mainland by bridges at the southern and western tips. The mainland, where most of the permanent residents live, offers the experiences of 'real Mexico ' - and cheaper accommodation - for when the manufactured charms of the Hotel Zone wane.
Cancun is the gateway to Mexico's south-east, the starting point for trips around the archaeological sites of the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan, such as Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza. But in Cancun itself, it's the beaches that are the biggest draw. The best are on the island's east side, facing the Caribbean, where the surf is strongest. To the north, the water is calmer thanks to the buffering effect of the off-shore Isla de Mujeres, while the Laguna Nichupte, the enclosed bay between island and mainland, is calmer still.
During the day, water sports include parasailing, jet skiing, waterskiing, snorkelling and scuba diving (very good on Isla Mujeres). In the evenings, the 'Party Zone' in the middle of the island hosts most of the discos and nightclubs, and the top restaurants are found nearby. However, if it's street tacos you're after, then you'll probably find some within 150 metres.
In Cancun, the tourist rules.
Guide to Mexico
