Cancun Area lifestyle

Along the Caribbean Coast and especially in shop-packed Cancun, most of the resorts offer malls and centres filled with boutiques and touristy shops. In the smaller resorts and places like Cuernavaca, retail therapy comes in the form of colourful craft shops, markets and stalls laden with traditional Mexican handicrafts. It'd be a shame to come home without some mementoes such as string hammocks, wooden masks, hand-made toys, bright jewellery and of course, a shade-giving sombrero! If you're in Cuernavaca, watch for the local 'energy-bearing' onyx stones and crystals, dug from the nearby mountains and believed to have magical powers.

The Caribbean Coast resorts offer a wide array of international cuisines and outlets to keep you happy from fast-food joints and American diners to flashy hotel restaurants, pizzerias and authentic Mexican eateries. In more traditional resorts, the food centres around delectable local dishes like fajitas - fried meat, onions and peppers stuffed into tortillas - tasty enchiladas and classics such as chicken smothered in delicious chocolate-and-chilli mole sauce. And on the tipple menu, help yourself to the country's rich red wines, light beers and wonderful tequila - there are loads of varieties!

Partying rules in Caribbean hotspots like Cancun and Playa del Carmen, where you'll find a galaxy of piano bars, mariachi music bars, plus glittering casinos, hotel shows and nightclubs to keep you up late, as well as relaxed entertainments like sunset cruises and sophisticated beach bars for sipping mojitos beside the waves. In Playacar, Cozumel and Puerto Morelos, most entertainments are hotel-based, whilst in Cuernavaca, you'll find numerous starlit restaurant terraces for romantic suppers plus a selection of vibrant nightclubs, which stay packed with revellers till dawn and beyond.