Last year I was in Puerto Vallarta and they have this area called the Malecon, where you can go and do lots of shopping and eat yummy food. I was wondering if Cancun has a similar area like that. Somewhere that has authentic Mexican food and places where you can buy good tequila, vanilla, jewelry and other souvenir things.
market 28 is good. fun stuff, plus places to eat out doors. la isla is a shopping mall down hotel zone, has a lot of brand named stores. lots of eating places. depends on what you want trinkets market 28 is good. real goods, la isla is better choice. also there is a mall type place by coco bongos don't remember what its called. im sure there are a ton that I don't know about though. you could ask steve on this site im sure they know a lot.
I agree with La Isla being better We went to Market 28, the prices were actually higher even though it has the appearance of being one of the "old" mercados of years past. You can get the same feel of being yelled at to buy something as they do at Market 28 at the market directly across the street from Coco Bongo and next to Fat Tuesday's. The store Kmontoya is talking about is inside the 2 story shopping center right next to Coco Bongo. They also have one at La Isla. The prices for all of the usual souvenir stuff is better there than anywhere else we found. If you want blankets, sombreros, vanilla, etc, this place is great. Look for the yellowish orange buildings. The stores are named: Plaza La Fiesta.
Alternatively catch a ferry over to Isla Mujeres for a few hours and wander through the town. Lots of little shops and bars to keep you occupied.
Walk out the front door of the resort, take a left, walk for about 7-10 minutes and look toward your left right before the big bridge. There you will the high-speed ferry. Approximately $18 per person round trip. Ferry leaves every 20-30 minutes or something.
