Oh, there are so many things to do in Cancun with the kids! I think that is why we like going to Cancun instead of Cabo or Puerta Vallarta/Punta Mita or any other beach destination in Mexico. I am a Mom of two teenage girls and we all know vacation is all about entertaining the kids and getting them out of the room and off their phones. It’s tough to keep a balance so all are happy while on a vacation, Mom and Dad need to be happy too and this includes a workout, good food and good wine!
Here are my top things to do in Cancun with kids that will keep the family together. That means out of the room away from our beloved electronics (LOL!) to bond and enjoy family time.
RENT A BIKE
We rented bikes at the resort and rode around the area until lunch time. I love riding bikes with the family, it’s a great way to get exercise and all be together. It’s pretty hot here so we went straight to the pool, ordered lunch and drinks and chilled by the pool all afternoon.
PLAY POOL GAMES
Most resorts in Cancun have amazing pools and it’s so easy to chill and hang out by the pool all day. It’s important to plan ahead and order your pool games from Amazon before your trip. A pool ball is a must, we love to be in the water and play catch or keep away, this keeps us entertained and laughing (or fighting!) for hours. Some other fun pool games include hunting for diving sticks, pennies or playing card games by the pool.
WATER PARK
Head over to a water park. There are lots of water parks in Cancun. The big ones are Xel-Ha and Ventura Park. This is one of my favorite things to do in Cancun with my kids. We didn’t have to go far for our water park because our hotel, The Grand Moon Palace has its own water park. This was definitely an added bonus!
At the Grand Moon Palace, the water park has a lazy river, several racing slides and an inner tube slide. Fun. We headed straight for the inner tube slide. Go figure that the guy measures everyone and I was too short to go on the ride! Lol, lol, lol. My kids and husband were dying laughing. You have to be 5’3”, I needed my platform flip flops 😂. I’m certainly not going to let that ruin my mood so I headed to the racing slide and that was super fun. The lazy river was great too especially because we started going against the current and playing catch.
BEACH
My top favorite thing to do with my kids in Cancun is go to the beach. We love the beach. I think you are either a beach person or a pool person. The Grand Moon Palace is definitely a hotel for pool people (they don’t have much of a beach) so we headed to the sister hotel property, Beach Palace Resort to get our feet in the sand and enjoy the ocean breeze and waves. Most of Cancun has amazing beaches with white beautiful soft sand and turquoise water. The beach is beautiful here. We order drinks and lunch at our chairs and head straight to the water. The water is crystal clear and is the most beautiful aqua color. The sun is bright and it’s hot! We spend the afternoon enjoying the ocean.
DOWNTOWN
We love the downtown area. My teenage girls love walking by all the clubs and bars and restaurants. It’s like a mini-Vegas and it’s great people watching. At night this place is pumping. Yes, it does get seedy so it’s probably smart to leave before the mayhem of all the clubs start but that’s not until later like 10pm. We love the energy of the downtown area and usually go to dinner there a few times during our stay.
We love eating at Mextreme Restaurant in Downtown Cabo. It’s fun, casual and the food is good. Our kids love it! When we go out with the kids we like to go to places with simple food that serve the meal quickly. My kids don’t like fancy restaurants that take a long time to serve the food so this is the perfect place. I order the chicken milanesa and a yummy margarita and my husband orders the molcajete. The kids order nachos. We always leave full and happy.
SHOPPING
There’s great shopping in Cancun. You can find H&M, Zara, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and lots of other designers too! Unless we need something we usually stick with souvenir shopping in the downtown area. There’s a little mall downtown that is a little touristy and has a great view called Forum by the Sea. There is a Hard Rock Restaurant there too. For more luxury shopping there is Luxury Avenue where you can find most of the fashion designers and fancy watch brands like Rolex. If you need to find an H&M or Zara because you forgot something in your suitcase head to Puerto Cancun Marina Town Center.
SPEED BOAT TOUR
I’m not going to lie, I stayed home for this one. I waited for them to leave and ran to the Spa … lol. My hubby took the girls and they had a blast. All came back raving about it and had the pictures to show for it.
TULUM
We are not very adventurous vacationers and we usually like to chill at the resort but not this day. We hire a private driver to take us to Tulum ruins and a Cenote. This is one of the coolest things to do in Cancun with the kids. I’ll explain about the Cenote in a bit because it’s seriously one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. The traffic is bad getting to Tulum but after a long trip we finally arrive. It is really hot. We start walking to the ticket booth to buy tickets and my kids are excited to take a picture with a cute little monkey one of the guys outside is holding.
I am inquiring about renting bikes so I’m not paying much attention and by the time I get back and start taking these pics I have no idea what had transpired between the monkey guy and my husband. All I know is that I finish taking the pics and the guy says, “You owe me $30.” I grow two heads and have a few words with him in Spanish that say something like “you should be ashamed of yourself”, “thief” and something else that should not be inserted into the blog. All I have was $20 so I begrudgingly hand it to him while repeating all the words aforementioned. Not a good start to Tulum.
We walk to the ticket booth and they only accept pesos and they don’t have change. Of course, we only have credit cards and not enough pesos so we head over to the tour guides and thankfully they accept credit cards. We receive our guide and are on our merry way. The guide was perfect. We asked him to complete the tour in 45 minutes and he was a great photographer. Worth every penny!
Two things to remember for Tulum: bring Pesos, the ticket booth does not take dollars or credit cards, and don’t forget a bathing suit and towel and sunscreen, the beach below is magnificent. If it’s rainy season, bring bug repellent.
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A little history on Tulum. Tulum is a walled city that served as a fortress and a major port for the Mayan people. The word Tulum means “walled”. The wall that surrounds Tulum is about 16 feet high, 26 feet wide and 1,300 feet long and is constructed from limestone. These walls are located on three sides of the settlement with the ocean protecting the eastern borders. There are only three entrance tunnels into the walled city. When the Mayan people lived inside the walls, the fortification provided them with protection from invaders and it housed nobility and priests and their families inside the walls. The Mayans used the fortified city around 1200 to 1450 CE. It remained inhabited until the late 16th century.
Wow, is Tulum magnificent. It is a must see because it is perched high above a bluff with the beautiful Caribbean Sea in the backdrop. My kids even enjoyed this trip. My only regret is not having our suits on us to enjoy the beautiful beach below Tulum. In my book, going to Tulum (doing the tour) then spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach below may be one of the best afternoons in Cancun with the kids.
THE CENOTES
From Tulum we jump back into the cab and go to Dos Ojos Cenote.
A cenote is a sinkhole that is formed where the cave ceiling has collapsed. The Yucatán Peninsula is home to two of the longest underground water systems and is home to thousands of Cenotes and multiple underground rivers. Mayans believed that swimming in a Cenote cleanses the soul and they considered them sacred. There are two types of Cenotes: open Cenotes that are open-aired and above ground and closed cenotes that are underground.
We opt for a closed cenote and this requires a guide. The guide is necessary since the closed cenotes can be a little dangerous due to the fact that they are dark and you can hit your head on the stalagmites. The guide gives us each a wetsuit, flashlight, goggles and snorkel and the takes us to the cenote. The water is cold, about 72 degrees but once you are in, the wetsuits keep you warm. The water tastes sweet and there are fish everywhere. We swim a little before he takes us into the first cave.
The caves are amazing. They are pitch black and are filled with the cutest little bats. The bats are everywhere and make strange noises. Some bats are flying but mostly they are hanging upside down. The caves also have incredible stalagmites coming down from the roof and are littered all over the top of these caves. The stalagmites come down so low there is risk of hitting your head. We swim through all the caves, it takes about an hour, and before we know it, we see daylight and the tour is over.
We change back into our clothes and head back to the hotel. The traffic is awful and we sit motionless too many times. It takes us over two hours to get back. We arrive at the hotel, have dinner and call it a night.
I hope you enjoyed this post of things to do in Cancun with the kids. As things get back to normal I hope to travel to more places and post back on my blog. So, if you found this post interesting, please sign up for emails. Thank you so much for visiting! Let’s all stay home and healthy. XOXO, Jenny 🙂
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