From Cancún to Tulum, the Mayan Eden

May 22 2013

by Marc Dedonder

The postcard is perfect. The Caribbean Sea comes to rest in thick azure blue rollers on large white sand beaches, at the foot of the hotels. Behind the imposing resorts of the Zona Hotelera, the sun plunges and embraces little by little the Nichupté lagoon. The night falls on Cancún.

It's hard to imagine that 40 years ago, there was nothing here but a long virgin beach where sea turtles came to lay their eggs every year. This strip of sand in the shape of a 7, 30 kilometers long, separated from the mainland by the lagoon where a few crocodiles wriggle, is now home to dozens of hotels, some of them huge. Chosen in the early 1970s by the Mexican government to launch the country's tourism development, Cancún, "the snake's nest" in Mayan, very quickly became a city of nearly one million inhabitants and one of the main destinations in the Caribbean.

With its tropical climate, its all-inclusive hotels and its frantic nightlife, Cancún attracts a young clientele. During the day, sunbathing by the pool or swimming in the ocean (the water never goes below 26 degrees), nautical or underwater activities, in the lagoon or offshore, on the coral reef. The gay beach, Playa Delfines, is located in the south of the hotel zone.

To change your mind after a long session on the beach, shopping fans will warm up their credit cards in the gigantic malls such as Luxury Avenue (duty free), Boutique Palacio or La Isla where all the big international brands are present, from Zara to Vuitton.

In case of rain (it happens sometimes!), you can visit the Tequila Herradura Sensorial Museum, where you can learn how the Mexican national alcohol is made. You can taste some amazing vintages of a drink known in Mexico only in its most basic form (blanco).

View from the Oasis Sens Hotel in Cancún

Because of the international clientele, it is difficult to find a small typical Mexican restaurant in the hotel zone of Cancún, just to burn your lips on tacos soaked in real Habanero pepper. If not, there are some very nice restaurants, like the one of the Benazuza restaurant or the one of the chef Christian Morales, which brilliantly revisit the local cuisine (count 50 euros per person). Gastronomy is now very popular in Cancún, the city organizes a famous Wine & Food Festival every year in March.

Cancún is also famous for its nightlife. And especially for a legendary club, the Cocobongo. Nothing gay here but the show is worth the trip: it starts in the street where every night, people gather in front of the club in which you enter by a big escalator. In the room, the crowd is compact, unchained. On stage, the show is literally scotching, a different show every 10 minutes, mixing dancers, singers, acrobats... Surprising!

In a country that is resolutely opening up to LGBT rights (marriage is legal in the capital, Mexico City), Cancún also displays a real gay life, even if it is still limited: it is concentrated in the Centro, the non-touristy part of the city, with a few clubs and bars where locals and tourists meet(see our Cancún gay guide), Americans, Quebecers, many of them fleeing the Canadian winter, but also Europeans, who flock with the direct flights to Cancún.

More and more hotels are playing the "gay-friendly" card. This is the case, for example, of the Oasis Sens, a recently renovated five-star hotel that now caters directly to gay travelers with its slogan "Feel Free to Feel Good". Elsewhere, "adults only", "couples only" or "clothing optional" concepts are flourishing.

The Mayan Museum of Cancún, inaugurated at the end of 2012

If Cancún and its hectic activities leave you breathless, another argument could convince you to come and discover the region: the heritage of the Mayas, whose ancestral land is the Yucatan Peninsula. Cancún hosts since November 2012 the first Maya museum, but the main archaeological sites, Chichen Itza, Cobá or Tulum, are elsewhere. To discover them, you will have to go south and take the Highway 307.

70 kilometers south of Cancún, Playa del Carmen is the main city of the Riviera Maya. This seaside resort, with the airs ofIbiza or Saint Tropez, developed in the Eighties. Trendy, it is a famous destination for weddings and honeymoons. Boutique hotels, beach clubs under the coconut trees, small restaurants and souvenir stores lined up along the Quinta Avenida, Playa del Carmen smells like vacation.

Currently in full demographic, urban and tourist explosion, the city hosts many festivals, jazz, cinema, but also a big electronic music festival (BPM, in January) and a gay clubbing festival, the ARENA festival, every year in January.

Playa del Carmen is also the perfect starting point to explore the very dense and low-lying jungle that covers the Yucatán. Many organizations, such as Alltournative, offer excursions to discover the local fauna and flora or the natural treasures that are the Cenotes (there are 7,000 in the whole Yucatan). These geological collapses give access to the largest system of underground rivers and caves in the world, in which you can practice unforgettable dives. For the Mayans, the Cenotes are the gateway to the kingdom of the dead and some of them are sacred.

Between entertainment and history, the Xcaret park, located at the exit of Playa del Carmen gathers in a unique place all the culture, fauna and flora of Mexico. Tropical aquarium with sharks, dolphins, turtles or rays, reproduction of a hacienda or a traditional cemetery, horse show... nothing is missing! Allow a day to visit everything and don't miss the final show: at nightfall, nearly 300 dancers and singers retrace the history of Mexico, from the Mayan civilizations to the Zapatista revolution. Traditional dances, mariachis, acrobatics, you will find it hard to resist the proud "hombres"!

If you dream of a wilder and preserved Mexico, then you will have to push a little more south, towards Tulum.

The Cenote of Aktun Chen, on the Riviera Maya © DR

Tulum has hippie accents and reminds us of some islands in Thailand. It will delight eco-tourism lovers and all those in search of a little more authenticity. Do not miss the Kinich restaurant, to discover the traditional Mayan cuisine.

In Tulum is one of the most sumptuous Mayan archaeological sites, unique, with its large pyramid standing on the cliff, with its back to the sea. It is one of the most visited sites in Mexico. An advice: do not dress in white for this visit, because this color seems to attract a small local mosquito particularly unpleasant! At the foot of the pyramid, a sublime beach will offer you an idyllic moment of relaxation, under the sharp glance of the iguanas.

The great pyramid of Tulum turns its back to the Caribbean Sea © DR

Tulum is also the gateway to the Siaan Ka'an Biosphere Reserve created in 1986 under the auspices of UNESCO. This reserve, managed by the local Mayan populations, is a natural treasure which presents 7 ecosystems specific to the region and which shelters more than 350 species of birds, jaguars or pumas. Numerous water activities are offered, including a heavenly swim in the ancestral canal dug by the Mayans, which connected the land to the sea. In the heart of the reserve, much less visited than those of Tulum, the Mayan ruins of Muyil offer a striking spectacle, in the middle of the jungle.

In Tulum is the only gay resort in the Caribbean, the Adonis Tulum Riviera Maya Gay Resort & Spa All Inclusive. Opened in 2010, it welcomes a predominantly gay and very international clientele. It is the only gay resort in the region.

Luxury resorts in Cancún, beach huts in Tulum, trendy beach clubs in Playa del Carmen, scuba diving, shopping, snorkeling in the underground rivers, nightlife, discovery of the Mayan culture, gastronomy... Cancún and the Riviera Maya offer a wide range of accommodations and activities, particularly attractive for the gay traveler, who will find a warm welcome and a gay-friendly attitude.

One last piece of advice: if you don't want to face the hordes of American students who arrive each year for Spring Break, avoid leaving in March. The best time to go to the Yucatan is from November to June, before the hurricane season.

The ancestral Mayan canal, in the Siaan Ka'an reserve