Introduction
Margaritas, mega-resorts, Mayan ruins, this is the real Canc ú n. In the 1970s Mexico's ambitious tourism planners decided to outdo Acapulco with a brand new, world-class resort in the Yucat á n Peninsula. The place they chose was a deserted sand spit offshore from the little fishing village of Puerto Ju á rez. Its name was Cancún.
Destination facts
Time zone: GMT -6
Coordinates: 21.17429 latitude and -86.84656 longitude
Population: 1664
Area codes: 998
Places of Interest
In the 1970s Mexico's ambitious tourism planners decided to outdo Acapulco with a brand new, world-class resort in the Yucat á n Peninsula. The place they chose was a deserted sand spit offshore from the little fishing village of Puerto Juárez. Its name was Cancún.
Getting There
Canc ú n has the sun on permanent retainer. The city's temperature averages an idyllic 27° C (80° F) year-round, dipping painlessly from time to time, hitting 19° C (65° F) in January. It can swelter to 38° C (100° F) in May, though ocean breezes keep it more bearable than the rest of Yucat á n. Hurricane season lasts from July to November. Canc ú n got severely clobbered in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma (but has made an impressive recovery since then). November and early December are perhaps the best times to go, as the climate is good, there are fewer tourists and prices are low. The busy season is from mid-December to April, when prices are noticeably higher. Surcharges get tacked on around the Christmas, New Year's and Easter holidays.
Getting there and away
About 8km (5mi) south of the city center, Aeropuerto International de Cancún (Cancún international airport; tel: 886 0049) is the busiest in southeast Mexico. Puerto Ju á rez, the port for passenger ferries to Isla Mujeres, is about 4km (2.5mi) north of the city center. Punta Sam, the dock for the slower car ferries to Isla Mujeres, is about 8km (5mi) north of the city center. In the Zona Hotelera, a ferry shuttle service to Isla Mujeres is available daily at both El Embarcadero (Blvd Kukulc á n Km 4) and Playa Tortugas near Fat Tuesday's (Blvd Kukulc á n Km 6.35). Cancún's bus terminal (cnr Avs Uxmal & Tulum) has 1st- and 2nd-class options. Across from the bus terminal, a few doors from Av Tulum, is the ticket office and mini-terminal of Playa Express, which runs shuttle buses down the Caribbean coast to Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto at least every 30min until early evening, stopping at major towns and points of interest along the way.
Getting around
If you don't want the expense of a taxi ride into town from the airport, there are a few options. Comfortable shared vans leave from the curb in front of the international terminal about every 15min, heading for the Zona Hotelera via Punta Nizuc. They head into town after the island, but it can take up to 45min to get downtown. If volume allows, however, they will separate passengers into downtown and Zona groups. To get downtown more directly and cheaply, exit the terminal and pass the parking lot to a smaller dirt lot between the Budget and Executive car-rental agencies, where there is a ticket booth for buses that leave the lot every 20min or so. To get to the airport you can catch the airport bus on Av Tulum, or a colectivo (minibus or car that picks up and drops off passengers on a predetermined route) from the stand in the parking area a few doors south; they leave when full. Riviera runs buses to/from Playa del Carmen (1hr). Tickets are sold at a counter in the international terminal of the airport. To reach the Zona Hotelera from downtown, catch any bus with 'R1', 'Hoteles' or 'Zona Hotelera' displayed on the windshield as it travels south along Av Tulum or east along Av Cobá . To reach Puerto Ju á rez and the Isla Mujeres ferries, catch a Ruta 13 ('Pto Juárez' or 'Punta Sam') bus at the stop in front of Cinemas Tulum (next to McDonald's) on Av Tulum, north of Av Uxmal.
Weather
Semi-tropical weather, where the sun shines 253 days of the year on average, helps Cancún maintain a healthy holiday reputation. Rainfall is rare, though violent storms called nortes can roll in on any afternoon, their black clouds, high winds and torrents of rain followed within an hour by bright sun and blue sky. Averages don't drop much below 20° C (68° F), summer temperatures push but rarely exceed 35° C (95° F) and the humidity level stays just high enough for the promise of a swim to be tempting all year round.
Margaritas, mega-resorts, Mayan ruins, this is the real Canc ú n. In the 1970s Mexico's ambitious tourism planners decided to outdo Acapulco with a brand new, world-class resort in the Yucat á n Peninsula. The place they chose was a deserted sand spit offshore from the little fishing village of Puerto Ju á rez. Its name was Cancún.
Destination facts
Time zone: GMT -6
Coordinates: 21.17429 latitude and -86.84656 longitude
Population: 1664
Area codes: 998
Places of Interest
In the 1970s Mexico's ambitious tourism planners decided to outdo Acapulco with a brand new, world-class resort in the Yucat á n Peninsula. The place they chose was a deserted sand spit offshore from the little fishing village of Puerto Juárez. Its name was Cancún.
Getting There
Canc ú n has the sun on permanent retainer. The city's temperature averages an idyllic 27° C (80° F) year-round, dipping painlessly from time to time, hitting 19° C (65° F) in January. It can swelter to 38° C (100° F) in May, though ocean breezes keep it more bearable than the rest of Yucat á n. Hurricane season lasts from July to November. Canc ú n got severely clobbered in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma (but has made an impressive recovery since then). November and early December are perhaps the best times to go, as the climate is good, there are fewer tourists and prices are low. The busy season is from mid-December to April, when prices are noticeably higher. Surcharges get tacked on around the Christmas, New Year's and Easter holidays.
Getting there and away
About 8km (5mi) south of the city center, Aeropuerto International de Cancún (Cancún international airport; tel: 886 0049) is the busiest in southeast Mexico. Puerto Ju á rez, the port for passenger ferries to Isla Mujeres, is about 4km (2.5mi) north of the city center. Punta Sam, the dock for the slower car ferries to Isla Mujeres, is about 8km (5mi) north of the city center. In the Zona Hotelera, a ferry shuttle service to Isla Mujeres is available daily at both El Embarcadero (Blvd Kukulc á n Km 4) and Playa Tortugas near Fat Tuesday's (Blvd Kukulc á n Km 6.35). Cancún's bus terminal (cnr Avs Uxmal & Tulum) has 1st- and 2nd-class options. Across from the bus terminal, a few doors from Av Tulum, is the ticket office and mini-terminal of Playa Express, which runs shuttle buses down the Caribbean coast to Tulum and Felipe Carrillo Puerto at least every 30min until early evening, stopping at major towns and points of interest along the way.
Getting around
If you don't want the expense of a taxi ride into town from the airport, there are a few options. Comfortable shared vans leave from the curb in front of the international terminal about every 15min, heading for the Zona Hotelera via Punta Nizuc. They head into town after the island, but it can take up to 45min to get downtown. If volume allows, however, they will separate passengers into downtown and Zona groups. To get downtown more directly and cheaply, exit the terminal and pass the parking lot to a smaller dirt lot between the Budget and Executive car-rental agencies, where there is a ticket booth for buses that leave the lot every 20min or so. To get to the airport you can catch the airport bus on Av Tulum, or a colectivo (minibus or car that picks up and drops off passengers on a predetermined route) from the stand in the parking area a few doors south; they leave when full. Riviera runs buses to/from Playa del Carmen (1hr). Tickets are sold at a counter in the international terminal of the airport. To reach the Zona Hotelera from downtown, catch any bus with 'R1', 'Hoteles' or 'Zona Hotelera' displayed on the windshield as it travels south along Av Tulum or east along Av Cobá . To reach Puerto Ju á rez and the Isla Mujeres ferries, catch a Ruta 13 ('Pto Juárez' or 'Punta Sam') bus at the stop in front of Cinemas Tulum (next to McDonald's) on Av Tulum, north of Av Uxmal.
Weather
Semi-tropical weather, where the sun shines 253 days of the year on average, helps Cancún maintain a healthy holiday reputation. Rainfall is rare, though violent storms called nortes can roll in on any afternoon, their black clouds, high winds and torrents of rain followed within an hour by bright sun and blue sky. Averages don't drop much below 20° C (68° F), summer temperatures push but rarely exceed 35° C (95° F) and the humidity level stays just high enough for the promise of a swim to be tempting all year round.
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