Tulum, some 130 kilometers south of Cancún, is a unique Maya site – unique because it’s the only Maya ruin located right on the coast. A day trip to Tulum is well worth making if only for the view of the ruined city framed against the gleaming white Caribbean sands and turquoise waves. But exploring the place that was once an important trading center, back in the days of the Maya, and discovering something of its history is also rewarding.

This aquarium inside the La Isla Shopping Mall Cancún offers a hands-on experience of marine lore. For instance, it has touch tanks with starfish and sea cucumbers inside for visitors to stroke as well as several viewing tanks containing fish and marine mammals, such as dolphins and sea lions. The aquarium’s Sea Trek tours – 20-minute diving expeditions (for an additional fee) – are particularly attractive

One of the most recent additions to Cancún’s line-up of galleries and museums, the Museo Maya de Cancún is home to approximately 350 Mayan artefacts housed in three separate galleries. The admission price also includes access to the San Miguelito ruins.

At 100 meters, the scenic tower is Cancún’s tallest structure. As it climbs slowly to a height of 85 meters, the tower’s observation platform for up to 60 people revolves around its own axis, affording an unbeatable panoramic view of the ocean, the lagoon and the entire Zona Hotelera.

A huge theme park celebrating Mexican culture, Xcaret boasts a large stretch of jungle and a pristine chunk of Caribbean coastline. Snorkelling is a popular activity and when night falls, the park puts on flamboyant local dance displays.

One of Cancún’s loveliest public beaches, Playa Delfines offers creamy white sand and beautifully clean turquoise water. Several of the shops lining the sand rent out sunbeds, while others specialise in watersports – among them parasailing.

One of the world’s most unusual art museums, MUSA is a collection of about 500 modern sculptures – all of which are located underwater close to the Manchones Reef. Although a dry visitor centre exists, most visits are done in a glass-bottom boat or as part of a scuba dive.

A three-hour drive from Cancún, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve is one of Mexico’s most important wild areas thanks to its enormously diverse flora and fauna. UNESCO listed since 1987, activities include boat tours, snorkelling on its pristine reef and exploring the site’s Mayan ruins.

True, the days when the island off Cancún was a sleepy paradise are past and gone. But it is still worth a visit. As well as some lovely bathing spots on the Playa Norte, the island has some interesting attractions, including the Capitán Dulché Museum and the Tortugranja marine turtle conservation station and hatchery. Tip: There are plenty of catamaran services to the island, but quaint, old-fashioned ferries also make the crossing and depart from Puerto Juarez.

The Caribbean coast is home to dolphins. These friendly, inquisitive creatures accept and interact with human visitors, and several tour operators run trips from Cancún, Cozumel and Isla de Mujeres. Various aquariums also offer dolphin visits. Also available are tours to the habitats of whale sharks, the world’s largest fish.

The Banco Chinchorro reef is a divers’ paradise. The largest atoll in the northern hemisphere, it is separated from the east coast of Yucatán by an underwater valley 1000 meters deep and 30 kilometers wide. Diving here, you can spot wooden shipwrecks with heavy cannons as well as an amazing number of diverse species. Huge barrel and Venus’ flower basket sponges sway with the ocean swell, while crocodiles, turtles, spotted eagle rays and in some places reef and hammerhead sharks swim to and fro among the bright violets and oranges of elephant ear corals. A colorful underwater scene.

Yucatán is famous for its cenotes – subterranean limestone caves with freshwater-filled sinkholes – like X’Kekén near the village of Dzitnup, a roughly 15-minute car ride southwest of Valladolid. Stalactites several meters long hang from the roof here, and a hole allows a ray dim daylight to shine on the water, inviting swimmers and divers to take a dip. Outside, just a few meters away, there’s the entrance to the Samulá cenote, another cave temple, in which the roots of the cottonwood trees reach right down to the water. Information about these and other cenotes is available from the local tourism office.

Celestún, in the far west of the Yucatán Peninsula, is a sun-scorched fishing village where the word “hectic” is unknown. The beaches have beautiful fine, white sand, but most visitors come for the Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Celestún, a 590-square-kilometer nature reserve with dense jungle and vast mangroves that are home to over 350 species of birds. To really get close to the animals, take one of the boat trips that can be booked all over town – as well as through the Xixim Unique Mayan Hotel right next door to the nature reserve.

To avoid the crowds that descend on the famous pyramids of Chichén Itzá, take a trip further south, to the ruins of Becán near Campeche. The Maya inhabited this place for some 1500 years and erected a mighty ceremonial center here. Visitors will be impressed not only by the ancient plaza, stone ball courts, dwellings and large defensive ditch, but also by the pyramids towering up to 32 meters high with their monumental flights of steps, twin towers and cylindrical pillars. And unlike so many other Maya sites, people are welcome to walk and climb wherever they like.

Close to Chetumal, deep in the jungle on the east coast of Yucatán, there’s a lagoon that really isn’t a lagoon at all. Over 60 kilometers long, Laguna Bacalar is a stretch of water made up of seven connected cenotes, where people come to camp, bathe and relax. A tour in a kayak rented from a local tour operator or rental company is a particularly pleasant way to spend a few hours on the shimmering blue and turquoise waters of the lake. Along the way, levies, wooden pavilions and water swings make good places to take a break. From a boat, you also have a fantastic view of the Spanish fort near Bacalar town that once protected the settlers from pirate raids.

Merida is the peninsula’s cultural center. The downtown area with its narrow, cobbled streets, sunny plazas, museums, galleries and some of the best restaurants in the region is absolutely charming, but to see the town from its most impressive side, you really need to stroll down Paseo de Montejo, the boulevard running between Calles 56 and 58. The urban planners who designed it back in colonial times were aiming to create something to compare with Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma or the Champs-Elysées in Paris. Especially in the evening hours, in the romantic light of the street lamps, the boulevard with its fountains, green areas, heroic monuments and opulently decorated 19th century mansions, is at its most splendid.

Contemporary cuisine and a respectable wine list make the Tempo one of the top addresses in Cancún. Reservations recommended.

An Argentinean restaurant, Bandoneon has a menu that carnivores’ dreams are made of.

An open-air thatched restaurant in the heart of the Hotel Zone, it specialises in Belgian and French cuisine.

Tequila is the beverage they serve up here with Mexican specialties. Tip: If you’re fond of mariachi bands, you’ll like it here.

This snack bar is tucked away down near the lagoon, but if you have the patience to seek it out, you will be rewarded because fish tacos, the house specialty, are reputedly the best in all of Cancún.

This three-storey club claims to be the largest in Latin America and is famous for live acts.

A popular bar that stays open into the small hours, drinks are cheap and the atmosphere friendly.

A Cancún institution, Coco Bongo is a vast nightclub with good music and acrobatic performances.

A slickly decorated drinking spot that has proved a hit with stylish locals and well-heeled tourists.

The Columbus, a sailboat resembling a pirate galleon, offers moonlight cruises on Nichupté Lagoon. Sultry saxophone in the background combined with lobster and seafood on the menu make for a truly romantic experience.