Mexican Caribbean Destinations Beyond Cancun

Cancun is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the Americas, but there are plenty of other Mexican Caribbean destinations served by the same airport that can provide a great base for your luxury vacation. Some of the other options are more relaxing places to stay than on the busy Cancun hotel zone strip. 

Smaller cities and beach towns have been developing their travel infrastructure for years and are fully ready to welcome you. Full-service, all-inclusive resorts, small beach boutiques, and even private luxury homes are all just a short distance from the Cancun International Airport.

Puerto Morelos

After landing in the Cancun airport, you can exit and be enjoying a drink by the pool less than an hour later at one of the all-inclusive Puerto Morelos resorts like Ocean Coral & Turquesa. Puerto Morelos, a beach town of about 30,000 inhabitants, sits right between Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Quiet and mellow, this is a great base from which to take advantage of all the attractions along the coast.

There’s a great reef for snorkeling just off shore and opportunities for sailing trips, water sports like kayaking and paddleboarding, and even a crocodile farm.

Puerto Morelos is near an undeveloped jungle area and is also right on the Ruta de Cenotes. A trail of crystal-clear swimming holes that are the surface-level openings of the region’s underwater river system, believed by the Maya to be portals to the underworld. Floating in a one, surrounded by verdant jungle, is a truly spiritual experience. While many are open to the public and can be crowded during certain seasons, there are also private cenotes available to be rented for a day. 

Playa Mujeres

Going the other direction, about 45 minutes north of downtown Cancun, Playa Mujeres was just empty beach two decades ago, but is now filled with large resorts and a golf course. The area was designed for visitors who would prefer never to venture beyond the hotel’s gates. There is a long, wide beach here, with mellow waves that are good for kids. 

If you do want to get out, the upscale shopping and dining complex Marina Puerto Cancún is just 20 minutes from Playa Mujeres, as well as the dining and nightlife of the Cancun hotel strip. You can also take a ferry out to Isla Mujeres nearby. This area provides a standard vacation resort experience, but the hotels tend to have more restaurants and bars than most of the hotel zone ones.

Isla Mujeres

Isla Mujeres is the island directly in front of Playa Mujeres, and just a 20-minute ferry ride away from the mainland. From the airport, you can pre-book a transfer to the Puerto Juarez UltraMar Ferry Terminal, a 30-minute ride, where ferries leave every 30 minutes headed out to the island. 

Private water taxis can be arranged through a hotel concierge or travel agent, and luxury sailing trips from the mainland start around $100. Some luxury resorts, like Almare, offer private transfers as a courtesy to their guests. The ride out is a great intro since these are some of the prettiest Mexican Caribbean waters on the whole coast. Since the top resorts face inland, they are somewhat protected from all the sargassum seaweed now flooding this coast part of the year. 

The island has an important past; it was once a sacred sanctuary dedicated to Ixchel, the Mayan goddess of the moon, medicine, love, and fertility. When the Spanish came upon it, they found various clay statues and images of women and therefore christened it Isla Mujeres. 

Island life is slow-going, so don’t expect wild nights or lavish fine dining. The downtown here is sleepy, and most folks get around in golf carts or by walking. For swimming, stick to beaches like Playa Norte or Kin Ha, where the water is calmer and shallower. The protected northern end is an attractive park, with dramatic cliffs that seem out of place in the otherwise flat Yucatan Peninsula. 

For years a Bohemian hangout, several upscale resorts on the island now offer the best of both worlds – high-end pampering and laid-back vibes.  

Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen is the fastest-growing city on the Mexican Caribbean coast (about 300,000 inhabitants now), but don’t expect a massive metropolis; it maintains a small-town feel, with most visitors spending their time eating, drinking, and hanging by a rooftop pool. There are plenty of nightclubs, but not much culture beyond that gorgeous surrounding nature. A big attraction is the pedestrian-only 5th Avenue, which goes for more than a mile and is lined with shops and places to eat. 

A visit to the Akumal Monkey Sanctuary, whose mission is to save Mexico’s native howler and spider monkeys, is a fun and educational few hours, and day trips to some of the Yucatan’s more spectacular sites—Chichen Itzá, Coba, the town of Valladolid, or the pink salt flats in Los Colorados—can be arranged either through your hotel or on your own. You’re also close to Xcaret fun park, Cirque de Soleil’s dinner theater, and other Riviera Maya excursions. 

Playa del Carmen sits in front of the Cozumel island, one of Mexico’s top-rated snorkeling  and diving destinations. The beaches are divine except during sargassum season (April through October), so when that hits, visit a local cenote instead.

Tulum

For the hour-and-a-half drive from Cancun to Tulum, your best bet is to rent a car and drive yourself, or hire a private driver. Tulum does have an airport now, but it’s not very close to town. 

Hotels may offer pick-up or drop-off as an additional service for guests from either airport or the Maya Train station, but prices vary. Tulum has developed a surprisingly good food and drink scene over its decade or so boom and the beach is surrounded by a nature reserve. 

Places like Arca and NÜ Tulum (Hotel La Valise Tulum’s restaurant) have even been recognized globally for their thoughtful use of local ingredients and exacting menus and cocktails. And local food tour companies like Eating with Carmen will show you the more local side of cuisine in the city’s center. Tulum’s other major attraction is its ruins, situated in the midst of the Parque del Jaguar ecoreserve. This was the site of one of the Maya’s most influential trading ports and one of the last cities to remain active during the Colonization of Mexico. 

If you rent your own vehicle or hire a driver while you’re here, you can visit some of the incredible surrounding attractions, including the community-managed Sian Ka’an bioreserve, the town of Francisco Uh May, where they make beautiful woven hammocks and other crafts, or the Punta Laguna reserve, where you can watch spider monkey families swinging from the trees and get glimpses of other flora and fauna. 

There is so much to do along the Riviera Maya, you’ll wonder why you ever thought Cancun was the only place to see.