I've Lived in Cancun for 12 Years — Here's What Tourists Always Get Wrong
Maria Elena Caamal Pech has lived in Cancun since 2014, working first as a hotel concierge in the Hotel Zone before starting her own food tour company, Sabor Real Cancun, in 2019. We sat down at her favorite taco stand near Parque de las Palapas.
Let's start simple — what do you love most about living here?
The light. I'm from Merida originally, and people think the Yucatan is all the same, but light is different. Something about the Caribbean reflection. At 6AM the water is this impossible shade of green-blue and by noon it's turned completely turquoise. I've been here over a decade and I still stop on the bridge sometimes just to stare at the lagoon.
And the food. I know people think Cancun food is hotel buffets and overpriced shrimp cocktails, but downtown — where I actually live — the food scene is incredible. We have Yucatecan, Oaxacan, Veracruzano, Lebanese (huge Lebanese community here, most people don't know that). The tacos al pastor at the stands near Parque de las Palapas at 11PM are genuinely some of the best in Mexico.
What's the biggest mistake tourists make?
Never leaving the Hotel Zone. I worked as a concierge at a resort for five years, and I'd say 70% of guests never crossed the bridge to downtown. They spent a week in Cancun eating hotel food, lying on a hotel beach, and went home thinking they'd experienced Mexico. They experienced a resort that happens to be in Mexico.
The R-1 bus costs 12 pesos — that's less than a dollar — and it takes you straight from the Hotel Zone to downtown. Thirty minutes and you're in a completely different world. Real food, real prices, real people.
Where do you take visitors for their first meal downtown?
Always Parque de las Palapas first. It's not a restaurant — it's a park with food stalls around it. I start people with marquesitas, which are these crispy rolled crepes filled with Edam cheese and Nutella or cajeta. They cost maybe 30 pesos. Then I take them to whichever taqueria has the longest line of locals, because that's how you choose in Mexico. The food is 40-60 pesos for a plate of tacos al pastor with everything.
For a sit-down meal, Labna on Avenida Nader has been doing authentic Yucatecan fine dining since 1990. Their queso relleno and sopa de lima are the real thing. You're paying maybe 200-350 pesos for mains, which is still half what you'd pay in the Hotel Zone for worse food.
What about Mercado 28? Tourist trap or worth it?
Both. The souvenirs are marked up for tourists, obviously, and you need to haggle — start at 40% and work up from there. But the food stalls in the back are legit. The ladies making cochinita pibil tortas don't care if you're a tourist or a local, they're just making food. And for souvenirs, Mercado 28 actually has good quality vanilla, silver, and hammocks if you know how to negotiate.
But if you want the real market experience, go to Mercado 23. That's where locals shop. No souvenirs, just produce, chiles, achiote paste, and abuelitas selling tamales out of coolers. It's chaotic and wonderful.
What's your favorite cenote that most tourists skip?
Everyone goes to Ik Kil because it's next to Chichen Itza, and it's beautiful — I won't pretend it isn't. But Cenote Multun-Ha near Coba is my favorite. It's a serene open cavern with turquoise water and tree roots growing down into it, and the entry is only about 100 pesos. You might have it to yourself on a weekday morning.
And honestly, the cenotes along the road between Tulum and Coba are all amazing. There are hundreds of them. If you see a hand-painted sign on the highway, pull over. Some of the best cenotes in the Yucatan are run by families who charge 50-100 pesos and it's just you and the cave.
The timeshare thing — how bad is it really?
It's bad. I lose guests to it regularly. Someone at the airport offers them a "free tour" or "discounted activities" and they end up in a 3-4 hour high-pressure sales presentation instead of enjoying their vacation. The discounts they get at the end rarely make up for the lost time.
My advice: say "no gracias" and keep walking. Don't make eye contact, don't slow down. They're trained to be persistent. If you engage at all, you've lost 10 minutes.
What do you think tourists get wrong about safety here?
Two things. First, the Hotel Zone and downtown tourist areas are genuinely safe. There's police everywhere, cameras everywhere. The violence people see in the news almost never involves tourists and it happens in areas tourists would never go. I walk home at midnight through downtown and feel completely fine.
Second, people let their guard down too much at the beach. Don't leave your phone and wallet on a towel and go swimming. Don't use freestanding ATMs — use the ones inside banks. Basic common sense that applies to any big city.
Best time to visit that ISN'T high season?
September. Everyone says December to April, and yes, that's dry season with perfect weather. But September is gorgeous. It's technically hurricane season but that mostly means a 20-minute afternoon rain shower. The water is still 28°C, the hotels are half price, the restaurants aren't packed, and you can actually get a spot on the beach at Playa Delfines without arriving at dawn.
Plus the cenotes are at their fullest and most dramatic after the rains.
If someone only had 48 hours, what would you tell them to do?
Day one: Morning at Playa Delfines (sunrise if you can manage it — no line for the Cancun sign), then R-1 bus downtown for a late breakfast at Parque de las Palapas. Afternoon, take the ferry to Isla Mujeres, rent a golf cart, circle the island, eat at Rooster Cafe on Playa Norte, and catch the sunset from Punta Sur. Return on the evening ferry.
Day two: MUSA snorkeling tour in the morning (those underwater sculptures are like nothing else on earth), then lunch at a downtown taqueria, and spend the afternoon at either Mercado 28 or swimming at a cenote near Puerto Morelos. Farewell dinner at La Habichuela.
Skip Chichen Itza if you only have 48 hours — it deserves a full day and the 5-hour round trip eats too much time.
What do you wish tourists knew about Yucatecan culture?
We're not "Mexican" in the way most Americans imagine it. The Yucatan has its own culture, its own cuisine, its own identity. Our food is influenced by Mayan traditions and Dutch colonial cheese (that's where the Edam in marquesitas comes from). We say "xiik" instead of "si" sometimes. We have our own version of Spanish.
And the Maya aren't a historical curiosity. There are millions of Mayan people living in the Yucatan right now. When you visit Chichen Itza, the vendors selling hammocks and jaguar whistles are Mayan. When you eat cochinita pibil, you're eating Mayan-origin food. This isn't a dead civilization — it's a living culture.
If you're interested in living indigenous culture, Cusco offers a similar experience — the Inca heritage is everywhere in Peru, from the stone foundations to the language.
Last question — what's the one thing you'd change about tourism in Cancun?
I'd eliminate all-inclusive resorts. [Laughs] I know, that's my old employer. But they create a bubble that actively discourages people from experiencing the real Cancun. Someone flies 4 hours to Mexico and then spends a week eating hamburgers by a pool. They tip the pool boy and the bartender but they never spend a peso downtown where the money actually helps local families.
Come to Cancun. But leave the resort. Take the bus. Eat the street food. Talk to people. Get a little lost in downtown. That's when the real trip starts.
Sabor Real Cancun runs daily food tours of downtown Cancun starting from Parque de las Palapas. Tours cost ~800 MXN per person and include 6-8 food stops.
