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Feature Article
Under the Yucatán's Spell Stray from Cancún and Playa del Carmen to experience Mexico
The Yucatán Peninsula is the top-drawing resort area of Mexico, a palmy playground where, in the 75-mile corridor from Cancún south to the Mayan ruins in Tulúm, there are nearly 50,000 hotel rooms. Yet most of the Yucatán is virgin territory for tourists. Hundreds of square miles are practically trackless, their jungles and thorn forests spiked with unexcavated Mayan pyramids. Even Isla Mujeres, a day-tripper destination if there ever was one, is just coming into its own. On this five-mile-long sliver of an island that's a 20-minute ferry ride from Cancún, high-end boutique hotels, B&Bs and the first all-inclusive hotel have entered the scene only recently, giving visitors a number of reasons to spend more than a day. Other spots where you'll make vacation memories far from crowds include jungle—shrouded Cobá, deep into Maya-land. This forgotten city, where 50,000 Mayans lived some 1,300 years ago, is only an hour from Tulúm but remains centuries removed from the hustle of Playa del Carmen—the hub of the Maya Riviera and its growing string of mega-resorts. Spend the night in Cobá and you'll have this enormous Mayan complex to yourself in late afternoon and early morning—an eerie and evocative experience. Finally, you won't want to miss Sian Ka'an, a biosphere reserve that's as exotic as its name. With the Caribbean on one side and an endless series of mangrove lagoons on the other, it's a steamy Garden of Eden, as pristine as any spot on Earth. Isla Mujeres: Funky, laid-back and great snorkeling Ferries from Cancún dock at El Pueblo, Isla Mujeres' only town. It's chock-a-block with shops, cantinas, restaurants, markets and budget rooms. The hustle and bustle can be a bit much near the dock and town, but persevere: It's a wonderful little isle, funkier than Cozumel and with excellent snorkeling and diving. Mostly, it's a laid-back escape from Cancún's party pace. Fishermen pull riotously painted boats onto the downtown waterfront of this getaway isle and sunbathers lounge on the wide skirt of Playa del Norte beach, a couple minutes walk from town. Hotel Na Balam has the ideal location here, as the property is not steps from the beach, but on the beach. Playa Norte beach attracts the daily influx of tourists from Cancún, but before 11 a.m. and after 4 p.m., you'll have the calm waters to yourself. Once the ferries leave, join your fellow sunbathers in the daily palapa-hopping happy hour. Now's the time to order a michelada, beer splashed with a generous dose of fresh lime juice, served in a salt-rimmed glass. Last stop is the beach bar at Na Balam where visiting Cuban bands often provide the music. Headquartering on this "Isle of Women" over the weekend lets you take part in the Saturday and Sunday evening gathering of locals in the plaza. As elsewhere in Mexico, this is when families stroll, weaving their way amidst food and balloon vendors. If you don't eat your fill of fresh fish tacos and coconut ice cream cones, make way to Villa Rolandi, headquarters for fine cuisine on the island. Views from the indoor-outdoor restaurant are of the twinkling lights of Cancún, eight miles away. The Swiss-Northern Italian kitchen features homemade fettucinis with prawns, fresh fish and pasta specialties. For an island tour, taxis are plentiful, but a better option is to rent a golf cart and enjoy the wind-in-your-face breeze. You'll pass the naval dock and continue south past Makax Lagoon to the other end of the island. Here you'll find Garrafón National Underwater Park. If you haven't seen Garrafón in the past five years, be ready for a surprise as it's undergone a two-year, $7 million overhaul and is now a showpiece. A $10 entrance fee gets you some of the Yucatan's best snorkeling, as well as an open-air restaurant overlooking a stylish pool and a paved coastal path to a small Mayan ruin. Experienced divers seek out the 65-foot underwater Cave of the Sleeping Sharks. There's also a 39-foot bronze cross submerged at Los Manchones, another popular dive site. Fishermen seeking wahoo and tuna are in luck year-round and can snag a half-day excursion for about $60. In spring, sailfish tournaments draw big-time anglers. Tulúm and Cobá: Explore the Mayan world If you haven't seen Tulúm, you'll want to stop there on your way to Cobá. Just 80 miles south of Cancún, Tulúm is an easy introduction to the Maya world. With a mere 50 structures, it is one of the smallest of excavated sites. But that doesn't mean you should skip it. Located on a stunning bluff above the azure Caribbean, many of the site's fat-columned, 1,000-year-old temples still have intact roofs. The stunning Temple of the Frescoes shelters mysterious images, still vivid after centuries. Cobá, even older, is a scant hour northwest of Tulúm. This is very much a hidden jungle city, with only five percent of its 6,500 structures excavated. Hire a guide (about $40 for two hours), as the myriad jungle footpaths don't inspire confidence. Inhale the sweet smell of the tropics as you walk the overhung paths to Nohoch Mul, the Great Pyramid that's the highest on the Yucatán. You'll want to climb its 140 steps, particularly near sunset when the last golden rays highlight the tops of other pyramids peeking above the dense matte of jungle. Ask your guide to point out the sacbé road. Just a small portion is visible, but a few hundred years ago it was paved with limestone for the 60 or so miles it cuts through the seemingly impenetrable forest, which is still prowled by jaguars. There are daily bus tours to both Tulúm and Cobá from the Cancún area, but if you want to spend the night in Cobá, you'll need to rent a car. The roads are excellent and well-marked. Villas Arqueológicas is the only lodging option. An unqualified value at about $70 a night, it sits on the shore of Lake Cobá, a five-minute walk from the ruins. Club Med operates this 40-room gem, where jungle sounds provide the backdrop for poolside starlit dinners. Sian Ka'an: Refuge for the tropical world At the literal end of the road following the coastal route south of Tulúm is a blissfully undeveloped biosphere that UNESCO recognized as a World Heritage Site in 1987. Sian Ka'an — a Mayan name meaning "where the sky is born" — spreads over 1.3 million acres of the Boca Paila peninsula south of Tulúm. Electricity and pavement both end at Tulúm City, leaving this slice of heaven, a still — uncharted Florida Everglades, to shine with no competition from billboards or resorts. Sian Ka'an is a refuge of much that's rare in the tropical world. Jaguars, ocelots and manatees co-exist, but the sounds are hardly of silence. There's the racket of wildly chirping birds — some 330 species have been sighted — and the whispered flutter of more than 80 species of butterflies, some with wingspans as big as a saucer. Visitors must be accompanied by authorized guides; your hotel can put you in touch with a number of organizations offering day tours, including the well-established Amigos de Sian Ka'an. Once inside the preserve, where 700 Mayan families live, you'll motor in small boats through narrow mangrove passageways and swamps and into sparkling freshwater lagoons. Fine-tune your binoculars on dozens of Jurassic-sized birds, including roseate spoonbills (easy to identify, even in flight, as they're so obviously pink) and wood storks with six-foot wing spans. There's life everywhere and yet you'll not see another soul. This is the Yucatán the Mayans knew. It is perfect bliss. Based in Aspen, Susan Kaye is a travel writer who specializes in Mexico and has won numerous writing awards for her articles.
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