Cancún
Cancún is, if nothing else, proof of Mexico's remarkable ability to get things done in a hurry if the political will is there. A fishing village of 120 people as recently as 1970, it's now a city with a resident population of half a million and receives almost two million visitors a year. To some extent the computer selected its location well. Cancún is marginally closer to Miami than it is to Mexico City, and if you come on an all-inclusive package tour the place has a lot to offer: striking modern hotels on white-sand beaches; high-class entertainment including parachuting, jet-skiing, scuba-diving and golf; a hectic nightlife; and from here much of the rest of the Yucatán is easily accessible. For the independent traveller, though, it is expensive, and can be frustrating and unwelcoming. You may well be forced to spend the night here, but without pots of money the true pleasures of the place will elude you.

There are, in effect, two quite separate parts to Cancún: the zona commercial downtown -- the shopping and residential centre which, as it gets older, is becoming genuinely earthy -- and the zona hotelera, a string of hotels and tourist amenities around "Cancún island", actually a narrow strip of sandy land connected to the mainland at each end by causeways. It encloses a huge lagoon, so there's water on both sides

The Town and beaches
There's little to see in downtown Cancún. Most visitors head straight for the zona hotelera and the beaches. Though you're free to go anywhere, and signposted public walkways lead down to the sea at regular intervals, some of the hotels do their best to make you feel like a trespasser, and staff will certainly move you off the beach furniture if you're not a guest. To avoid being eyed suspiciously by hotel heavies, head for one of the dozen or so public beaches: all are free but you may have to pay a small charge for showers. Entertainment and expensive water sports are laid on all around the big hotels; if you venture further, where more sites await construction, you can find surprisingly empty sand and often small groups of nude sunbathers.

To catch a bit of culture while you're out here, the Sheraton boasts a small Maya ruin in its grounds, above the pool, while the Museo de Antropologia, located behind the convention centre (Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; $2 (US), free on Sunday), has a small but absorbing outline of Mesoamerican and Maya culture and history, with information in English and Spanish. Cancún's largest Maya remains, the Ruinas del Rey (daily 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; $1.70 (US), free on Sunday), are at km 17, overlooking the Nichupté Lagoon. They're not especially impressive -- and, if you decide not to take one of the guides at the entrance, there's no information available to explain them -- but the area is peaceful and very good for bird- and iguana-watching.

The best snorkelling in Cancún is at Punta Nizuc, next to Club Med territory. You aren't allowed to cross the grounds unless you're staying there, so you have to get off the bus at the Westin Regina Resort, cross their grounds to the beach, then turn right and walk for about twenty minutes until you reach the rocky point. Walk across the rocks and snorkel to your heart's content. To join a snorkelling tour or go diving, contact Aqua Tours (tel: 883-0440) or Aquaworld (tel: 885-2288, www.aquaworld.com.mx). A one-tank dive costs about $50 (US) and a full PADI open-water certification course around $400 (US). To view the colourful underwater life in a more leisurely fashion, take a trip on the Sub See Explorer, a glass-bottomed boat that leaves from the Aqua World centre at Blvd. Kukulkan km 15.2 every hour from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. $35 (US).

Both jet-skiing ($50 (US) for 30 minutes) and parasailing ($40 (US) for 10 minutes) are very popular in Cancún and operators are dotted at frequent intervals in front of the big hotels on the beach.

Playa del Carmen
Playa del Carmen (known simply as Playa) once a soporific, very Mexican fishing village, has mushroomed in recent years and now has the dubious distinction of being the world's fastest growing town (by a rate of 26 percent per annum), according to the Guinness Book of Records. It's expensive and overcrowded, not only with holiday-makers but also thousands of day-trippers from Cancún and passing Caribbean cruise ships. As a result the town's main centre of activity, Av 5 (or Quinta), a long, pedestrianized strip one block back from the sea, is often packed to capacity with visitors rapidly emptying their wallets in pavement cafés, souvenir and silver-jewellery outlets and designer clothes shops. Additionally, with the arrival of US fast-food giants McDonalds, Burger King and TFI Friday, Playa's rather chic European atmosphere is giving way to a blander, more homogenized culture. The beach, however, is one of the prettiest on the coast with unfeasibly white sand and gloriously clear sea and the entire town is, for the moment, still compact and easily covered on foot -- as well as playing host to the best nightlife on the Riviera Maya. The reef offshore is almost as spectacular here as in Cozumel and there are scores of professional scuba-diving operations in Playa -- recommended is Tank-Ha, Av 5 between C 8 and 10 (tel 9-873-0302, www.tankha.com) which offers PADI certification courses ($350 (US)), one- and two-tank dives ($45 to $65 (US)) and whole dive packages (from $175 (US)) as well as twice-daily snorkeling tours (9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., $25 (US), 3 hours). If you're a real thrill-seeker, you can sky-dive from Playa with Sky-Dive Playa del Carmen, Plaza Marina (tel 9-873-0192, www.skydive.com.mx), which comes in at $200 (US) for a tandem dive with a certified instructor.

Puerto Morelos
Leaving Cancún behind, the first town on the coast is Puerto Morelos, 20 km south. Formerly of little interest except as the departure point for the car ferry to Cozumel, in recent years Puerto has seen a surge in popularity, becoming a base for tours and dive trips. Although the taxi ride from Cancún airport to Puerto Morelos is a whopping $40 (US), a number of visitors on international flights bypass Cancún altogether, making Puerto Morelos their first stop along the Riviera Maya. It's as good a place as any to hang out for a while: despite a rash of new hotel and condo construction, it is a relaxing, laid-back alternative to the bustle of Cancún with some lovely beaches and pristine reef offshore. It's also the only working fishing village from Cancún as far as Tulum that hasn't been entirely consumed by tourism.

The Town
The turn-off from Hwy. 307 ends at the small, modern plaza in the centre of Puerto Morelos: the only proper streets lead north and south for a few blocks, parallel to the beach. The plaza hosts a weekend tyanguis or craft fair, and has a baseball court and taxi rank. It's also home to the wonderful Alma Libre (October to April, Tuesday to Saturday 9 a.m. to noon and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.), probably Mexico's most extensive secondhand English-language bookshop. Ahead lies the beach, a wooden dock (the car ferry terminal is a few hundred metres south) and the lighthouse.

With the reef only 600 m offshore and in a very healthy condition, Puerto Morelos is a great place to learn to dive. Both Almost Heaven Adventures and Nito's Divers, either side of the square, offer certification courses, one- and two- tank dives ($40 to $55 (US)) as well as sport-fishing charters (approximately $200 (US) for 5 to 6 hours; up to four people) and snorkelling trips ($20 (US) per person; 2 hours).

If you want to learn more about the natural and social history of the area, contact Maya Echo (tel 9-871-0136, starseed@puertomorelos.com.mx), a group dedicated to the conservation of the area's natural beauty and the preservation of Maya culture and spirituality. They organize tailor-made, one-day tours into the forest and to local Maya villages, where the Maya will teach you about their way of life and their beliefs. Goyo Martin of Goyo's Jungle Adventures, on Av Ninos Héroes, one block north of the plaza, also takes people into the forest and to a local cenote on half-day tours ($40 (US), including lunch). For day-trips to Maya sites ($80 to $90 (US)), contact friendly guide Marco Riha (tel 9-895-9632, www.relaxedalternative.com), or leave a message for him at Rancho Libertad (see "Accommodation").

Just south of the turn-off for the Acamaya Reef Trailer Park (see "Accommodation"), the Jardín Botanico Dr Alfredo Barrera (daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; $2.50 (US)) features the native flora of Quintana Roo and is definitely worth a visit if you have the time. Exhibits are labelled in Spanish and English and there are also guides who can explain the medicinal uses of the plants. Trails lead to a small Maya site and a reconstruction showing how chicle was tapped from the sap of the zapote (sapodilla) tree before being used in the production of chewing gum.

Felipe Carillo Puerto
Felipe Carillo Puerto, formerly known as Chan Santa Cruz, is the capital of the "Zona Maya" and an important spiritual centre for the Maya. During the Caste Wars, Maya from the north gathered forces here and looked for guidance from a miraculous talking cross that told them to fight on against their oppressors (such talking crosses and statues are common in Maya mythology as conduits through which disincarnate spirits speak, or as manifestations of a soul, usually that of a shaman, when it has left the body during the state of trance; they are known as way'ob by the Yucatek Maya). Presumably as an attempt to disguise its rebellious past, the town was renamed after a former governor of the Yucatán who was assassinated in 1924. However, a monument to the martyrs of the Caste Wars still stands in the town. There are several reasonable hotels around the main plaza -- try the Hotel Esquivel (tel 9-834-0344; $10 to $15 (US)) on the zócalo, only 100 m from the small bus station, but check the rooms first as some are significantly better than others.