DK Travel : Cancún and the Yucatán : Places of interest

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Celestún

Just north of this fishing village is a silent, wild, watery expanse of mangrove lagoon that provides a breeding ground for great flocks of pink flamingos and ibises, egrets, and blue herons. Boat tours from the village are very popular (the lagoon can get rather crowded at times). But if you stay over in Celestún after the tours have gone back to Mérida, you will find a beautifully tranquil village, with a soft white beach, laid-back restaurants and hotels, and fabulous sunsets.
Celestún

Flamingos, again, are the big attraction here, but if you stay over in one of the small hotels after the day-trippers have returned to Mérida you can sample a delightfully peaceful village, its beach strewn with fishing boats (see Celestún, Celestún). North of Celestún is a really remote beach retreat at Xixim (see Eco-Paraíso Xixim, near Celestún).
Cenote Dzitnup

This is the most spectacular of the easily accessible, swim-mable cenotes, and one of the great sights of the Yucatán. Entering through a cramped tunnel, you emerge into a vast, cathedral-like cavern, with towers of strangely shaped rock around an exquisite turquoise pool. In the middle, a shaft of sunlight falls dead straight onto the water from a hole in the roof. Everyone automatically swims through it, to be touched by this magical light.
Chichén Itzá

The most famous and awe-inspiring of all the great ancient Mayan cities, and the one with the most spine-tingling images of war and sacrifice. The great pyramid of El Castillo, the giant Ball Court, the Sacred Cenote, and the Temple of the Warriors are all must-sees.
Cobá

This huge Mayan city – once home to around 50,000 people – was the great rival of Chichén Itzá. It’s a very different place to visit from Chichén Itzá or Uxmal – it’s unusually spread out around several large lakes, and to find its massive buildings you follow fascinating walks through thick forest full of birds and plants. Among them is the Yucatán’s tallest pyramid.
Cozumel

Gleaming jewelry stores along the waterfront in San Miguel combine with an easygoing, small-town charm that has long made this island a favorite with families. It’s a great place to settle into at a leisurely pace, maybe going diving one day, then exploring a little the next: around the island are Mayan ruins, windblown cliffs, a fascinating natural wildlife park at Punta Sur, and lovely beaches and snorkeling spots on the west coast.

Snorkeling
Crococún Crocodile Park

Kids meet crocs (over 300 of them) at this attractive small zoo of all-local wildlife. Multilingual guides give informative, entertaining tours, and it’s well-organized, with opportunities to pet and feed baby crocodiles, deer, monkeys, parrots, and less familiar animals such as tepezcuintles (a kind of big rodent).
Dolphin Discovery

There are three of these sea enclosures – on Isla Mujeres, at Chankanaab on Cozumel, and at Puerto Aventuras – where you can swim or dive with the dolphins, ride on them, or be pushed along in the “footpush”.
Dos Ojos Cenote and Hidden Worlds

The upper chambers of the world’s longest underwater cave system, the Dos Ojos Cenote, are used by the Hidden Worlds center for one of the Yucatán’s most exciting tours. After a hike during which a guide points out features of the forest, visitors can snorkel or scuba dive through crystal-clear cave waters in giant arched-roof caverns (see Dos Ojos Cenote).
Dzibilchaltún

The Temple of the Seven Dolls, through which the sun strikes at dawn on spring and summer equinoxes to run straight along a white sacbé (rough cast road) to the central plaza, is the most celebrated feature of this ruined Mayan city just north of Mérida. It was one of the longest-lived Mayan cities, occupied for over 2,000 years. There are additional temples at the site, as well as a grand Palacio and a Spanish missionary chapel. The huge, mysterious pool – Cenote Xlacah – which provided the ancient city with water, now offers an idyllic place in which to cool off.