DK Travel : Cancún and the Yucatán

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has a special atmosphere and an immense variety of attractions, including some of the world’s best beaches and diving areas. The modern, glittering resorts of the east coast’s “Mayan Riviera” lie alongside charming old Spanish Colonial towns, sleepy Mayan villages, and the awesome remains of ancient civilizations.

Café del Museo, Cozumel

This very relaxing, pretty café on the roof of Cozumel’s museum (see Museo de Cozumel) has a great view of the waterfront and good coffee. Tasty breakfasts and snacks too.
Café Rincón, Mérida

The best of the ever-popular terrace restaurants on Parque Hidalgo. If the bustle of the square gets too much you can sit inside in the hotel’s pretty patio.
Calcehtok

These little-known caves near the Mayan ruins at Oxkintok are some of the region’s most extraordinary. The roofless main chamber is big enough to contain whole trees, and is full of birds.
Calle 39, Valladolid

Valladolid’s main street has everything a country town should: shoe stores, electrical shops, barbers, and stalls selling fruit and herbal medicines.
Calotmul

Between Valladolid and Tizimín, this is another hot country town that has a fine church (1749) with a magnificently ornate Baroque altarpiece.
Camarón al Mojo de Ajo

All around the coasts, fish and seafood are restaurant staples. One of the simplest and most delicious ways of cooking the likes of camarón (prawns/shrimp) and caracol (conch) is al mojo de ajo , fried quickly in hot oil and loads of garlic. When ingredients are fresh, nothing more is needed.
Campeche

The most complete Spanish walled city in Mexico, Campeche is full of reminders of the era when it was a trading hub of Spain’s empire and looked upon with greed by Caribbean pirates. In recent years the old city – with its churches, patios, Andalusian-style grill windows, and façades in delicate pastel colors – has been restored to refresh its distinctive charm.
Campeche

A Spanish colonial walled city that retains a charming, old-world feel. The 17th-century ramparts and bastions were built to defend it against pirates. The streets within are lined with delicately colored old houses featuring patios and iron-grilled windows. A museum, housed in an old Spanish fort, contains jade funeral masks and other fine relics from the recently excavated site at Calakmul.
Campeche

The city is a remarkable survivor from the Spanish Colonial era. It includes an old section ringed by ramparts and bastions, and an astonishing museum of Mayan relics housed in an ancient fortress.
Campeche Cathedral

Mérida and Campeche began their cathedrals around the same time, but the stop-start construction at Campeche meant that while the central façade was finished in the 1600s, the tower on its left was added only in the 1750s, and that on its right as late as the 1850s.

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Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes and extra charges.
- under $5
- $5-$10
- $10-$20
- $20–$35
- over 35