Yucatan – family friendly recommendations?

[Olly]

Planning to take the family (kids aged 4 & 5.5) to Cancun and surrounds in Feb half-term. Would love some recommendations for family-friendly hotels and activities, if anyone has some?

• This topic was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .

[Aliks]

I’d recommend hiring a car and driving away from Cancun – try cities like Merida to see “real” Mexico.

Within an hours drive, there are lots of beaches and Cenotes (basically natural sinkholes in the limestone that are filled with fresh water often with restaurants and picnic areas next to the water)

Drive down to Tulum for a day trip and accessible beaches.

Lots of smaller temples and ruins if you like that kind of thing.

Cancun itself is a bit soul-less and commercial, but has lots of shopping malls and tourist tat if you like that kind of thing.

[Olly]

Thanks Aliks. Definitely planning to explore a bit – have heard Isla Holbox is worth a visit too

[cinereus]

Cancun is amazing as long as you avoid all the tourist destinations. I’d completely disagree that it’s soulless – if you actually get out to El Centro, it is arguably much close to “real” México…

Having said that I adore Mérida and it has some of the best dining on the peninsula.

I’d ignore Tulum, Playa del a Carmen, Isla Mujeres and Cozumel as again they are inauthentic tourist traps even if not quite as awful as Cancun hotel district. Holbox or Bacalar are worth a visit but Holbox is pretty overrated imo.

The cenotes are obviously amazing and if you ask around you’ll find more hidden gems in someone’s backyard rather than the over visited ones on the coast. Around Valladolid (also some amazing food and much more authentic than many nearby places) and Mérida especially there are some stunning cenotes.

If you haven’t got your cave diving certs yet it’s definitely worth getting them sorted as cave diving cenotes is one of the most magical experiences ever. Also if you have nitrox quals the diving on Cozumel is worth putting up with the cruise ships.

[cinereus]

I made a post here that’s sadly been stuck in moderation for 6 hours now 🙁

[Rhys]

cinereus wrote:

I made a post here that’s sadly been stuck in moderation for 6 hours now 🙁

Sorry – our spam software automatically binned it rather than putting it in moderation!

[cinereus]

What was weird is that it originally showed up then I edited it to add a missing apostrophe and it disappeared!