Cancun Zones

Whether you are seeking high adventure beyond the edge of the civilized world or want to mix some business with your pleasure, you can do it in the Yucatán. Where you go really depends on what you want to do. The Yucatán possesses stunning natural beauty, fantastic villages and ancient Maya sites, remarkable history and enough exotica to last a traveler a lifetime. It also offers sand, sun and sea—key ingredients for that kick-back-and-relax part of your vacation.

Cancun hotel zone

For starters, there’s Cancun, the world-famous beach resort that has become Mexico’s most popular tourist destination and one of the fastest-growing cities in Latin America. If you like Florida’s Gold Coast, you’ll probably love Cancun—a flashy, trend-swept high-rise strip of five-star hotels with beaches as big and beautiful as any in the Caribbean.

Thirty years ago, the northern half of the Yucatán’s Mexican Caribbean coast—now called the Riviera Maya—was unforgiving bush country where common visitors were outlaws and snakes. Today, much of the coast has been transformed into various resorts, from high-class, all-inclusive vacation complexes to clusters of thatched-roof cabañas on remote beaches. Maybe you’re going for snorkeling and scuba diving, unparalleled in these see-through waters. Divers flock to Cozumel for some of the best underwater scenery on earth. Or maybe your idea of heaven is swimming, tennis and golf in the middle of winter.

Cancun Downtown

But even if this doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, you’ll probably find yourself there on the first and last days of your Yucatán adventure. Almost all international airline flights to the Yucatán now land at Cancun’s airport. Once there, it’s easy to head for any other place by rental car, passenger bus or ferry. Before you think too many disparaging thoughts about this crassly commercial mega-resort city, bear in mind that it will look much more inviting when you return from an expedition into the heart of the Yucatán backcountry. The luxury of a big five-star hotel room with air conditioning and a satellite TV that speaks English, a balcony that overlooks the sea and an elaborate swimming pool complex surrounded by beautiful bodies in bathing suits and a poolside bar make for an irresistible conclusion to your Yucatán adventure.

Puerto Morelos

Puerto Morelos is a town and seaport in Quintana Roo, Mexico's easternmost state, on the Yucatán Peninsula. The town is at the southern end of the municipality of Benito Juárez in the northeast of the state, about 36 km south of the resort city of Cancún. 
Resorts are abundant in the Puerto Morelos region along the Riviera Maya and attractions, such as the Crococun Crocodile Zoo, are also increasing in number. One hundred meters off shore lies the Puerto Morelos portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, designated as a National Marine Park due to local environmental activists.
The marine terminal at Puerto Morelos is equipped to handle containers and is the largest and most important seaport in the state of Quintana Roo. Resorts are abundant in the Puerto Morelos region along the Riviera Maya and attractions, such as the Crococun Crocodile Zoo, are also increasing in number.

Isla Blanca and Puerto Juarez 

Puerto Juárez is a town in Benito Juárez municipality, in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
It is in the northeast of the Yucatán Peninsula, on the shore of the Caribbean Sea, It is 2 km from Cancún. A regular ferry service runs to nearby Cancún and to Isla Mujeres.

Cozumel

Cozumel (Mayan: Island of the Swallows) (Kùutsmil in Modern Maya) is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite the Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the nine municipalities (municipios) of the state of Quintana Roo. Cozumel is a tourist destination for its scuba diving and snorkeling. The main town on the island is San Miguel de Cozumel.

Playa del Carmen 

Originally a small fishing town, tourism to Playa del Carmen began with the passenger ferry service to Cozumel, an island across the Cozumel Channel and world famous scuba diving destination. While passing through, many people realized that it was a nice place to relax away from the crowds of Cancún but with the same quality beaches and turquoise waters. Perhaps just as impressive as Cozumel, Playa del Carmen's coast offers good scuba diving opportunities, as well as cenote diving for the more adventurous.
Today Playa del Carmen, or just "Playa" as it is colloquially referred to, is the center of the Riviera Maya concept, which runs from south of Cancún to Tulum and the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve. Playa is a stop for several cruise ships, which dock at the nearby Calica quarry docks, about six miles south of the city. The Xcaret Eco Park, a Mexican-themed "eco-archaeological park", is a popular tourist destination located just south of the town in Xcaret (pronounced "esh-caret"). Tourist activity in Playa del Carmen centers on Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue, stretching from Calle 1 norte until Calle 34, a pedestrian walkway located just one or two blocks inland from the beach, which is lined with boutique hotels, shops, bars, and restaurants.

Playacar

Playacar is part of Playa del Carmen but a gated community of assorted developments to the south. This planned, upscale, secure neighborhood has an 18-hole golf course, a dozen large all-inclusive hotels, and private condos, which are available for rent. 
Playacar has two sections:
• Phase I is oceanfront. 
• Phase II is next to the golf course.
There is a nice little shopping center directly across the street from the RUI. It is a 4-minute taxi ride into Playa del Carmen.

Puerto Aventuras

Puerto Aventuras is an upscale residential community resort located in the heart of the Mayan Riviera. It is known primarily for its marina, which is the only one to be found along the Riviera. Puerto Aventuras is also the center of sport fishing for Mexico's Caribbean coast. 
Puerto Aventuras is a quiet alternative to the noisy and more crowded Playa del Carmen. It is centrally located, has an international selection of restaurants and is safe - with a 24-hour security patrol. All the restaurants use bottled water and purified ice. Activities include golf, tennis, and diving and there are a few small shops selling local crafts, a pharmacy and two small grocery stores. 
Fatima Bay is the main beach area with over 1.5 miles of beachfront beginning at Chac Hal and ending at the Grand Peninsula [hotels]. 
Chac Hal Al inlet and beachfront, which is located to the south, is an exclusive zone for private owners. 
Chan Yu Yum, a smaller bay to the north, services the Oasis Hotel. An extension of beach was built inland to host several smaller B&B operations. 
CEDAM - Shipwreck Museum 
Puerto Aventuras hosts the areas only maritime museum. This museum features contents of the many shipwrecks, which occurred along the Mayan Riviera's coast.

Isla Mujeres Isla Mujeres

The region fulfills just about every dream of paradise. For you perhaps it’s the cast-all-your-cares-away mood of Isla Mujeres

Tulum

Once you turn off the busy, billboard-lined four-lane superhighway, the boundless, impenetrable le jungle protects the coast from the stresses of modern life or the haunting beauty of Tulum, the only Maya city right on the Caribbean Sea.

Yucatan Interior

A few hours‚ journey westward into the Yucatán interior will bring you to Valladolid and the world-famous ruins of the Maya-Toltec city Chichén Itzá, centerpiece of a region that wears its history like comfortable old clothes. The flat, scrub-choked landscape is liberally scattered with the ruins of ancient Indian temples, colonial churches and plantation haciendas, as well as timeless villages where descendants of the ancient Maya make their homes today. Indians, Spaniards and Mexicans alike have contributed to the deforestation of this countryside over countless centuries, so its fascination lies less in its ecology than in its ruins, reminders of empires that attained awesome heights only to be swept away by time. Maya and Spanish colonial ruins stand side by side in places like the Maya town of Izamal, the ceremonial center turned henequen plantation at Aké and the archaeological site of Dzibilchaltún.

Cichen-Itza

A few hours‚ journey westward into the Yucatán interior will bring you to Valladolid and the world-famous ruins of the Maya-Toltec city Chichén Itzá, centerpiece of a region that wears its history like comfortable old clothes. The flat, scrub-choked landscape is liberally scattered with the ruins of ancient Indian temples, colonial churches and plantation haciendas, as well as timeless villages where descendants of the ancient Maya make their homes today. Indians, Spaniards and Mexicans alike have contributed to the deforestation of this countryside over countless centuries, so its fascination lies less in its ecology than in its ruins, reminders of empires that attained awesome heights only to be swept away by time. Maya and Spanish colonial ruins stand side by side in places like the Maya town of Izamal, the ceremonial center turned henequen plantation at Aké and the archaeological site of Dzibilchaltún.

Uxmal

Uxmal, a popular tourist destination as large as Chichén Itzá but purely Maya in its distinctive, ornate decorative facades carved from limestone, is one of the best-known Maya ruins in the Yucatán, though it receives far fewer visitors than Chichén Itzá or Tulum because it is too far to reach on a day trip from Cancún. This and other Puuc sites such as Kabáh and Labná grow more beautiful with each visit, not only because of ongoing restoration efforts but also because the surrounding forest, destroyed by a fire in the 1970s, is growing back to wrap the ruins once more in lush greenery. Try to visit the ceremonial cave of Loltún, which the ancient Maya believed to be a gateway to the underworld that lay beyond death, and the sadly fallen remains of Mayapán, the ruling capital of the Yucatán in Post classic times.

Quintana Roo Back Country Riviera Maya

There is much more to the Quintana Roo Backcountry than just Cancún and the Riviera Maya. The southern half of Quintana Roo remains mostly wilderness and offers a wealth of little-known natural wonders to explore. Foremost among them is the Sian Ka‚an Biosphere Reserve, a federally protected wildlife habitat that fills a large area of coastline and rainforest and includes sheltered bays, deep freshwater cenotes, sawgrass marshes, mangrove and hardwood jungles, islands where birds gather by the hundreds, a unique fishing village that got its start as a pirate’s hideaway and, of course, many miles of lonely white beaches. Other great destinations in the backcountry include Cobá, where lofty forest conceals the overwhelming ruins of the Yucatán’s largest ancient Maya city, and the obscure, fascinating ceremonial center of Kohunlich, which is only beginning to reveal its strange secrets.

Merida, the Capital

Mérida, capital city of the Yucatán for the last four and a half centuries, offers more comfortable accommodations in all price ranges than are available in other parts of the interior, so it makes a natural home base for exploring more remote parts of the Yucatán. More than just a place to find modern lodging, restaurants and nightlife in the ancient world of the Yucatán, Mérida is filled with its own charms. Disregard the semi-industrialized Mexican version of suburbia that sprawls for miles around and focus on the walk able, historic downtown area inside the old city gates. Ride in a horse-drawn carriage down Paseo de Montejo with its stately mansions and monuments or stroll among the galleries of the small but growing arts district. You’ll find music and dancing in a city park, a celebration in the central plaza or a stage performance in one of the city’s grand old theaters almost every evening. Wander through museums displaying exceptional ancient artifacts and modern folk art from villages around the state.

Ecological Parks of the Yucatan

The Yucatán’s Gulf Coast is as different as can be from the international tourist Mecca’s of the Mexican Caribbean. Nature lovers will delight in touring the fecund estuaries tracing the coast along the north and west sides of the peninsula around Río Lagartos and Celestún, where shallow waters teeming with shrimp attract more pink flamingos than any other place in the Western Hemisphere. The port city of Progreso bursts into exuberant life every weekend as the local beach for residents of nearby Mérida; it’s certainly not Cancún, but it is the Yucatán’s liveliest, funkiest low-budget beach scene. Then there’s Sisal, a faded 19th-century seaport turned fishing village, virtually unknown to tourists, where shell-strewn beaches go on for miles.

In the southern reaches of the state of Yucatán lies Uxmal and the Hill Country, a nearly uninhabited area that was one of the most important kingdoms in the Maya world a thousand years ago.

The route southwest from Yucatán state to Chiapas passes through the Gulf Coast state of Campeche, where the capital city of the same name boasts an almost tourist-free atmosphere and a colorful history. The old city is surrounded by stone fortifications erected to defend against pirate attacks. South of town are miles of pure white beaches. A short drive to the east lies Edzná, a large restored Maya ruin that most travelers miss. In fact, the entire state of Campeche is far enough from the major tourist zones of the Yucatán that its magnificent ruins and the deep forest that covers 60 percent of the state often take even seasoned Yucatán travelers by surprise. The crowning glory of Campeche is the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which lies in the extreme southern part of the state near the Guatemalan border and is part of a proposed multinational Maya Peace Park. Here, in the vicinity of the solitary village of Xpujil, a wilderness of rainforest conceals fantastic ruins unlike any others in the Maya world. Recently restored, easy-to-drive-to sites like Becán and Chicanná are virtually undiscovered by the tourist industry. If these huge ruins aren’t secret enough for you, a guide can take you on a journey that gives “off the beaten path” a whole new meaning: through Mexico’s last great expanse of virgin rainforest to the magnificent ruins of Hormiguero, Río Bec and—if you have plenty time and a boundless lust for adventure—the giant lost city of Calakmul, newly opened to the public after a 15-year archaeological project reclaimed it from the rainforest. You can spend all day here trekking from temple to temple where few people have set foot in living memory.

Neighboring States: Tabasco and Chiapas

Adjacent to the Yucatán Peninsula are Tabasco and lowland Chiapas; a land of vanishing rainforest inhabited by the Chol Maya people, distant cousins of the Yucatec Maya. The oil-rich state of Tabasco is worth visiting mainly to see giant stone heads left behind by the mysterious Olmec people who built forest cities thousands of years before the Classic Maya empires began. The situation in Chiapas is still unresolved more than seven years after a January 1994 Maya insurgency, as Mexico’s new president, opposition-party leader Vicente Fox, struggles to keep his campaign promise to bring peace between the rebel forces of Sub-commandant Marcos, Mexican Army troops and the paramilitary forces sponsored by large landowners. There are still army checkpoints at highway intersections in Chiapas—in fact, such checkpoints have proliferated all over Mexico in an effort to stem the epidemic of firearms smuggling in this officially gun-free country; but the collapse of Chiapas‚ tourist economy in the 1990s, exacerbating poverty in what was already Mexico’s poorest state, has moved the army to encourage a more friendly, hospitable attitude toward foreign sightseers. Once more, visitors flock to the ancient site of Palenque, with its elegant architecture, exquisite stone and stucco sculpture, and fantastic jungle setting. A bold side-trip possibility is an expedition overland, by minivan, on foot and by riverboat, to the remote Maya ruins of Bonampak and Yaxchilán.