You can be active twenty-four hours a day or just sit back and let the warm sun wash over you. Many activities center upon the water, from sunning on powdery beaches to fishing and snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing — the list goes on and on. Cancún offers activities for every age and loads of opportunities for your family members to share the fun with one another.

Things to Do

Those who come for a few days often never venture beyond the Zona Hotelera. But to really experience Cancún, you must explore Centro, downtown. Offering great shopping buys and pleasant restaurants with good local food, it's a modern city where your dollars will go further.

To learn about Mexican crafts, visit the Museo de Arte Popular Méicano, showing handicrafts from various regions of Mexico (El Embarcadero, 998-849-4848).

If you have an independent streak, you may want to rent a Harley and cruise Cancún on a Fat Boy, Sportster, or Low Rider from Eagle Rider (Paseo Kukulcán, Km. 13, 998-885-0988). Or be even more daring and see Cancún by helicopter with Helitours (998-849-4222) or with Magic Sea and Sky Tours (998-885-1720) for approximately $80 per person.

For the Kids

Take the little ones to the seventeen-acre Parque Nizuc, a Wet ‘n’ Wild water park south of the Zona Hotelera on the Rio Nizuc at Km. 25 for a day of fun. As with other Wet'n Wild parks, it includes an aquarium, water slides, and a wave pool. Admission is $33 for adults, $25 for kids aged three to eleven (open 10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M., 998-881-3000).

Swimming with dophins has become a popular activity in Cancún. Even though it costs $110 to $135 per person to participate, people are plunking down their dollars to have the experience of a lifetime. This is a particularly rewarding activity for children eight and up. The best place to do this is Dolphin Discovery on Isla Mujeres (998-883-0779). A one-hour session, including time for a swim and taking photos, costs $120 dollars per person. Children eight and above can participate. The boat departs Playa Langosta at 9 and 11 A.M. and 1 and 3 P.M. You can also swim with dolphins at Parque Nizuc (see above) for $135 per person, including park admission. The Interactive Aquarium (998-883-0436) at the La Isla Shopping Center also has a dolphin swim experience for $110 per person, plus the kids can feed sharks and exotic sea creatures.

Younger teens will love to drive their own go-kart at Karting International Cancún (open 10 A.M. to 11 P.M.) south of town. Or take them to play thirty-six holes of miniature golf around pyramids, waterfalls, a river, and a lagoon at the Cancún Palace Resort (Km.14.5, 998-885-0533).

Bullfights

Professional matadors fight six bulls every Wednesday afternoon beginning at 3:30 P.M. at the Plaza de Toros (998-884-8372), downtown at Avenidas Sayil and Bonampak. Charros, or Mexican cowboys, put on a show of horsemanship and rodeo skills between corridas, or bullfights. A folkloric dance program begins at 2:30 P.M. You can buy tickets for $35 through tour desks.

Visiting the Past

Before visiting archaeological sites in the area, you should visit the Museo de Arquelógia, adjacent to the Convention Center (open 9 A.M. to 5 P.M., closed Mondays; 998-883-3671). Its exhibits, in English and Spanish, will give you insight into the culture of the Maya.

You should begin your exploration of the Maya at Ruinas del Rey (El Rey Ruins), located within the Hilton Golf and Beach Resort golf course (open 8 A.M. to 5 P.M.). A pyramid, two plazas, and some low platforms showing some remains of Mayan paintings make up the site. When archaeologists uncovered the site, they found a skeleton on top of the pyramid, thus the name of El Rey, the king.

Continue your exploration at Tulum, a Mayan walled city and ceremonial center overlooking the Caribbean, eighty miles south of Cancún. Called Zama, the City of Dawn, by its ancient inhabitants, it's now the most-visited archaeological site in the area. Coba, another site near Tulum, offers a glimpse of Mayan grandeur. Exploring this city of pyramids and buildings along wide avenues set in the dense jungle is like going on your own Indiana Jones adventure. (See Chapter 9.)

If the above whets your appetite, you can take an excursion to Chichén Itzá, less than two hours southwest of Cancún. Climb the 365 steps of the El Castillo to the Temple of the Plumed Serpent. You'll agree that the view is breathtaking. Then explore the ruins — eighteen structures, including the observatory, the warrior temple, the platforms, the jaguar temple — sheltered in a jungle of wild papaya and sapodilla trees. The highlight of this sacred Mayan city is the magnificent Pyramid of Kukulcán, where during the spring and summer equinox you can see the shadow of a serpent, the symbol of Kukulcán, as it moves up the stairs on the pyramid. You can book tours to each of these sites through Mayan Quest Archaeological Tours (998-887-2740).

Isla Mujeres

For a change of pace, take the fifteen-minute Rapido ferry from Puerto Juarez to Isla Mujeres for $3. Shaped like a fish and about six miles across from the Bay of Cancún is Isla Mujeres, affectionately known as La Isla, a place that offers a quiet respite from the fast-paced, round-the-clock lifestyle of Cancún. Only five miles long and 1,300 feet wide, people flock here daily to wade in the placid waters, listen to a little afternoon music on one of the many beaches, or snorkel in one of the several reef areas, such as the Manchones, Bandera, and Tavos Reefs, all teeming with colorful parrotfish and angelfish. A good place for neophyte snorkelers is El Garrafón National Park, located a couple of miles out of town. For more daring divers, there's a sixty-eight-foot dive into the renowned Cave of the Sleeping Sharks, said to often hold up to seven sharks at once.

The quaint town at the northern tip of the island is the landing point for ferries arriving from Cancún. Shops selling everything from coral and silver jewelry to hammocks and Mayan figurines line the streets.

Tour boats go to Isla Mujeres daily. Glass-bottomed boats do excursions to undersea gardens or perhaps you'd rather dance while cruising over to the island. Tours cost $30 to $50 per person, including time for shopping and snorkeling, lunch, and open bar. Snorkel gear costs extra.

Here are some suggested tours:

• Caribbean Funday Tour: A triple-decker cruise boat (Fat Tuesday Pier, 998-884-3760)

• Dolphin Express: Best buy, with continental breakfast and buffet lunch (998-883-1488)

• Isla Mujeres Adventure: A fun cruise boat (Aqua Tour, 998-883-0400)

• Tropical Cruiser Morning Express: Playa Langosta dock, 998-883-3268

Isla Contoy

If you're a bird watcher and nature lover, you shouldn't miss a trip to Isla Contoy, a national wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary, located about an hour from Isla Mujeres.

Flamingos, brown pelicans, cormorants, and frigate birds swoop down on empty stretches of beach. Daily tours from Club Nautico cost about $35 per person (Playa Caracol, 998-886-4847).