Cancún overview

Cancún is a tropical wonderland of white-sand beaches, cerulean waters, and wildlife-rich surroundings. The heavily touristed hotel zone, a 14-mile stretch of high-rise beach hotels, scenic waterfront restaurants, and contemporary shopping centers, is the main draw, while downtown provides local flavor with its atmospheric markets, inspiring cultural events, and affordable taco joints. Explore both sides of Cancún to get a full picture of what makes the city tick.

Cancún is the most populated city in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, and it ranks right up there with Mérida among the Yucatán Peninsula’s largest urban centers. Over the past five decades, Cancún has seen an impressive population explosion, to put it mildly, with the number of inhabitants soaring from about 100 when the city was founded in 1970 to a present-day estimate of roughly 1 million people living in the ever-expanding metropolitan area. To this day, the city continues to receive a high volume of ex-pats and workers hailing from Mexico and abroad.

Spanish is the official language in Mexico, but you wouldn’t always know it in Cancún’s hotel zone, where everyone from hotel receptionists and taxi drivers to waiters and shoe shiners speak at least a basic level of English. Even if you can’t speak much Spanish, locals do appreciate the effort, especially in the less touristy downtown area. You may also hear some folks conversing in Maya, though it’s more widely spoken in the bordering state of Yucatán and central Quintana Roo.

If time allows, a Spanish-language class presents a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture and cultivate a deeper understanding of the region’s rich history.

About 75% of the population in Cancún’s state of Quintana Roo identifies as Catholic or Christian, roughly on par with the national average. Some Maya communities in the Yucatán Peninsula region practice a blend of Catholicism and ancient animism (the belief that all things in nature possess a spiritual essence). About 20% of the state’s inhabitants claim no religion.

Mexicans are generally very welcoming, and perhaps more so in Cancún, a tourist magnet well known for its hospitality and accommodating attitudes. In fact, some Mexicans are courteous to a fault; for example, you might get the wrong directions because someone believes it’s better to ‘help’ you than not help at all, which could be deemed impolite. When greeting someone for the first time, a simple handshake will suffice.

Since its inception as a large-scale resort city, Cancún’s economy has relied heavily on all things tourism, and not surprisingly, the construction industry has played an important complementary role; someone’s got to build those shiny new all-inclusives. Fishing and manufacturing also contribute to the macro and local economies, but to a lesser extent. The local currency in Cancún is the Mexican peso but many establishments and service providers accept US dollars, though you may not get the best exchange rate.

Of course, the history of Cancún (meaning ‘nest of snakes’ in Maya) goes back long before a group of developers came along in the early 1970s to embark on what would become Mexico’s most ambitious tourism infrastructure project ever. All you have to do is visit the city’s archaeological sites, which serve as a visual reminder of a bygone era of ancient Maya settlements that thrived from the 13th to the mid-16th century. Sadly, shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, the coastal settlements collapsed due to warfare, disease, and possibly famine.

For the following four centuries, the area remained mostly uninhabited, barring a few fishing communities. But everything dramatically changed in 1970, when the large-scale planned tourism project began in earnest. Development commenced on Isla Cancun, a 13-mile L-shaped barrier island known today as the zona hotelera (hotel zone). Today, Cancun continues to expand, and for better or worse, it’s become everything developers had hoped for. Even powerful hurricanes, such as Wilma in 2005 and Dean in 2007, periodically wreak havoc on the city’s hotels while eroding its iconic beaches, but Cancun always gets back on its feet.

If you’re wondering if Cancun is safe, you’re not alone. And the short answer is yes. Granted, much like other places in Mexico nowadays, it grapples with drug-related crime, however, tourists have mostly been spared from what is essentially turf war violence occurring between rival gangs. Seen in a broader context, the Yucatán Peninsula is considered one of the safest regions in the country. Of course, you should take certain precautions, the most obvious one being that you should never purchase illegal drugs. And as a rule of thumb, do not carry large amounts of cash, and use ATMs during the day.

Visitors should also know about the Mexican Caribbean’s sargassum seaweed phenomenon. Normally occurring from March to August, though it can vary, each year ocean currents bring an influx of smelly brown seawood (sargazo in Spanish) to the Yucatán Peninsula’s eastern shores, often making sunbathing and swimming unpleasant up and down the coast. If you’re visiting during one of these seaweed invasions and the mounds of decomposing seaweed are simply too overwhelming to bear, you can always swim in cenotes. Alternatively, consult Zofemat Benito Juárez’s Facebook page for updates on Cancún’s sargassum-free beaches, which include the latest conditions in nearby Isla Mujeres.

Cancún and its environs are a dream come true for nature buffs thanks to its highly biodiverse jungles, mangroves, and coral reefs, making wildlife-watching a sheer delight. Look no further than the hotel zone’s Nichupté Lagoon, a nature reserve and important bird and crocodile habitat. Meanwhile, tucked away in the dense jungles, the Yucatán’s serene cenotes beckon, as do limestone sinkholes where you can splash around in majestic natural pools. If you still haven’t had your fill of nature, the nearby islands and reefs are teeming with marine life such as sea turtles, whale sharks, and dolphins.

Billed as a game-changing tourism infrastructure project, the high-speed Maya Train is set to roll into Cancún by year-end or early next year. With stops slated at the Cancún airport, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum, it will make day trips easier than ever. What’s more, the intercity railway will run along a 950-mile loop route with stops in key destinations across the Yucatán Peninsula, including renowned archaeological sites such as Palenque and Chichén Itzá. The project has suffered some setbacks; however, if all goes as planned, the Maya Train should be up and running soon.

Another new attraction in Cancún is Luchatitlán, a pro-wrestling arena in the hotel zone’s La Isla Shopping Village. The resident live entertainment spectacle treats visitors to multiple lucha libre matches several nights a week.

From pre-Hispanic ruins and temazcal steam baths to Day of the Dead ceremonies and Yucatecan dishes that draw on ancient regional recipes, the influence of Maya culture permeates many aspects of life in the Mexican Caribbean. Remember that it was the ancient Maya who applied their in-depth knowledge of science, architecture, and astronomy to build some of the greatest Mesoamerican civilizations that ever existed. And it was the Maya who not only implemented a highly sophisticated writing system but were also the first people in Mesoamerica to invent zero, which of course, forever changed the way we think about mathematics and binary coding. Yes, the amazing Maya accomplished all that and much more, and their mind-blowing feats are on full display in museums and archaeological sites throughout the region.