Getting Oriented

Getting Oriented

Cancún is a great place to experience 21st-century Mexico. Over the past three decades it has turned into the Miami of the south, with international investors pouring money into property development. The main attractions for most travelers to Cancún lie along the Zona Hotelera-a 22½-km (14-mi) barrier island shaped roughly like the numeral 7. Off the eastern side is the Caribbean; to the west is a system of lagoons, the largest being Laguna Nichupté. Downtown Cancún-El Centro-is 4 km (2½ mi) west of the Zona Hotelera on the mainland.