Cancun in October – a good time to visit?

Whatever the weather might be doing on land, it matters little once you’re on or under the waves. Water sports are readily available from the hotel zone’s beaches, with jet skiing, parasailing and stand-up paddleboarding popular ways of feeling the wind in your hair and sun on your skin.

Don’t miss the action beneath the waves either. The Cancun shores are the location of the largest reef system in the western hemisphere. Hard and soft corals, along with the 500 species of tropical fish which call them home, stretch for mile after mile and are easily accessible for snorkelers of all ages and abilities.

But even if swimming in the open ocean worries you, there’s still a way to discover this usually hidden world. Simply head to Xel-Há Park, whose natural lagoon is the chosen habitat for a similar number of colorful species and is protected by a shark fence. Zip-lines and jungle trails are additional attractions.

With the humidity levels starting to drop from their year-round highs as the month progresses, visitors to Cancun in October make their welcome return to the Mayan archeological sites situated around the city on the Riviera Maya.

The star of the show has to be Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dominated by the 30 meter high El Castillo step pyramid – the poster child of the region. One of the Mayan’s largest cities, its jungle location creates an extraordinary lost world feeling.

Although it cannot compete with Chichen Itza when it comes to size, Tulum’s coastal location makes it even more evocative – if that’s possible. Historic walls still ring the site, with the most important structures facing the Caribbean Sea atop 12-metre high cliffs. Abandoned in the sixteenth-century after the arrival of the Spanish, it is one of the best-preserved Mayan sites remaining.

A great way to explore is with the freedom of the open road given to you by renting a car. The smooth straight tarmac of Highway 307 makes it almost impossible to get lost in any significant way, whilst being able to explore the hidden nooks and crannies sometimes missed on organized tours.

Offering more than just beachside accommodation, the hotel zone has its fair share of cultural and entertainment attractions for when the October weather in Cancun swaps its blue skies for a downpour of rain. They occur roughly every three days, and tend to occupy the latter half of the afternoon before disappearing as quickly as they appeared.

Not entirely absent of Mayan influence, the small temple of Yamil Lu’um sits just a short distance from one of the biggest casinos in the region, as well as Interactive Aquarium Cancun. Here visitors are able to explore the depths, and come finger to fin with its friendly rays and starfish.

Elsewhere, the Museo Maya houses an incredible array of relics from the hundreds of years when the civilization flourished in the Yucatan, including those discovered at Chichen Itza. And if that wasn’t enough, it has its own population of iguanas scuttling about the ruins of San Miguelito next door.

A round of golf at the zone’s Pok Ta Pok club is probably best saved for the drier days at the end of month as they lead into the high season.

Cancun’s culinary scene can also be explored in a number of ways. Wander down any street or marketplace and you’ll quickly be immersed in the scent of frying onions, cooking tortillas and zesty moles (sauces).

Sample the best of them with a street food and market day tour, or take the opportunity to drift across Nichupte Lagoon on a Spanish-style galleon to enjoy a sunset and moonlit cruise complete with romantic multi-course dining experience.

Sunset at around 6:30PM is a great time to rise high over the hotel zone in one of the gondolas of La Gran Rueda Cancun Ferris wheel too. Located beside La Isla shopping mall, they provide users with unmatched views of the Caribbean Sea and Nichupte Lagoon from their high vantage point.

Then, having made a circuit of the wheel, make one of Cancun’s epic night spots, which include internally-acclaimed clubs Congo Bar and Coco Bongo. Even in October both have top-notch nightly atmospheres.

However, not even the clubs can beat the ambience that envelopes the entire country in the lead up to Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) on November 2. In the week beforehand small altars loaded with offerings appear in homes and public buildings alike. Sugar skulls and sweet skull bread (pan de muerto) make their presence felt in shop windows, and the streets are decorated in colored decorations to lead the dead from the cemeteries into town for this day of celebratory spiritual reunion.