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The Yucatan, Cancun & Cozumel (Adventure Guides Series)

Book Travel Acapulco With such an extensive selection of travel guides for the "horn" of Mexico, including Quintana Roo (East-Caribbean), Yucatan (North-interior), and Campeche (West-Gulf of Mexico), the selection for THE travel guide to these regions is not obvious. Lonely Planet, Moon, Fodors, Frommers, and Eyewitness are just a few of the more widely known and popular. Conord's Adventure Guide Series "The Yucatan, Cancun & Cozumel" opened a doorway I would have missed had I relied upon these other venerable guides. Bruce and June Conord leave the main roads and La Cuota behind to explore the regions surrounding Cancun, Valladolid & Chichen Itza, Merida, the Maya, Church, and Convent routes (La Rutas Maya, Iglesia, y Convento) and many other fascinating locales.

A quick glance at this Adventure Series guide reveals a plethora of adventure and culture awaiting any traveler willing to get off the main tourist road/La Cuota and experience El Mexico tipico, the real Mexico. Whether you wish to know of the magnificent cenotes (sinkholes) hidden just off the highways awaiting you with their cool blue waters, or the quaint little thatch-roofed restaurants visited by ex-pats and locals, Spanish colonial Haciendas built to amaze and pamper travelers, ancient villages nestled in the Puuc hills near Uxmal, this guide is the key to these unseen treasures you simply will not find in many of the guides listed above. Yes, Lonely Planet or the Moon Guide can point you in the right direction for a nifty little hostel overlooking the main plaza in Merida (as do the Conords), but they lack some of the insight and author's tips that can come only from personal relationships with many owners/proprietors and locals who live in the area. The Conords offer not just the obvious choice of where to stay or eat; by providing insider tips and offering both the good and bad, they provide a perspective that seems to be spoken from the locals themselves.

Guides such as Fodors and Frommers excel in rating and testing hotels, restaurants, and shopping. In truth, the Adventure Series Guide can not compete with such thoroughness. Yet much is left out by these other popular guides that Conords shine so brightly in documenting and elaborating upon. Author's notes, historical backgrounds, quotations, and contact information abound in the Adventure Series Guide. Fodors offers only its few top choices for bungalows and hotels along the popular Boca Paila Road near Tulum. The Conords review almost every establishment in either direction of the road near the Tulum crossroads. Lacking its own rating system, Adventure Series Guide works well in conjunction with these other narrow yet precise travel guides.

The authors' strength lies not in sheer quantity, but by giving enough choices and explaining how things truly function and are accessed in each area. Other guides can be limiting in the offerings of only the "safe" bets. Safe does not always equate to adventure and "an experience" that many of us want in a vacation. With over 400 pages of easy to read descriptions, suggestions, Maya history & vocabulary, witty anecdotes, and ample coverage of Cancun, Playa D.C., Isla Mujeres, and Cozumel in addition to off-the-beaten-path, a traveler who takes this guide to the horn of Mexico is sure to find their own unique adventure.

Cancun & The Yucatan (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)

Take the work out of planning any trip with DK's Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides. Branded with DK's trusted and familiar "Eyewitness" style, these compact guides make finding the best every destination has to offer easier than ever before! Perfect for both business travel and vacations, whether you're looking for the finest cuisine or the least expensive places to eat, the most luxurious hotels or the best deals on places to stay, the best family destination or the hottest nightspot, Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides provide current, useful information based on the insight of local experts to find the best of everything at each destination.
I agree with the text of the two reviews before me, but I do not think their ratings are fair. This is an excellent guide for the traveler who wants to know what to see, what not to miss, and what to avoid. When I reach a destination, there are so many options that a guide like this is just what I need to make good decisions within a limited amount of time. It is also a convenient way to find out about activities you may have not heard of, like seeing the underground rivers ("cenotes").

We spent 10 days in the Riviera Maya. This book was easy to carry and the information was not overwhelming. We were interested in seeing some Mayan ruins and the jungle. We still ran out of time to do everything, but we were able to prioritize what we really wanted to do with this book. We also avoided a "tourist trap" which was actually inside the airport where we would have walked right into it, because it was listed in "top ten things to avoid". The information is extremely well organized; mainly by what you want to do, and you can look up specific areas in the index. You can look up general info like "Highlights of the Yucatan" which listed a few ruins, then look up the "Top Ten Sights" at specific ruins.

High quality pictures, easy access maps, and the information you want without having to dig through or flip back and forth constantly is what this wonderful and inexpensive little book offers. I will look for an Eyewitness Travel guide for all my future trips. Highly recommended!