Mexico: Spread your wings

With its white sandy beaches, balmy sea, swanky hotels and year-round sunshine, Cancun could be just another Caribbean resort.

Yet its purpose-built nature – the result of a government master plan for tourism development in the mid 1970s – belies the true character of the Yucatan, which, for those prepared to look for it, is every bit as alluring as Cancun’s glorious beaches.

With so many flights from the UK to Cancun, the resort makes the perfect launch pad from which to explore the Yucatan peninsula.

Clients needn’t compromise their beach holiday either, as just a couple of hours further south along the coast lies a wealth of history and culture ideal for those visitors looking for a taste of authentic Mexican life.

On a two-week tour of the region, our visit took in Tulum, Coba, Mérida, Valladolid and Chichén Itzá. Many UK operators to Mexico offer similar itineraries, or a week-long tour as part of a twin-centre with beach package.

Kuoni product manager Catherine England said: “We have seen a large growth in tour business to the Yucatan, people are exploring further and further along the coast.”

The Yucatan region – home to the three states of Yucatan, Campeche and Quintana Roo – is blanketed with jungle. Visitors will find freshwater pools, both above ground and below – known as cenotes – attractive colonial cities, Mayan ruins and marine wildlife reserves. The region is a perfect flydrive destination, as the road system is straightforward and the roads, outside key cities, virtually empty.

It doesn’t get much more Mexican than the cobbled streets and pastel-coloured buildings of Mérida, where mariachi bands serenade tourists and locals in Mérida’s Plaza Grande. The fading paint on the regional capital’s once-grand buildings, and its cafés and porticoes, are reminiscent of Havana.

In Mérida clients can spend hours wandering the streets and squares taking in the atmosphere, buying Panama hats, good quality silver jewellery and drinking coffee. The locals are incredibly friendly. Almost every shop assistant made conversation, and a chat with a Mayan street seller yielded more information about Mayan traditions than any guide book. Had we lingered longer we would’ve been invited round for tea.

While the actual town of Tulum, another fixture on operators’ itineraries, isn’t much to look at, the beach is the Yucatan’s pièce de résistance. Practically deserted, the sand is white and soft, without a sun lounger in sight, and at night the only sound you’ll hear are the waves lapping.

Tulum can be a very rustic experience depending on your level of accommodation – local hoteliers voted against permanent electricity to protect the nesting ground for turtles.

The ruins here are well worth a visit – if only to see the ancient Mayan monuments perched precariously above the turquoise sea. From Tulum it’s also worth recommending clients take a visit to the spectacular nature reserve of Sian Ka’an.

A brief rain shower eventually shifted us from the beach at Tulum to the nearby jungle ruins of Coba, followed by a trip to a cenote. These freshwater sinkholes were formed thousands of years ago when pockets of the limestone earth collapsed into subterranean caverns and rivers. Today tourists visit them to swim, snorkel and even dive in the clear water.

After a steep climb, visitors to the ruins at Coba are rewarded with jaw-dropping views over the jungle – filled with the sounds of chattering birdlife, frogs and other insects.

To cool off afterwards, we headed to the cavernous cenote of Cho-Ha. A rickety ladder led us down to the cave, and but for one other couple, we were the only tourists swimming under a veritable waterfall of stalactites.

For clients staying in Cancun, excursions to Tulum, Chichén Itzá and Coba are offered by most operators. A full day excursion to Coba and Tulum costs around £52 for clients staying at Club Med Cancun Freestyle.

The mother of all Mayan ruins; the vast site of Chichén Itzá lies conveniently on the road that links Cancun with Mérida. Towering pyramids, temples and ball courts from the ancient Mayan civilisations are dotted over a large area in which you could easily lose yourself for a day.

The best advice for clients is to get there early; photographs of El Castillo – the pyramid dominating the site – can be ruined by the crowds that swamp it from midday, when the heat also gets rather unbearable. There were at least 20 TUI tour buses outside when we departed at 1pm.

Our final port of call was Isla Mujeres, a small Caribbean-style island off Cancun. Once a backpacker’s paradise, day-trippers from Cancun now fill the tiny streets lines with brightly coloured Caribbean clapboard shops, houses and cafés.

But Isla Mujeres has a laid-back feel, again the locals are friendly, and it offers good excursion opportunities. Weather permitting, a popular boat trip takes in the remote Isla Contoy, or bird island. Uninhabited and unspoilt, its spectacular beaches and wildlife won’t disappoint.

With Cancun Airport back in our sights, it dawned on us how much we would have missed out on if we hadn’t left the Cancun beach strip.