The days
The shape of the 3 days
Hours of planned activity. A day beyond the city counts door to door.
A typical route. Yours follows your dates, pace, and interests.
Why this order
- The first day stays shortThe first day carries nothing long, and on this coast that costs less than it does anywhere else.
- Two long days only touch hereAt three days a second long excursion can only sit beside the first, and the route offers it rather than dropping it.
- Which long day is yoursThree long excursions want the same day, and your answers decide which of them gets it.
- Closed days are shownVerified closed days are shown with the place, so you can match the route to your actual dates before booking.
- Road time countsTime on the road is counted as time, not as a footnote.
Pages from a Cancún edition
The full Cancún guide, page by page
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See a real Cancún guideThree long excursions want the same day. The coast takes the two on either side of it.
Chichén Itzá runs twelve hours door to door. Xcaret runs longer. The catamaran to Isla Mujeres takes most of a day. Three days has room for one of those, and now and then it squeezes in a second by putting two long days back to back.
City day6 h
Playa Delfines
The first day belongs to the water
The first day carries nothing long, which in Cancún costs less than it does anywhere else: the thing most people came for is a few minutes from the room.
Playa Delfines is the one stop this day always reaches. It is the home of the giant CANCÚN letters, set on a bluff that opens the whole coastline below. Public and lifeguarded, with a free lookout instead of a resort gate.
Beyond the city12 h
Chichén Itzá or Isla Mujeres
The day one long excursion takes whole
One long day always lands here, and which one it is depends on your answers rather than on the calendar. Chichén Itzá is the most common of the three.
The pyramid is a calendar in stone: ninety-one steps on each of four faces, plus the top platform, sum to the days of the year.
Or the day goes out to Isla Mujeres, which the Spanish named Island of Women for the Ixchel figurines they found there, offerings to the Mayan goddess of the moon.
With Signature, this day carries an original audio guide of its own, saved before you go and playing without a signal.
City day7–10 h
A beach club
The day the city gets a turn
The last day is the flexible one, and now and then it is not short at all: a second long excursion lands here when the pace allows it, which is the one place this trip puts two heavy days together.
When it stays short, it goes to the beach and to the city's shorter stops, by daylight and after dark.
Or swap for
- A museum holding some of the oldest human remains found in the Americas
- A late show that runs into the club and keeps going, cut like a film
When to go
Dry season · Dec–Apr
- Jan27°70
- Feb28°60
- Mar28°45
- Apr30°55
- May31°110
- Jun31°180
- Jul32°130
- Aug32°170
- Sep31°190
- Oct30°160
- Nov29°90
- Dec27°75
Day °CRain mm
The difference
Your 3 days in Cancún. Built around you.
This is the shape. Build the route that fits inside it.
Complete guides from $1930-day money-back guarantee · One-time purchase
| What you get | This page | Yours |
|---|---|---|
| A typical route, day by day | ||
| Matched to your dates, pace, and interests | ||
| Up to 15 activities, by trip length | ||
| Up to 12 hotels and 12 restaurants | ||
| A PDF of up to 13 pages and a web guide | ||
| Audio guides at up to four highlights | Signature |
What changes, and what stays fixed
Pace
A balanced pace is the only one that fits a second long day into three.
Interests
Your answers decide which of the three long excursions lands on the second day.
Last day
The last day is the one that moves. Most often it stays in the city, and now and then a second long excursion lands here.
Opening days
Where a place has verified closed days, they are shown with it, to check against your dates.
What three days leave on the peninsula
One name people arrive expecting is not in a three-day route at all. Tulum sits on a cliff above the water two hours down the coast, and reaching it means giving up the one long day this trip has, which a three-day route does not do.
A longer trip does not have to choose. Five or seven days keep the coast and still make room for long excursions, and your pace decides how many.
Questions, answered
Does the route assume I have already arrived?
Is three days enough for Cancún?
Can I see Chichén Itzá and Isla Mujeres in three days?
Why is Tulum not in a three-day route?
What does the first day actually hold?
Before you go
