CANCUN · MEXICO
Turquoise water, jungle cenotes, ancient cities.
Catamarans out to Isla Mujeres and the reef, freshwater cenotes hidden in the jungle, Chichen Itza and Tulum inland, and the long Riviera Maya coast running south of the hotel zone.
Only on the Yucatan
Three days you can’t have anywhere else.
Snorkel trips and boat days turn up in every beach town. A sacred freshwater cave, a Wonder of the World and the planet’s second-largest reef do not.
Sacred sinkholes
Swim a Cenote
The whole peninsula sits on a slab of limestone hollowed by thousands of cenotes, freshwater sinkholes the Maya held sacred. Some are open pools ringed by jungle, others are pitch-dark caverns hung with stalactites and fed by underground rivers. You can snorkel them, dive them, or just float in water clear enough to see straight to the bottom.
- 1 Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Tequila and Lunch
- 2 Early morning Chichen Itza Tour: Cenote and Tequila Tasting
- 3 Cancun ATV Jungle Adventure, Ziplines, Cenote and Tequila Tasting
A Wonder of the World
Stand Before El Castillo
Two hours inland, Chichen Itza rises out of the flat jungle: the great stepped pyramid of Kukulcan, the largest ball court the Maya ever built, and a city that was a capital a thousand years ago. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World, and an easy day trip from the coast.
- 1 Chichen Itza, Cenote & Valladolid Tour with Tequila and Lunch
- 2 Early morning Chichen Itza Tour: Cenote and Tequila Tasting
- 3 Chichen Itza Day Trip Exclusive Nool-Ha Cenote & Valladolid Visit
The second-largest reef
Snorkel the Reef
Just offshore runs the Mesoamerican Reef, the longest barrier reef on Earth after Australia. Drift over coral gardens and turtles off Isla Mujeres and Puerto Morelos, then dive the MUSA underwater museum, where hundreds of statues stand on the seabed slowly turning into reef.
- 1 Isla Mujeres: Catamaran with Open Bar, Snorkeling and Lunch
- 2 Isla Mujeres Cruise with Beach Club, Snorkel, Lunch and Open Bar
- 3 Reef Snorkeling & Jungle Speedboat Adventure with Mayan Ceremony
The one everyone books
Cancun’s single most popular day out.
More travellers book this than anything else here. If you only lock in one thing before you fly, make it this.
The classics
Cancun’s Most Popular Tours & Day Trips
Cenote swims, the Chichen Itza run, catamarans to Isla Mujeres and the reef. The days most travellers book first.
Where to begin
The days a Cancun trip is built around.
Cenotes, Chichen Itza, the island catamarans, the reef, Tulum and the jungle zip lines. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best of each.
The big question
Which Maya ruins to see.
The Yucatan has more ancient cities than a trip has days, so the real question is which one. Here is how the big three compare, and who each is for.
The island day
Sail across to Isla Mujeres.
The classic Cancun day on the water. A catamaran crosses the channel to Isla Mujeres, with an open bar, music on deck and a snorkel stop over the reef on the way. Lunch and a few hours on Playa Norte, where the sand is soft and the water glows the brightest turquoise on the coast, then sail back into the sunset.
Read the guide: Isla Mujeres catamaran tours →Into the jungle
Zip lines, quads and a cenote to finish.
Inland from the beach, the adventure parks string zip lines through the canopy, run quad bikes and ATVs down red-dirt jungle trails, and drop you into a cool cenote to rinse off at the end. Most combine all three into one half-day of mud, speed and freshwater, twenty minutes from the hotel zone.
See the jungle adventures →Underground rivers
Where the jungle opens into clear water.
There are no rivers on the surface of the Yucatan. The rain sinks straight through the limestone into a maze of flooded caves, and where the roof falls in you get a cenote: a pool of cool, impossibly clear freshwater under the trees. The Maya thought they were doorways to the underworld. You can swim, snorkel or dive straight through them.
Browse cenote tours →Eat & drink
Tacos, mezcal and the Yucatan kitchen.
Yucatecan food is its own thing, slow-roasted cochinita pibil, fresh ceviche, habanero on everything. Walk the downtown taquerias on a guided crawl, learn to press tortillas and make salsa in a cooking class, or trade the beach for a tequila and mezcal tasting after dark. The flavour of Mexico, away from the buffet.
- 1 Isla Mujeres: Catamaran with Open Bar, Snorkeling and Lunch
- 2 Isla Mujeres Cruise with Beach Club, Snorkel, Lunch and Open Bar
- 3 Isla Mujeres Catamaran Tour with Snorkel, Open bar and Transport
Cancun after dark
The party doesn’t stop at sunset.
Cancun earns its reputation once the sun goes down. Booze-cruise catamarans run the lagoon with open bars and live DJs, the big clubs in the hotel zone go until dawn, and there is always a rooftop or a beach bar somewhere in between. Pick your tempo, from a sunset sail to a full night out.
See all 10 party cruises →Islands & day trips
Pick a corner of the Yucatan.
Isla Mujeres for the catamarans and Playa Norte. Chichen Itza for the great pyramid. Tulum for ruins above the beach. Coba to climb in the jungle, the Riviera Maya for the coast road, and Puerto Morelos for its quiet reef.
By activity
Or pick how to spend the day.
Cenotes if you want clear water and cool shade. Catamaran if you want the open sea. Snorkel for the reef, zip lines and ATVs for the jungle, scuba for the deep, and a party cruise for after dark.
When to come
Cancun, season by season.
The water is warm all year, but the calendar still matters. Time it for the whale sharks, the calmest seas, or the days that work no matter when you land.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Cancun? A few days that mix the water, the ruins and the jungle without leaving anything good behind.
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