I inspect and rate Mexican hotels and restaurants for a living, so here’s the inside scoop on Cancún and the Mexican Caribbean! If it’s your first or 50th visit, see more and enjoy more with these tips from your “Secret AAA Inspector”.

Cancún and the Riviera Maya, which extends along the coast south to Tulum, have been dramatically transformed in the last couple of years. Many hotels have been completely rebuilt or renovated while many new mega-resorts, offering new concepts have sprung up through out this large area, so the first step is deciding exactly where to stay? The Mexican Caribbean comprises the areas of Cancún, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, Tulum and Akumal. All are dramatically different from each other so what is it that makes you happy?  

All locations have pristine turquoise waters, talc-like beaches and fabulous restaurants. Cancún remains a world class resort area but has grown into a full-fledged city with universities, poly-technical colleges, and now offers many modern cultural and sporting activities. Between October and December, a number of world class film festivals, fishing tournaments, open-sea marathons and major expositions are being hosted in the Cancún area. And it’s off-season, with the best rates of the year. 

If you prefer a smaller beach side town with modest hotels and restaurants consider the first town south of Cancún, Puerto Morelos…it’s quiet and economical. The entire region between Cancún and Tulum, ‘Puerto’ Morelos and ‘Playa’ del Carmen (as locals call them) is dominated by enormous all-inclusive, mega-resorts with multiple pools, bars, restaurants, their own discos and long stretches of glorious Caribbean beach. Keep in mind these resorts can be located several miles away from the nearest town and that at night taxis are scarce, more so when it rains, so plan your mobility needs accordingly.

Playa del Carmen’s party scene is along the trendy 5th Ave walkway jammed with dining, discos and boutiques. It’s the place to see and be seen. Playa’s mostly all-inclusive resorts are set into the labyrinth of Playacar, a huge development, just south of town. Playa is also the gateway to Cozumel, an island dedicated to scuba and snorkeling with a laid-back nightlife mostly at the Senor Frogs and Carlos & Charlies.

If you seek max quiet and tranquility, check out Isla Mujeres or the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve area just east of Tulum. More on that later but for now, back to your planning.

Every time I go through the Cancún airport I see tourists traveling on their own, with lost, desperate looks on their faces, trying to figure out how to get to their hotel. Where you stay matters…although it’s only about a 15 minute taxi from the Cancun International airport south to Puerto Morelos, it’s more like 40 minutes to Cancún and Playa del Carmen.

Isla Mujeres and Cozumel (north of Cancún and east of Playa, respectively) are islands so it takes almost 2 hours from the airport, including travel time for the ferries. There are “collectivo” buses at the airport that cost about $20 to Cancún hotels but these are ‘milk-run’ buses that make many stops and will add at least an hour to your transit time. Airport taxis can be expensive…currently about $50-$60 dollars from the airport to Cancún, and almost $70 to Playa.

Tip #1: For that much money, you can rent a car for a day and return it to a branch office near your hotel for no extra charge and possibly do the reverse when you depart. Car rental rates have come down but find out if your credit card provides car rental insurance coverage for you in Mexico.
 
Where to stay? There are so many different places to stay that you can really customize your Mexican vacation. There are small quaint, intimate hotels. There are remarkable family resorts where it’s all about the kids and the facilities include supervised kids’ resort areas with water parks, cribs for infants, air-conditioned indoor activity areas, robes for kids, free slippers, even kid bathrooms with real mini-commodes. Check out the Crown Paradise Club in Cancún or the Paradisus Riviera in Puerto Morelos. The older teen-scene is in the mega all-inclusive resorts…enormous thousand room hotels with giant pools and as much high-energy as the wind and sea of the Caribbean. Any of the Riu, Palace or Fiesta Americana hotels are great choices.

A new twist in the area is the green, eco-friendly hostels and cabins near the protected Sian Ka’an reserve just east of Tulum. These are small, quaint, rustic facilities nestled in the dunes of this protected reserved, some with amenities limited to hot water and mosquito netting. Yoga, holistic restoratives, and tuning into nature are the main attractions. But if you seek unbridled debauchery, there are also many new European-style resorts like Secrets, Excellence or El Dorado Royale.

Tip #2: Whether booking yourself on AAA.com or coordinating with your AAA travel specialist, be sure to contact the hotel directly (ask for the front desk---“La recepcion, por favor”) and confirm by phone or their e-mail that there is no ongoing construction, pool repairs, or closed facilities during your stay. Confirm that they have your reservation, the dates, room type, rates and if pre-paid or not. Ask how far the hotel is from the nearest town and if the hotel provides airport transportation. Obtain the name of the person with whom you are speaking. I’ve seen too many people with that desperate look on their face, unable to check in because of a mix-up…probably the same ones that didn’t plan ahead at the airport.

Tip #3: If you arrive on a morning flight before check-in time, particularly at all-inclusive resorts, jump right into your vacation by asking if you can change clothes and proceed to the pools and buffets instead of sitting in a lobby waiting for that 4 PM check-in. The better hotels will give you an identifying wrist band and prefer having you sit poolside rather than in the lobby while awaiting your room.  One of the latest trends in the area has resorts seeking out visitors that are staying at other hotels by offering “Day Passes.” Some all-inclusive hotels now sell a day or half-day pass which permits full access to these truly magnificent resorts and their all facilities including pools, bars, fine & casual dining, entertainment & shows, beaches, everything but a guest room. This is fun for a change of pace from where you’re staying, without changing hotels. Call the concierge at the Paradisus or Dorado Royale resorts in Puerto Morelos for more information.  

Another new trend is the ‘extreme’ sports activities near Tulum (Hidden Worlds Cenotes Park) and Akumal (Aktun Chen). Rock climbing, cave snorkeling, scuba, 600 ft zip-lines that culminate by splashing into underground ‘cenote’ pools, skycycles where you pedal above the jungle’s canopy become part of a memorable, exciting and strenuous day.  

Need a change of pace? Pack a light bag for 1 or 2 nights and travel into Yucatan peninsula by bus or car. Visit provincial Valladolid, Chichen-Itza or Merida. The prices for rooms, meals and shopping are superb and there is so much history. Just recently, I saw an REO Speed Wagon (not the rock band) zip by near Piste. You’ll have a great experience and just think of what you can do with your YouTube or MySpace videos!

I’ll close by urging caution -- make the most of your vacation and don’t overindulge in food, beverage or sun. Be on the lookout for me. I’ll be in disguise writing my next report from my AAA laptop. “Vayan con Dios, amigos.”