Nights out in Cancun
Summary
Heard a lot about Cancun, and was keen to hit it hard with some apoco-lash (translation – go out and party, drink a lot etc), but was really disappointed in the end. I think the main problem with Cancun is that, if you look at it from a travel experience point of view, it is more on the package holiday end of the spectrum than the unique adventure end. This may sound like lofty expectations for what is effectively a party town, but the experience is to spend the majority of your time in one all-inclusive hotel and go to one venue per night, which is also all-inclusive. There is less of the wandering from one bar to the next and getting a bit of variety because the separate hotels won’t let you buy individual drinks (need to pay for the full package), which kind of rules out most of the rooftop bars too
Maybe I’m getting old, but would give it a miss. Nice beach though and obviously a platform to go exploring the likes of Chichen Itza (see Best way to see Chichen Itza for how to best experience this wonder of the world from Cancun), diving in crystal clear Cozumel (tips – Scuba Diving in Cozumel), the Mayan ruins and Cenote diving in Tulum (Exploring the Mayan Ruins of Tulum for the ruins and Scuba Diving the Cenotes of Tulum for the must-do otherworldly diving), and the far more peaceful Isla Mujeres nearby
If do stay in Cancun, we found the Casa Tortugas Boutique Hotel really nice and well located to the Hotel Zone
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Party Experiences
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone