Compare Cancun holidays

What to do in Cancun

The Mayan Riviera is bursting with natural beauty, making it an extraordinary area to explore. Rich and varied, you'll find cliff top ruins overlooking dreamy Caribbean beaches, cobbled towns, stunning eco-parks with world-class snorkelling and Mayan pyramids set against bright blue skies. If you're bored on holiday in Cancun, you're most definitely doing something wrong.

Mayan ruins

Elbow some culture into your Caribbean holiday with a trip to the legendary ruins of Chichen Itza. The most famous Mayan site in the Yucatan, it's a jumble of temples and courtyards, topped off by the Pyramid of Kukulcan, Chichen Itza's pride and glory.

Discover the Temple of the Jaguars, learn about the Platform of the Skulls and unleash your inner Indiana Jones.

Swimming holes

Cenotes are natural swimming holes sunken into the ground, sort of like open-air lidos, but a bit more magical. Crisp and clear, their mineral-rich waters are rich with mystery. Nothing comes close to snorkelling through jade green waters and gazing up to a sky framed with jungle vines.

Just over an hour’s drive south, near Playa del Carmen, you’ll find Cristalino Cenote and Cenote Ponderosa. For a longer adventure – about two hours’ away – is Cenote Ik-Kil. Located near the Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá, it makes a great day trip from Cancun.

There are dozens more scattered throughout the peninsula, so grab your swimmers and make a beeline for the nearest swimming hole.

Xcaret Park

Particularly great if you have kiddies in tow, Xcaret Park is a cultural theme park, an eco-zoo and a natural playground rolled into one.

Follow jungle trails, swim in underground rivers, take a rafting trip and spot everything from pink flamingos to scarlet macaws in the canopy. Snorkel among scores of stingrays, swim with nurse sharks (yes, really) and wind down afterwards with a wander through the wine cellar.

Tulum

Easily one of the most beautiful beaches in Mexico, Tulum will blow your mind. A vast swathe of perfect sugary beach smattered with coconut palms, it's the Caribbean as you've always imagined it.

Whisk around the ancient clifftop ruins – which include a soaring watchtower and two well-preserved temples – before wandering down to the beach for a dip in the Caribbean and a lazy dose of sunshine. As day trips go, it doesn't get much better than this.

Coba

Combine your trip to Tulum with a visit to Coba, just 45 minutes’ away by road. It's considerably less crowded than Chichen Itza and, as an added bonus, you can clamber to the top of one of the highest pyramid in Mayan Mexico. The pyramid stretches to a dizzying 42 metres (137 feet), so you'll need strong legs and a stomach for heights, but the view from the top is worth every ounce of effort.

To get there, you'll hike along shady jungle trails with howler monkeys swinging in the branches, adding even more atmosphere to the whole affair.

Where to stay in Cancun

For the classic beach experience

Cancun’s Hotel Zone, or Zona Hotelera, is where you’ll find the vast majority of the city’s resorts. Set along 19km (11.8 miles) of sandy coastline, this area accommodates numerous tourists, from sun-seekers looking for great value package holidays to those in the market for five-star all-inclusive beach resorts.

The area is full of shops, bars and restaurants catering to international visitors, with most locals speaking excellent English.

For families

The majority of Cancun’s clubs are clustered around the northern corner of the Hotel Zone (near to Coco Bongo). For a quieter stay, look to the southern end of the spit towards El Rey.

Further north, Isla Blanca is much more sedate, with a range of family-focussed hotels, while Isla Mujeres offers a more exclusive experience.

For food and drink

For a taste of the ‘real’ Cancun, head downtown to El Centro. You’ll find local restaurants serving delicious Yucatan and Mexican fare, such as tacos and fajitas; cochinita pibil – an orange-marinated slow-roasted pork dish – and chilaquiles, corn tortillas quartered and fried with salsa, are other specialties to look out for.

Wandering through the streets and parks and browsing the markets are great ways to experience snippets of local life. Few tourists stay here, but there are a handful of hotels.

For nightlife

If you want to dance ‘til dawn then spend lazy days in the sun, there’s only one place to be in Cancun. Its most brag-worthy nightlife clusters around a couple of streets in the Hotel Zone, where you’ll find notable names such as Coco Bongo and Señor Frog's. Take your pick from a number of beach clubs to start your night, before bar-hopping your way until morning.

You’ll also find a cluster of clubs between neighbourhoods Puerto Cancun and Quinta La Ceiba.