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A multi-activity fun center on Cancún Island offering jungle tours, submarine rides, jetskiing, snorkeling, diving, fishing, parasailing, dinner cruises, and tours to Isla Mujeres and Cozumel.

The biggest water-fun park in Cancún has an interactive dolphin pool, a snorkeling pool with rays and innocent sharks, and a bungee-jump. But the biggest highlight is the Wet’n’Wild water park, with slides, rides, and wave pools for all ages.

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”.

A broad, natural pool of rock and coral is the central attraction. There’s also an ordinary swimming pool, and snorkeling reefs and landing stages just offshore. Good for novices.

Thick forest, cenotes, jungle streams, mangrove lagoons, beaches, and reefs are all found within this big eco-park north of Playa del Carmen. Bikes and kayaks are included in the ticket; optional extras include horse riding, snorkeling, reef-runner tours, scuba diving, a kids’ club, paintball, and “sensorama” blind-folded walk to allow you to experience the forest through touch and smell (see Cancún and the North).

The Riviera’s original eco-park provides a spectacular introduction to the richness and variety of a tropical environment, all in one space (see Playa del Carmen: Xcaret).

Puma, Xcaret eco-park

CozumelA great place to see Cozumel’s undersea treasures with an easy swim, this small nature and snorkeling park lies close to the Chankanaab and Paraíso reefs (see Paraíso, Cozumel) and includes a beach, a botanical garden, and a Dolphin Discovery center.

From the highway near Akumal, a dirt track leads west through thick bromeliad-filled jungle to a nature park set around a vast cave and cenote system. You can’t swim in the cenote, but the guided tours through the stalactite-filled cavern are highly impressive. Colorful birds, monkeys, and wild boars can be seen outside.

One of the Riviera’s most popular attractions, this snorkel park was created around a magnificent natural coastal lagoon that’s especially good for children. It can seem crowded, but if you swim a bit away from the landing stages, you’ll still find plenty of fish and coral. There are also forest trails to explore.

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).