we're cancun first timers, and we're wondering which section of the hotel zone we should check out for hotels.. We would like to be close to restaurants & shops (preferably walking distance), but also opposite a nice area of the beach with calmer surf. Any help would be great! Pete.
What I'm about to present is a very general rule of thumb for newbies (which I hope to be helpful). To any potential know-it-alls and flamers (of which there are thankfully few here), please stow any comments about how the following is not always exactly true - -save your energy to do something useful. There are 3 types of shops and restaraunts in Cancun. Inexpensive, moderate, and expensive. These correspond to 3 parts of Cancun - downtown, Convention Center Area, and Hotel Zone -- which in turn corresponds (geographically) to the - Leftmost point on the 'top bar' of the 'seven' (Cancun is shaped like a seven) [downtown] - Junction of the 'top bar' to the 'downstroke' or 'down bar' of the seven [Convention Center area] - Hotel Zone - the downstroke of the seven. The 3 areas also each have their specialties: Downtown is the best for shopping if you like authentic handcrafted items and will be (of the 3) where the indigeounous population would be likely to shop. Downtown also has the mega-stores which have their roots in the US (WalMart, Sams Club, Costco, Office Max, etc, etc.) The Convention Center area is where you want to go for bar hopping. Lots of very different, very hip places all right next to each other. The Hotel Zone gets more upscale the farther south you go. Here you have malls rather than the open air markets you'll find downtown and the kiosks you'll find in the Convention center. You also wanted calm ocean surf. You get that on the top of the top bar of the seven (between downtown and the convention center. The lagoon is calm too (the inside of the seven, so the bottom of the top bar and the left side of the downstroke) but that's better for boating and jet skis than it is for swimming or surfing. Hope that helps, and like I said earlier, there are exceptions to this general rule - which you should probably discover on your visit rather than worry about them now. Take Care and Have Fun.
well said. the bus system makes it very easy to get around. only real difference is the higher the kn #, the longer it takes to get to downtown!
Hotels along the north side of the 7 have calmer water. Along the long, east side of the 7 you get bigger waves and sunrises over the ocean. Being a local and knowing what I know I would stay on the long side of the 7 my first time. It's just prettier imho and I like the beach walking much better on the east side of the 7. Busses make it really easy to get around, they run often, they run late and they are cheap. Most of the action is in the corner of the 7. I would not swim in the lagoon.
