Whether your definition of holiday fun is lying on a beach sipping margaritas, dancing the night away, snorkeling among brilliant schools of fish, or exploring the spectacular ruins of the lost Maya civilization, you'll find this and more in Cancun, Mexico. Blessed with warm weather, blue skies, and an even deeper blue Caribbean Sea, Cancun (pronounced "Can-coon") is paradise to 2,500,000 North American vacationers every year.

Back in the early 1970s, Cancun was a remote beach and fishing area along the Caribbean coast. Now it's a city with two basic areas: the hotel zone and the downtown, an inland neighborhood that grew up to support the hotel workers. The single road that snakes along the beach and connects the hotel zone to the mainland is the Paseo Kukulkan. Today, well over 20,000 hotel rooms line the 44-mile (71km) strip that comprises the hotel zone.

This area is where the most desirable hotels as well as the majority of shopping malls, restaurants, and nightclubs are located. Many people visit Cancun without ever seeing the downtown. Yet for travelers on a budget or those looking to have a more "Mexican" vacation; shopping, eating, and even staying downtown are worthwhile alternatives. The transportation system is excellent and inexpensive, and all the beaches in Mexico are free, regardless of which hotel sits nearby.

In addition to the pleasures of the sea, Cancun is the gateway to the lost Maya civilization of the Yucatan. The Yucatan is a three-state region of Mexico that is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean on three sides, and the countries of Belize and Guatemala in the south. Its jungles are strewn with abandoned cities from the classic period of the Maya, whose traditional dress, language, and ways survive today in local villages.

With ancient ruins and white tropical beaches, five-star hotels and secluded getaways, golf and romantic dinner cruises, Cancun offers fabulous vacations on an exotic island setting.