Indian Chief Travel Guides

Cancún

The sandy strip of Cancún’s Hotel Zone, packed with luxury hotels hugging the shore, forms the shape of a lucky number seven, wedged between the turquoise surf of the Caribbean and the calm waters of the Nichupté Lagoon. The name Cancún in Mayan means “Golden Snake” and it aptly describes the slender slither of its powdery golden sand beaches. Squeezed along the 27-km (43.5-mile) causeway are 25,000 hotel rooms in a mix of architectural styles, which welcome sun-worshippers and vacationers from all over the world. Last year, some 2.5 million visitors touched down at the resort’s modern airport, most bound for the luxury and pampering of the famous Hotel Zone.

Unlike Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta, which were idyllic little villages until tourism replaced fishing as the major source of income, Cancún is a made-to-order resort, built specifically for tourism where the wild jungle met a deserted shore. One creation legend claims that in 1968 a computer was programmed to select the ideal spot for a major resort. It was fed vital statistics from all over Mexico, and the place it churned out was Cancún. The statistical parameters included climate, beach conditions and proximity to the United States. Whether the rumor is true or not, we do know that nothing much was here before the development, just some small ruins of the ancient Maya civilization out on the barren dunes and scrub brush. Only Puerto Juárez and the tiny island of Isla Mujeres supported minor Mexican fishing villages. John Stephens, the American adventurer who toured the world of the Maya in the 19th century, mentioned that, “In the afternoon we steered for the mainland, passing the island of Kancune, a barren strip of land with sand hills and stone buildings visible upon it.” See what’s left of those stone buildings near the southern end of the hotel zone in San Miguelito, half a kilometer north of El Rey, and Yamil Lu’um, on a hill next to the Sheraton. It didn’t take long for bankers and government officials to realize that Cancún’s reliable sunshine (240 days per year), warm weather and sparkling waters provided the perfect place to build a new world-class seaside resort.

The Other Cancún

The other Cancún – inland from the waterfront – is the Mexican town built to supply housing and community for the hospitality workers in the Hotel Zone. While some of it is not of particular interest, the downtown (El Centro) has become a tourist destination all its own. We suspect that if the buildings in the Hotel Zone sank into the sea, Cancún downtown would stay on, living and working much as it does now – a gumbo of Yucatecan, Maya, Mexican and North American lifestyles. It’s a pleasant and lively place to be, close enough to the shore and the diversions of the Hotel Zone, but far enough away so that the feeling is quite different.

No matter what your vacation needs, between the two Cancúns you can satisfy them. Get-away-and-relax-on-the-beach vacationers will find Cancún is all it’s cracked up to be. More adventuresome, lower-budget travelers can find the best of both worlds downtown. Cancún’s easy-going but cosmopolitan ways make it an easy transition to a Mexican “vacation mode.” And Cancún makes a good base from which to begin your exploration and enjoyment of adventures in the Yucatán.