briforbes

I'm planning a trip to Cancun, Mexico in the summer with some family members, and wondered if anyone had been, if so what did you make of it?

scoobian

I'll let you know...looks like I'm heading off again next month: southern States, Mexico (including Cancun), Chile, Peru, Argentina etc. etc.

DCI Gene Hunt

Hi humidity during the day/evening.... fantastic clubs and bars, second to none .....daydreams about dancing on the bar at La Boom......

Nothing like the real mexico of course

MrShades

Cancun itself - ie the main (can't remember what they call it) 'hotel region' (or summut) looks like Benidorm and is probably hell on earth (with all those members of the great unwashed (£399 for a fortnight all-inclusive Airtours type shell-suited brigade)) - However, there are a couple of nice hotels thrown in to that mix.

I went last year and stayed about 20 minutes south of Cancun itself, at Secrets Excellence - which was a superb all-inclusive, so I can only speak from that experience:

Food, service, rooms, everything were top notch. Meals in the 'French restaurant' would be £150+ a couple here, with great wine as well. In the rooms everything was marble - floors, walls, shower, bathroom, etc.

It's one of the only places I've been to that I would gladly return to...

...oh, and we went to Chichen Itza, which was interesting and cultural and all that - but FOOKING hot!

farmerwrx

i've been there twice now and it's fantastic,went to Chichen Itza and it's the hottest place i've ever been make sure you do the xel ha trip.went in april both times and it was hot so it's going to be even hotter if you go in summer.

SPEN555

I went last year all inclusive to Cancun.

Hotel was that good we never really left the site to have a look round

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

fantastic place, we went to just outside the main part of cancun and went all inclusive, however meals at restaraunts are cheap enough so we actually dined out quite a lot at various places. Pubs and clubs are great, remember watching the carling cup final at 8 in the morning at paddy obriens with a massive jug of fosters. Only problem we had was the americans (we went at spring break, bad mistake) I am all up for having a good time, but a lot of the americans are just pretensious ****$ thinking they are it, loudmouthed and arrogant to staff, however they do also tip a bit so seem to get preferrential service

jaytc2003

iTrader: (1)

meant to add, we are planning on going back next year (plan this year is jamacia) last year was the dominican. The weather is very hot, but what I like is we had rain on one day for about an hour, and it was bone dry within about 30 mins of it stopping.
Chichen Itza is very hot, if you go take plenty of water and a high factor suncream /sunblock

wakeboardar

if i went back to cancun i would only stay at the moonpalace hotel loads of chat about it on this site have a search

davyboy

Thats what I love about brits, their need to venture to far away lands and explore. You should be added to the greats such as Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. They would be so proud.

DavidBrown

Been there twice this year, went to Secrets Excellence (now called Excellence Riviera). Amazing service + food.

Tours:

Xel-Ha (pronounced Shell-Ha) is a great day out, again with all inclusive food, you get snorkel, flippers and life jacket and just mooch around a lagoon and swim with tropical fish. Riviera Maya Mexico Xel-Ha Ecological Water Theme Park

Also went to Delphinus to swim with the dolphins.. chose it because if offered the most time in the smallest groups.. the venue will send a minibus to collect you.

As for MoonPalace, I've heard it's good, but a bit faceless, you know a bit conference-centre like..

scoobynutta555

I went there for 2 weeks 8 years ago. Cracking hotel, lovely food etc. About 20 min taxi ride into downtown Cancun IIRC, double jacuzzi in every room and about a 50% 50% split between Yanks and the Brits, and I think they try to keep both nationalities separate.

MrShades

Stopped off at Moonpalace on the way back from Chicken Pizza - and it was fooking HUUGE. Certainly looked nice in the brochure, but in reality seemed more like an upmarket Butlins - it was so big.... I was tempted to stay there, as I fancied the golf - but in reality it was so hot I'd never have found the inclination to shift my frying *** from the poolside to even think about swinging a driver!

Very, very glad I stayed where I did - which was utterly fantastic... as DB mentioned, Secrets Excellence, now called "Excellence Riviera".

scoobynutta555

Strange.

Sbradley

We were there last summer. To be honest I was expecting it to be little more than a Latino Toremolinos, but I was extremely pleasantly surprised. We stayed in the Royal Sands and had access to the 4 other hotels in the group but hardly used them. We rented a car and did everything we could.

It's not expensive (apart from swimming with dolphins, which was brilliant but cost far too much), it's friendly as anything and it's a fascinating place.

Oh, and getting to release baby turtles back into the sea as part of a conservation programme was brilliant. So was seeing the tarantulas walking down the hard shoulder on the motorway...

It's a big world and we like to see it so we tend not to go back to the same place twice. But if we did then we'd go back there

SB

briforbes

Tarantulas!?

Looking to book the trip this week but having difficulty flying at the start of July from Glasgow and choosing a hotel reasonably close to where the action is.

Sbradley

Yes, tarantulas. It was raining and they came out. Big enough to clearly identify from the outside lane at about 80mph. One at the toll booth on the motorway being investigated by a couple of dogs. They looked far more scared of it than it was of them - they were circling it carefully. It just kept on walking

Never saw any anywhere else, though. I think they just live outside the urban areas where they don't get bothered.

Oh, and try Ek Balam if you want something a little less commercial than Chichen Itza. They only found it fairly recently and you can still climb the steps and so on. Great view from the top of the main temple - all the way across to Chichen Itza about 30 miles away.

SB

James Neill

iTrader: (1)

I second this. Absolutely great day out. I stayed at the big Marriot hotel (5-star!). It was superb.

Mungo

You could also try Playa del Carmen - a few miles south of Cancun.
If you're into diving, Cozumel has some fantastic dives.

I'll second what everybody's said about Chichen Itza - it's seriously hot, especially in August!! And there are mozzies there even during the day. If you're into the Mayan ruins, there are other trips you can do around the Yucatan, although it will involve a lot of time on the bus.