Cancún

In the 1970s Cancun was a small fishing village. A mere 30 years later, it has become an international resort with a population of 500,000 that annually receives four times that number of visitors – mainly from the United States to the north. The downtown area is the city proper, where most of the shops, banks, government offices are and where most of the local residents live. Most of the luxury hotels lie on the Zona Hotelera – a 22km (13.5 mile) long island that encloses its own lagoon. Famed for its white sandy beaches, it is connected to the mainland by a causeway at each end. Most of the tourists arrive on package tours lured by the clear waters of the Caribbean and the year-round sun. With the bewildering choice of bars, clubs, restaurants and other tourist amenities few will ever leave the zona hotelera, let alone venture out to explore the rest of the Yucatan. Although Cancun itself has little cultural or historical significance, the peninsula is littered with Mayan ruins and peaceful colonial towns.