Cancún Spring Break, Music Festivals & Beach Party Culture
Cancún's spring break and beach party culture (the annual influx of approximately 100,000 American college students during February-April and the major electronic music festivals (the 'Ultra Beach Cancún', the 'BPM Festival' (formerly held in Playa del Carmen), the 'Medusa Festival') that have made Cancún the party tourism capital of the Americas) represent a distinct and significant dimension of the Cancún tourism experience that co-exists with the family resort culture of the Hotel Zone.
Downtown Cancún, Mexican Street Food & Local Life
El Centro (downtown Cancún — the Mexican city of approximately 1 million people that exists behind the tourist curtain of the Hotel Zone) is where the real Cancún lives: the Mercado 28 (the covered market with the Yucatecan food), the Parque de las Palapas (the local park and street food scene), the Avenida Yaxchilán (the local bar and restaurant strip), and the authentic Mexican culture that is largely invisible to the visitors who never leave the all-inclusive Hotel Zone.
Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve & Mayan Jungle Wilderness
Sian Ka'an (the 'Where the Sky is Born' in Maya — the UNESCO World Heritage Site biosphere reserve of 5,280 km² (2,038 sq miles) on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán, 100 km south of Cancún) encompasses tropical forests, mangroves, marshes, a section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, and over 100 Maya archaeological sites, making it the most important natural reserve on the Mexican Caribbean coast and one of the most biodiverse areas in the Americas.
Cancún's Hotel Zone, Caribbean Beaches & Turquoise Waters
Cancún (the city on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo — the most visited tourist destination in Mexico and the most visited beach resort destination in the Americas, with approximately 6-7 million international visitors per year): the Zona Hotelera (the Hotel Zone — the 22-kilometre barrier island of white sand beaches, luxury resort hotels, and turquoise Caribbean waters that is the reason why most visitors come to Cancún) is the archetype of the Caribbean beach resort.
The Mesoamerican Reef, Snorkelling & Cancún's Marine World
The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (the world's second largest barrier reef system, running 1,000 km from Mexico to Honduras — the reef that creates the conditions for the extraordinary turquoise clarity of the Caribbean Sea off Cancún) provides the world-class snorkelling, scuba diving, and marine life encounters (whale sharks, sea turtles, manta rays, dolphins) that are among the most compelling natural attractions accessible from Cancún.
Chichén Itzá, the Maya Pyramid & the Ancient Civilization of Yucatán
Chichén Itzá (the UNESCO World Heritage Site and New Seven Wonders of the World site in the interior of the Yucatán Peninsula, 180 km (112 miles) west of Cancún — 2.5 hours by bus or car): the El Castillo pyramid (the 'Pyramid of Kukulcán' — the most important Maya pyramid in Mexico and the most visited archaeological site in Mexico, with approximately 2.5-3 million visitors per year) and the other structures of the Chichén Itzá site together represent the most accessible and most spectacular Maya archaeological experience available from Cancún.
Xel-Há, Cenote Adventures & the Yucatán's Freshwater World
The cenotes (the 'ts'onot' — the natural freshwater sinkholes of the Yucatán limestone karst, ranging from small cave pools to vast open lagoons) and the Xel-Há natural water park (the natural inlet where the fresh water of the cenote system meets the Caribbean Sea — now operated as an all-inclusive snorkelling park on the Riviera Maya) represent the freshwater dimension of the Yucatán's extraordinary natural heritage, the complement to the saltwater reef experience of Cancún.
Isla Contoy Bird Sanctuary & Yucatán Wildlife
Isla Contoy (the uninhabited island national park 30 km north of Isla Mujeres — one of the most important seabird nesting colonies in the Mexican Caribbean, with over 150 bird species including large colonies of the magnificent frigatebird, the brown pelican, and the red-footed booby) and the rich marine life of the northern Yucatán coast (the whale sharks, the loggerhead sea turtles, the spotted eagle rays, and the vast schools of fish) make the waters north of Cancún one of the most important marine wildlife areas in the Americas.
Cobá Ruins, Jungle Cycling & Yucatán Archaeological Sites
Cobá (the Maya archaeological site 170 km southwest of Cancún in the interior jungle of the Yucatán — the site of one of the largest Maya cities of the Classic period (approximately 600-900 CE), with approximately 6,500 structures across 70 km² of jungle, including the Nohoch Mul pyramid (the tallest Maya structure in the Yucatán at 42 metres / 138 feet)) is unique among Maya sites in allowing visitors to climb the main pyramid and in requiring bicycles or rickshaws to traverse the wide-spread site through the jungle.