For an updated and much more extensive look at this area, check out

Like Acapulco, Cancun is a little too urban for my tastes and certainly doesn't embody the things I like best about Mexico. Not that there isn't plenty to do, but with high rise hotels lining the beaches and American style shopping malls it's a little too much like being in Miami!.. Of course there is good food, sunshine, water and the usual rent-a-jetski, ride-the-parasail kind of stuff, and if you shop around (like anywhere in Mexico) there are bargains to be found.

For me the best part about Cancun is its proximity to other stuff: Chichen Itza, Xelha, Tulum, etc.. So that's what I have more pictures of (as a matter of fact, I couldn't find ANY decent pictures of Cancun per se..)....

Isla Mujeres

Just a short ferry ride away from Cancun is Isla Mujeres, the 'Island of Women'... With pedestrian streets (like the one seen here), cafes, shops and restaurants, this is closer to the Mexico that I enjoy so much..

Not sure what the point of this was (besides pile-on-till-you-drop), but these guys were having some fun on the beach nearby the pier where you catch the boat to Isla Mujeres...

A little soccer on the beach...


Now THIS is more my style... Akumal is maybe an hour south of Cancun (a few kilometers south of where you take the boat to Cozumel) and yet it seems a world away... A small community with just a couple of hotels, a couple of places to eat and a dive shop, this is a place to get away and take a break from the fast pace... A good part of the activity here is concerned with diving so the beaches are usually uncrowded.. Akumal is also close to some of the more interesting places on the Yucatan coast.. Xelha for spectacular snorkeling... Tulum and X'caret for the ruins...