Right. Had enough of the freezing north and we need a holiday. Have booked two weeks all inclusive in Cancun in March. Any advice? What are the "must see" trips? More improtantly, we are both scuba divers and want to pre-book a dive package. Anyone dived Cancun and if so, recommended companies/dive sites etc?

Thanks in advance!

haven't dived there but have been, truthfully i wasn't impressed, a lot like benidorm but further, and no full english or john smiths, which isn't a bad thing. If your going for the diving I'm sure its the dogs though, just avoid it at spring break as its like night out in colchester.

Enjoy.

Cancun is steadily becoming a run down tourist area caused by constant rebuilding and the move towards large retail shopping malls. Saying that it's a great base to work from.

Tour packages to avoid Xel Ha and any of the booze cruises. (the drinks are spiked!!) If you value your life do not get a taxi, the buses run down the strip every minute and it's dirt cheap.

Places to visit, Chichen Itza temples, though I believe you cant climb them anymore. Still worth the visit. Also there are Jungle Zip wire tours and the Eco park to visit.

Cozumel up the coast is better for diving, but as it's not my thing check that one out beforehand.

You are All Inclusive but its worth a night out in Senor Frogs from 11pm onwards, proper spit and sawdust. Pay the entry charge ($25 ish each) and get the "free" drink option, then stick to bottles of Dos XX. Expect to leave just before breakfast.

If you are more adventurous you could get the midnight bus for the 6 hour drive to Belize and cross the border and stay on the islands for a couple of days. We do this trip via Cancun regularly so if you need anymore info pm me. I have contacts to meet you at the border so that you won't get ripped off by mexican customs. Also there is much more Diving.

Edited to add: Agree with above Avoid Spring break at all costs.

The best advice I can give you is dont go - not to cancun, or even mexico.

The drug cartels tentacles have spread into all the popular holiday resorts and nobody is safe - this is the information that the tour operators fail to publish. Dont be fooled by thinking you are a safe tourist with the 'they would never harm me' attitude, the tourist zones are no longer safe and if you do some research you will find the US government advise their own citizens to avoid this country.

Borderland Beat: Christmas in Cancun


Express kidnappings are a favourite with tourists, all happy at the cashpoint then the big 4x4 with blacked out windows cruises by to watch. Next thing you and your partner are scooped away to be gang raped then then turned into salami by mr brute holding a chainsaw. Femail tourists being raped by resort security guards have also been reported with nothing done when reported to the municipal police

Meet the Z's - the most violent cartel on the planet and think nothing of killing whole families at the drop of a hat - young or old.

Borderland Beat: Special Forces Zetas appear in Cancun

Borderland Beat: Chief Of Tourist Police Executed In Playa Del Carmen


Run to the police i hear - dont think so, all local forces right up to the federal police force are all corrupt and on the payroll of the cartels. Look what happended to these three girls who were lifted by the police for a minor offence - the police handed them over to the cartel where they met the brutes with chainsaws:

Borderland Beat: 14 Mexican Cops Arrested in Double Murder


This is the real mexico my friend.

Thanks for the replies ... not encouraging, but we will make the most of it ... we have to go in March as Mizz K13 has a shed load of leave to take before April. Couldn't get Cozumel which was our first choice.

Originally Posted by wedge_cadman

If you are more adventurous you could get the midnight bus for the 6 hour drive to Belize and cross the border and stay on the islands for a couple of days. We do this trip via Cancun regularly so if you need anymore info pm me. I have contacts to meet you at the border so that you won't get ripped off by mexican customs. Also there is much more Diving.

Might give that a go, cheers mate.

Originally Posted by CDT_Dodger

The best advice I can give you is dont go - not to cancun, or even mexico.

The drug cartels tentacles have spread into all the popular holiday resorts and nobody is safe - this is the information that the tour operators fail to publish. Dont be fooled by thinking you are a safe tourist with the 'they would never harm me' attitude, the tourist zones are no longer safe and if you do some research you will find the US government advise their own citizens to avoid this country.

Borderland Beat: Christmas in Cancun


Express kidnappings are a favourite with tourists, all happy at the cashpoint then the big 4x4 with blacked out windows cruises by to watch. Next thing you and your partner are scooped away to be gang raped then then turned into salami by mr brute holding a chainsaw. Femail tourists being raped by resort security guards have also been reported with nothing done when reported to the municipal police

Meet the Z's - the most violent cartel on the planet and think nothing of killing whole families at the drop of a hat - young or old.

Borderland Beat: Special Forces Zetas appear in Cancun

Borderland Beat: Chief Of Tourist Police Executed In Playa Del Carmen


Run to the police i hear - dont think so, all local forces right up to the federal police force are all corrupt and on the payroll of the cartels. Look what happended to these three girls who were lifted by the police for a minor offence - the police handed them over to the cartel where they met the brutes with chainsaws:

Borderland Beat: 14 Mexican Cops Arrested in Double Murder


This is the real mexico my friend.

Fuck, that's a scary picture to paint ... maybe I should have just gone back to Congo!

When we went we spent a couple of days on the Isla Mujeres, just off the coast. Wonderful place, and from what I remember of Mrs K13, just her cup of tea!

Isla Mujeres is a must, you can get a boat from down town cancun really easy and takes about 30 mins to be in paradise, hire a golf buggy to get around. Coco bongo and senor frogs defo worth a visit if you like a night out, in fact most of the bars and clubs are good fun and drinks included in the entrance fee. I loved cancun but i'm a party girl so suited me well, sure you will have a great time relaxing or partying.
last time i went was a few years ago now but felt very safe, we didnt stay in the hotel zone but in down town cancun around the locals and made very welcome it felt more safe than a night out in leicester.
oh and be careful when picking your hotel, our sister hotel was a swingers hotel, very interesting entertainment.

I stayed in Cancun a few years back (US-style shopping malls and hotels, little else) and went diving at Cozemul (seems to be a base for rich Brits). Diving seemed a bit off the cuff: thirty tourists on my group were kitted out and left to go on a deepish dive - with not a glance at any qualifications, and about five minutes instruction for the absolute "never-dived-before" novices (the majority)....

P.s. take a few bottles of spirits to your "inclusive" hotel. The "inclusive" bar drinks will be so weak that the average Brit (let alone an Arrser) will hardly detect a buzz at all.

Thinking of jumping on a bus to go day tripping - think again. Just up the road in the much loved resort of Veracruz on christmas eve. Just one of many bus hijackings where life means nothing in good ol MX:

Borderland Beat: US Confirms Three U.S. citizens Among the Dead in Veracruz Bus Attack

Read and digest:

Spring break - Nolan Webster break - Spring Cancun Mexico

The temples/pyramids are interesting, though a bit touristy like Stonehenge these days (IIRC there is a temple right in the middle of the Cancun beach).

I went to a Macaw park near Cancun which was quite good - particularly as the Macaws appeared a lot more intelligent than most of the tour group. I don't remember which park it was, but the attractive thing was that the birds were all wild - i.e. they chose to fly into this place and interact with humans.

I must admit the best fun in Cancun was to be had in constructing ever more outrageous and intricate wind-ups with which to ensnare our Spam cousins in the bar. Blimey, I appreciate that many of them are from middle America and come to Cancun as their only overseas excursion in their lifetime, but golly are they gullible...