Hand-picked by computer, CANCÚN is, if nothing else, proof of Mexico's remarkable ability to get things done in a hurry if the political will is there. A fishingvillage of 120 people as recently as 1970, it's now a city with a resident population of half a million and receies almost two million isitors a year. To some extent the computer selected its location well.

Cancún is marginally closer to Miami than it is to Mexico City, and if you come on an all-inclusie package tour the place has a lot to offer: striking modern hotels on white-sand beaches; high-class entertainment including parachuting, jet-skiing, scuba-diving and golf; a hectic nightlife; and from here much of the rest of the Yucatán is easily accessible.

For the independent traveler, though, it is expensie, and can be frustrating and unwelcoming. You may well be forced to spend the night here, but without pots of money the true pleasures of the place will elude you.

There are, in effect, two quite separate parts to Cancún: the zona commercial downtown - the shopping and residential centre which, as it gets older, is becoming genuinely earthy - and the zona hotelera, a string of hotels and tourist amenities around "Cancún island", actually a narrow strip of sandy land connected to the mainland at each end by causeways. It encloses a huge lagoon, so there's water on both sides.

Cancún travel guide

Cancún
Cancún geo
Town and beaches
Arrial and transportation
Restaurants
Entertainment and nightlife
Bars and nightclubs
Shows and dinner cruise
Listings
moving from Cancun
Ferry

Cozumel

Cozumel
Getting there
Airlines and airports
Getting there from Cancun
diving
Chankanaab Park
Museum of the Island of Cozumel

Isla Mujeres

Brief history
Exploring Isla Mujeres
Places to isit
Contoy Island
Sleeping sharks
Biking

Caribbean
   guide, hotels

Bahamas
    guide, hotels

Pictures of Mexico by
Cecilia dos Guimaraes Bastos