Cancun is located on Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula in northern Quintana Roo, a state in the southeastern portion of the country. The island of Cancun is shaped like the number “7” and is bordered by Bahia de Mujeres to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east and Nichupte Lagoon to the west.

CLIMATE

Cancun has an annual average temperature of 80°F and an average wind speed is 9mph. Throughout the year, Cancun has an average morning relative humidity of 85% and evening relative humidity of 73%. The average number of days with precipitation is 58. The rainy season is May through October. August through October is hurricane season. November through February is generally sunny, but this can vary.

CITY STRUCTURE

The city of Cancun is divided into “supermanzanas,” which are large residential and commercial areas with walkways and gardens. The main streets within Cancun are named after Mayan cities while the side streets bear names of fish, flowers, fruit and animals. A 10-mile bike path runs between Bahia de Mujeres and Kukulcan Boulevard, the channel connecting downtown to the Hotel Zone.

TRANSPORTATION

Buses and taxis are the two most prominent forms of transportation in Cancun. Turican and Autocar, two urban bus companies established in Cancun, have regular routes and service throughout the city’s main avenues as well as Kukulcan Boulevard through the Hotel Zone. The buses stop every three to five minutes at the Hotel Zone stops, and run 24 hours a day. A bus ticket within the Hotel Zone costs 9.5 pesos. Cancun has 4,000 taxis with approximately 10,000 drivers and serves the city and outlying areas. On average, taxi rides are approximately 100 to 150 pesos

AIRPORT

Cancun International Airport (CUN) serves the most international passengers in Mexico, reporting more than 16 million travelers in 2013 alone. The airport is Mexico’s second largest, boasting over 210 check-in counters for both international and domestic flights. The airport is located approximately twelve miles from the city and Hotel Zone at Carretera Cancun-Chetumal Km 22, Cancun, Q. Roo Mexico C.P. 77500.

SEASONS

Normally, high season is from December 15 to April; low season is from May to December 15, when prices drop 10% to 30%. Some hotels are starting to charge high-season rates during June and July, when Mexican, European, and school-holiday visitors often travel; however, rates might still be lower than in winter season.

CURRENCY

The official currency is the Mexican Peso but major credit cards and U.S. dollars are accepted mostly anywhere. Banks have expanded their facilities into the Hotel Zone with offices available for currency exchange. Mexico including Cancun is now accepting Euros.

ACCOMMODATIONS

Cancun is Mexico’s largest resort destination with a total of   163 hotels including Puerto Morelos with more than  36,000 rooms (as of  March 2014 ranging from affordable to upscale and chic. A majority of hotels in Cancun are located in the Hotel Zone and feature ocean lagoon and garden views.

Cancun is also known for its small, boutique-style Hotels, each with its own distinct personality and style. With comfortable facilities and friendly hospitality, Cancún’s small hotels range from villas set in lush tropical gardens facing the ocean or Mediterranean-style mansions sitting on the lagoon.

DINING& ENTERTAINMENT

Whether it is traditional regional Mexican cuisine or entrees from the Mediterranean to America, Cancún has a full range of dining options, including five-star restaurants, small eateries, bistros, and dinner shows with live music and entertainment.

MEETINGS & CONVENTIONS

The Cancun Center, located in the heart of the Hotel Zone, has 13 meeting rooms which can be divided into 37 breakout rooms totaling 75,350 square feet of meeting space. Able to accommodate approximately 8,000 attendees, the Cancun Center offers 77,900 square feet of exhibition space, divided in two levels.

More than 20 hotels offer services and facilities with more than 568,000 square-feet of space serving up to 50,000 participants. [A complete list of hotels with meeting space is included in this press kit.]

CONSULATES

The U.S. Consular Agent is in the Plaza Caracol 2, Bulevar Kukulkán Km 8.5, third level, 320-323 (phone: 998/883-0272). The Canadian Consulate is in the Plaza México 312 (phone: 998/883-3360). The United Kingdom has a consular office in Cancun (phone: 998/881-0100, ext. 65898; fax 998/848-8662;information@britishconsulatecancun.com).

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

Cancun is home to several archaeological sites scattered around the town such as El Rey and El Meco. El Rey was an ancient Mayan city developed during the Post-Classic period dating from the year 1200 to 1521 and consists of 47 structures. Open to the public since April 1, 2001, El Meco is located approximately four miles north of Cancun on Punta Sam Highway. Vestiges of temples, columns and stucco-covered walls surround the large central plaza. Smaller archaeological sites are located at Pok Ta Pok, San Miguelito and Yumil Lu’um.

GOLF

Home to eight golf courses, with five under construction, Cancun has become one of the major hot spots for golf in the Mexican Caribbean. World-class designers like Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman have courses in Cancun such as Riviera Cancun and Moon Spa & Golf Club, the only Signature Nicklaus course in Cancun and the Riviera Maya. The Professional Golf Association (PGA) hosts the Mayakoba Classic at the El Camaleon course since February 2007.

NAUTICAL ACTIVITIES

Situated on the Caribbean Sea with access to the   world’s second-largest barrier reef, visitors to Cancún can take advantage of the variety of nautical activities offered from snorkeling, boating and diving to submarine rides, swimming with dolphins and relaxing on the beaches. Chartered catamarans and boats are available for private functions as well as guided boat tours through the Lagoon and Isla Mujeres.

SHOPPING

Cancun is home to more than 2,000 stores in the Hotel Zone and in the downtown area. Shoppers can walk through world-class shopping centers and modern malls and shop for designer apparel and accessories or pick up handcrafted souvenirs from around the country in one of the village flea markets.

SPAS

Known as one of the world’s greatest spa destinations, Cancun is home to many spas offering treatments from massages, facials and scrubs to body wraps, as well as manicures, pedicures, saunas and steam baths. Visitors can choose to rejuvenate the body, mind and soul in an oceanside cabana or relax in the traditional “temazcal” steam bath.

Media Relations Contacts

Malena López
Olabuenaga Chemistri
Phone: Phone: 52-49-42-00 EXT. 2226 Y 2205
mmlopez@och.com.mx

North America
Paula Gomez
Newlink Communications Phone:   786 522 0177
paula.gomez@newlink-group.com

Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau
Blvd. Kukulcan Km. 9, Z.H.
Cancún Center, 1st Floor Cancun, Q. Roo, Mexico, 77550; Tel: 52 (998) 8812745 Fax: 52 (998) 8812774 www.cancun.travel

When the pressures of everyday life have gotten up to here, it’s Visit Los Cabos! Because here, where the Sea of Cortés meets the Pacific, there is something for everyone. Big game fishing, world-class golf, scuba diving, snorkeling and kayaking quiet coves and inlets, taking to the outback on ATVs, bikes and horseback, relaxing and rejuvenating in high-end spas and luxury resorts, or dancing ’til dawn. Wherever you go in Los Cabos, you will find everything you need to leave the cares of everyday life behind.

Los Cabos is located at the tip of the Baja Peninsula and comprised primarily of two towns, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas, that are linked by a 20-mile Corridor lined with world-class resort properties and championship golf. Cabo San Lucas, noted for its vitality and nightlife, offers a variety of attractions, including The Marina, which features 380 slips accommodating vessels up to 200 feet, along with boasting one of the highest quality of services and amenities expected at luxury yachting marinas. There is also El Arco, a natural rock formation in the shape of an arch which lies adjacent to Playa Del Amor (Lover’s Beach) where couples can stroll hand in hand when the tide is low. In Cabo San Lucas, water enthusiasts can dive and view gardens of black coral and waterfalls of sand as they glide with the sea life under clear, warm water.

San Jose del Cabo is reminiscent of an older time, where the days are longer and the mood softer. However, its attractions are just as desirable as the more upbeat Cabo San Lucas. The Old Jesuit Mission, known as Parroquia San José, has a history dating back to the 1730’s, and The Estero, an estuary with an endless variety of colorful birds and wildlife are just two of the town’s many attractions.

In between, the 20-mile Corridor at Land’s End is defined by the azure blue and turquoise waters of the Sea of Cortés, rugged cliffs, quiet coves teeming with marine life, desert vistas and mountains that all come together with a wash of colors that are unmistakably Cabo’s. Today, other than the natural flora and fauna, its population consists of luxury hotels and resort properties, as well as a variety of premier, world-class golf courses designed by the game’s best.

Beginning just north of San José, the East Cape stretches nearly a hundred miles along the Sea of Cortés eastward and northward past Los Barriles. This beautiful stretch of desert coastline is still mostly undeveloped, however the towns of Los Barriles and Buena Vista are thriving fishing and tourist communities offering lodging, local cuisine and pangas to rent for a day casting your line in the deep. The East Cape is also the windsurfing center of Los Cabos, as well as being home to the more remote Cabo Pulmo which draws divers to the most northerly coral reef in the Pacific.

At the other end of The Corridor beginning just north of Cabo San Lucas, the Pacific Coastline is developing rapidly, with electricity and other services pushing north from Los Cabos and south from Todos Santos to ensure development of several exclusive residential projects. While much of this spectacular coastline is still undeveloped, a paved highway provides easy access and sightseeing, including frequent whale sightings during their winter months of migration.

Today Los Cabos is visited annually by thousands of tourists who enjoy world-class fishing, golf, water sports, spas, shopping and more. And its growing number of luxury resort properties features a level of amenities and fine dining that is attracting elite groups for meetings and conventions, not to mention a Hollywood celeb or two. But the Tip of Baja wasn’t always that way.

Cortés, Cavendish and Beyond
In 1533, Hernán Cortés sailed to these lands after first being inspired by Garci Ordoñez de Montalvo’s novel “Esplandian,” in which he gave the name “California” to an imaginary country. Shortly after, Spanish merchant interests established a trade route from Luzon in the Philippines to Acapulco transporting oriental silks and spices, along with Mexican gold and silver, frequenting the tip of Baja along their journey. With all of these riches aboard their ships, pirates abounded. In 1587, Thomas Cavendish, one of the more infamous, sacked the “invincible” Spanish galleon Santa Ana off cape San Lucas. When news of this event reached the rest of Europe, a number of “Dutch Hens” entered the pirate trade against the Spanish as well. Joris van Spilbergen was the most famous of the group, sailing up and down the Pacific coastline at will, then mooring his ships and resting his men in the bays and inlets of Los Cabos and La Paz when the mood struck.

To quell the looting, the Spanish Crown directed the Jesuits to go to California and convert the Indians and colonize the peninsula to keep the Dutch and the English at bay. The Jesuits took to the task and in 1697, after founding the first mission in Loreto, they began spreading the gospel north and south, all the way to Land’s End.

Centuries later, just after World War II, a group of Southern Californians learned they could fly to La Paz, then travel by rough, unpaved roads to the tip of Baja. The attraction was, not only did the Sea of Cortés teem with big game fish, the area was protected from a rash of “turistas” by its rough terrain, and was blessed with weather that was dry and warm 350 days of the year. Alas, the seclusion for this select few lasted little more than two decades. Finally, with better roads and then an airport, the boom began in earnest. Today, big game fishing, world-class golf, a variety of water activities, luxury hotel properties and spas, quaint hideaways and much more are enjoyed by thousands every year.

The sea, flora and fauna
The waters along Los Cabos’ Pacific coast are characterized by ocean swells and upwellings of deep water, and because of the ocean’s distant weather patterns, heavy surf can arise for weeks at a time. The California Current keeps water temperatures lower than would be expected, typically between 50 and 75 degrees, gradually warming as the water moves south. Tropical storms called chubascos can bring torrential rains and heavy winds from mid-May to mid-November, peaking in August and September.

Plants in the Cape region of Los Cabos consist of cacti, yuccas, and various shrubs and, at low elevations, trees like palo blanco and palo verde. Just south, many familiar desert plants like ocotillo, ironwood, creosote bush, mesquite, agave, and various cacti, including the infamous jumping cholla can be found. While this is a desert environment, there are relatively well-watered areas that support distinctly non-desert vegetation, especially in the mountains where forests of pine, cedar, fir, aspen, and oak can be found. Encounters with coyotes and roadrunners are common here, as well as the not-so-common sightings of mule deer, mountain lion, bighorn sheep, antelope, and smaller animals such as fox, rabbit, bobcat, skunk, badger, raccoon, and a host of others.

Many reptile species also inhabit Los Cabos’ desert surroundings, including various species of rattlesnake and whiptail, king, and gopher snakes, and numerous iguanids, geckos, and lizards. And with an abundance of deserts, bays, mangrove lagoons, and forested peaks, a diverse mixture of bird life exists.

From an astronaut’s perspective, the Tip of Baja is one of the most striking geological features on earth, even though its mountains are not exceptionally tall. A series of mountain ranges runs south along Baja Sur to the vicinity just north of Los Cabos. Here are found two rugged mountain ranges, the Sierra de la Victoria and the Sierra de la Laguna. And just to the south of those, Los Cabos, a tale of two cities.