There are about 140 hotels in Cancun with more than 24,000 rooms and 380 restaurants. Four million visitors arrive each year in an average of 190 flights daily. The Hotel Zone of Cancun is shaped like a 7 with bridges on each end connecting to the mainland. Hotels on the vertical or long side of the 7 tend to have rougher beaches and beach erosion can be a problem. Resorts on the horizontal or short end of the seven tend to have more gentle surf because the waves here are blocked by the island of Isla Mujeres, which lies just off shore. The Hotel Zone offers a broad range of accommodations, ranging from relatively inexpensive motel-style facilities in the older section closest to the mainland, to high-priced luxury hotels in the later sections. Most hotels and resorts in Cancun are all inclusive and offer very good cheap accommodation for what you receive.
Many of the hotels are time-share condominiums with kitchen facilities. Some are all inclusive hotels which offer unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, hotel activities, entertainment, non-motorized water sports, and 40% discounts on tours to the Mayan ruins. Tips and taxes are included in the price of the hotel rooms. There are also upscale private residences and lavish condominiums for rent that cater to the rich. Restaurants, bars and shops in the hotel zone tend to be rather expensive compared with the downtown area and other Mexican resorts. Travelers will find many well-known theme restaurants and clubs here. Although the Hotel Zone is frequently described as "posh" or "exclusive" the main Cancun tourism market is middle and upper-middle class, according to government statistics, which also report that more than 37% of Cancun visitors are Mexican.
On the opposite side of the island from the Caribbean Sea is the Nichupté Lagoon, which is used for boating excursions and jet-ski jungle tours.
Weather
The temperature of the city is warm and tropical, moderated by the marine breezes created by onshore trade-winds, which circulates through its avenues. Depending on the season, maximum temperatures range from 26 °C (78.8 °F) in January to 32 °C (90 °F) in June and between 18 °C (64.4 °F) and 25 °C (77 °F) at night. Temperature extremes have ranged between a maximum of 39.5 °C (103.2 °F) and a minimum of 9.5 °C (49.2 °F) 5 km (3.1 mi) inland at the Airport at the south end of the city. More temperate conditions occur from November to February and it is hottest from April to September, due to proximity to the Caribbean and Gulf humidity is high all-year around (averages close to 70% on rain free days).
All hotel rooms in the Hotel Zone and many on the mainland are air conditioned. Weather is highly variable. During winter, occasional nortes (Fast-moving cold front passing southward from the North American continent) drop temperatures sharply to below 20 °C (68 °F) and sometimes even cooler, surprising even tourists from northern climates, fortunately such periods do not last long before conditions improve. In the course of a single day, the weather can turn from bright sunshine to dark and stormy and back again. It's not uncommon to look out one's window and see sunshine, while rain is falling on the opposite side. Sun showers and rainbows are frequent throughout the year, but especially during the summer rainy season. Many weather sites on the Internet will routinely report rain every day, and this causes undue alarm among future vacationers. Cancun is on the ocean, the high level of humidity in the air and therefore there is always the chance for rain, all-day rain is infrequent and usually associated with tropical storm activity.
The tropical storm season lasts from May to December; the rainy season extends into January with peak precipitation in September. February to early May tend to be drier with only occasional scattered showers. Although large hurricanes are rare, they have struck near to Cancun in recent years.
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