Things to do in Cancún

Landmark · Zona Hotelera, km 17

A small Maya site of platforms and a pyramid base right on the hotel strip, overrun with iguanas and almost always empty.

Local tip: It takes forty minutes and costs very little, and it is the reminder that this was a Maya coast long before it was a resort. Go at opening time and you will likely have it to yourself except for the iguanas, which are numerous and unbothered.

Food · SM 28 and SM 23

Two very different markets: 28 is the handicraft one everyone is sent to, 23 is the working market where the city actually shops and eats.

Local tip: Go to 23, not 28. It has the fondas where you get a full comida corrida for a fraction of Zona Hotelera prices, the herbalists, the fish counter, and no one trying to sell you a sombrero.

Nature · 13 km offshore, ferries from Puerto Juárez

A small, flat, largely car-free island with the best swimming beach in the region at Playa Norte and a slower version of the same coast.

Local tip: Take the Puerto Juárez passenger ferry rather than a Zona Hotelera one — cheaper, more frequent and used by residents. Go on a weekday, and get to the south end at Punta Sur before the day trippers arrive at eleven.

Nature · North end of the Zona Hotelera, facing the Bahía de Mujeres

The north-facing public beaches at the top of the strip — shallow, calm, and largely spared the sargassum that hits the Caribbean-facing side.

Local tip: This is the local answer to a bad sargassum year, and in 2026 it has mattered a lot. Las Perlas is the smallest and the most residential; go early and park before the strip fills.

Culture · SM 22, city centre

The city's main square: food stalls under palapas, a bandstand, children's rides, and every family in the neighbourhood on a Saturday evening.

Local tip: This is the evening that tells you Cancún is a real city and not a resort. Come after eight, eat marquesitas and elotes from the carts, and notice that almost nobody here is a tourist.

Culture · Zona Hotelera, km 16.5

A modern archaeology museum with pieces from across the peninsula, attached to the San Miguelito ruins in the jungle behind it.

Local tip: The ticket covers both and most visitors do only the museum. The San Miguelito path behind it is shaded, nearly empty, and takes twenty minutes — do it first, while it is cool.