Cancún, often Cancun in English (without the accent) is a city in southeast
Mexico on the northeast coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the Mexican state of
Quintana Roo. The city is on the Caribbean Sea and is one of Mexico's
easternmost points.
It is a significant tourist destination in Mexico and the seat of the
municipality of Benito Juárez. Cancún is just north of Mexico's Caribbean
coast resort area known as the Riviera Maya.
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Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
The biggest difference between Cancun and the Riviera Maya is the fact
that Cancun is a city and the Riviera Maya is a region made up of many
small towns.
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Cancún is a planned city, created to foster tourism. When development
of the area as a resort was started on January 23, 1970, Isla Cancún
had only three residents, all caretakers of the coconut plantation of
Don José de Jesús Lima Gutiérrez, who lived on Isla Mujeres. Some 117
people lived in nearby Puerto Juárez, a fishing village and military
base.
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There are some small Mayan vestiges of the pre-Columbian Maya
civilization in Cancún. El Rey (Las Ruinas del Rey) is located in the
Hotel Zone. El Meco, a more substantial site, is found on the mainland
just outside the city limits on the road north to Punta Sam.
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Close by in the Riviera Maya and the Grand Costa Maya, there are sites
such as Cobá and Muyil (Riviera) the small Polé (now Xcaret), and
Kohunlich, Kinichná, Dzibanché, Oxtankah, Tulum, and Chacchoben, in
the south of the state. Chichén Itzá is in the neighboring state of
Yucatán.
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See also
Source
Location
