8 off the beaten path places to visit in Mexico
The Cancun/Riviera Maya area is most famous for its all-inclusive resorts and amazing excursions and tours for good reason! There are over 160 all-inclusive properties spread out between Costa Mujeres and Tulum ranging from budget to luxury, family-friendly to adult-only, boutique to mega-resort, and everything in between. The most popular activities include visiting eco-parks, exploring Mayan ruins, snorkeling, cenotes, catamaran tours, ziplining, and ATVing. There is no shortage of hotels to stay in, activities to do, and areas to explore in and around Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
While most travelers are familiar with the popular and touristy things to do in the area, we would like to draw attention to some of the more “off the beaten path” places and tours that you can explore for something different and unique on your next vacation.
🌟 Sian Kaan
The Sian Kaan biosphere is a UNESCO world heritage site because of the diversity in flora and fauna in the area. It is a protected biosphere where you have the chance see turtles, dolphins, crocodiles, manatees, and lots of other species in the wild. There are a few different tour options to experience Sian Kaan. For example, the Punta Allen tour and the Boca Paila tour. On the Punta Allen tour, you spend a few hours boating through the biosphere searching for sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, and get to snorkel at a protected reef. The Boca Paila tour would go through lagoons and coastal wetlands, searching for crocodiles, manatees, and different bird species.
Both tours involve going past Tulum on a “coastal dirt road” which is code for a road that is in horrible shape and takes double or triple the time it should take due to the conditions.
This area is an unspoiled paradise and truly beautiful and unique, and a great way to enjoy wildlife in their natural habitat.
🌟 Muyil
Muyil Ruins are small, lush (look up to see howler & spider monkeys!), has few visitors, and feels magical. This is an easy site to navigate, fun site to walk through, and the lagoon adds a new dimension to this Mayan history lesson. On the same grounds as the Muyil ruins is a part of the Sian Kaan biosphere that you can enter by boat which takes you to the Muyil lazy river. You can do this tour with or without the ruins.
You will see inland jungle, wetlands, freshwater lagoons, mangrove forests, and Mayan-carved canals during the boat tour. You start off in one blue lagoon. Then, they take you through a Mayan-made channel that is surrounded by mangroves. You go through a second lagoon and the boat parks at another natural channel. Once in the water, you simply float down this natural lazy river. It is crystal clear, remote, beautiful, serene, and you have the chance to see some wildlife. It is one of the last unspoiled pieces of paradise in this destination!
🌟 Ek Balam
The Ek Balam ruins are located in the Yucatan state and are one of the least crowded of the Mayan archeological sites in the region.
They are the most newly opened to the public and you can still climb the pyramid for amazing views. There is also a cenote on site that you can walk or bike to.
Ek Balam is only 20 minutes from the Yucatecan town of Valladolid. So, it is easily combinable with that and other cenotes.
🌟 Yucatan
The state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun and the Riviera Maya are located, is in the Yucatan Peninsula, alongside the state of Yucatan and Campeche.
The Yucatan state is only 1.5-2 hours away, depending on where you are leaving from and where you are going. It's full of beautiful colonial cities and towns like Espita, Valladolid, and Merida, has amazing culture, incredible Yucatecan food, unique cathedrals, stunning cenotes, and so much more. Doing a day trip to Valladolid combined with some cenotes is a wonderful way to get to know the Yucatan.
🌟 Punta Laguna
Punta Laguna is a protected nature reserve where wildlife thrives. It is a monkey paradise, and you have the chance to see spider and howler monkeys in the wild as there are more than 600 on-site! On top of searching for monkeys, you can repel into a cenote, zipline across a lagoon, and canoe in that lagoon. This tour is easily combinable with the Coba ruins.
🌟 Isla Contoy
Isla Contoy is a protected national park that is home to 150 bird species, 4 turtle species, nurse sharks, whale sharks, and many more unique wildlife species. There are strict regulations to preserve the wildlife, including allowing no more than 200 people per day to visit. A typical tour to Isla Contoy includes some time on neighboring Isla Mujeres, snorkeling at a reef at the beginning of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and a few hours to enjoy the most picture-perfect Caribbean island with sparkling turquoise waters and white sand beaches.
🌟 Holbox
While becoming more and more popular every day, Holbox is the most “off the beaten path” of the 3 main inhabited islands in the Mexican Caribbean (the others being Isla Mujeres and Cozumel). Located 2 hours by car and 20 minutes by ferry from Cancun or Playa del Carmen, Holbox is one mile wide and is home to the most beautiful & shallow beaches where you can walk out forever, and the water will only be up to your knees. It’s a chill and laid-back atmosphere with sandy roads and no cars (the taxis are ATVs!). Holbox is also known for kitesurfing, whale sharks, and bioluminescence phenomenon.
🌟 Bacalar
Located less than an hour from Belize in the Southern part of Quintana Roo, Bacalar is an absolute paradise. Its lagoon is nicknamed the lagoon of 7 colors and there are truly 7 shades of blue! Although the Bacalar Lagoon is fresh water, it looks like you are in the Maldives or French Polynesia. The most popular things to do here are to spend the day on the lake on a private or shared boat tour, float down the rapids at Los Rapidos, kayak or paddleboard on the lagoon, visit the Fortress, and explore the impressive ruins nearby.
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