Hotels In Mexico

Most Mexico holidays from the UK fly into Cancun. TUI flies there direct from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham, with extra flights from a handful of regional airports such as Glasgow, Newcastle and Belfast on selected dates. British Airways also flies from Gatwick, and Virgin Atlantic from Heathrow, mainly over the winter.

Allow around ten hours on the way out and a bit less coming back. The return is usually an overnight flight that lands in the UK early the next morning, so if you can book the following day off work, do.

Cancun is five hours behind the UK in winter and six in summer, because Mexico's Caribbean coast doesn't change its clocks. The good news is that jet lag going out is gentle. You'll be wide awake for the sunrise for the first few days, which on an east facing beach is no hardship.

Package holidays include your transfer. If you're booking flights and hotel separately, book a transfer before you go rather than sorting one out in the arrivals hall, where the sales pitches are relentless. If you'd rather drive yourself, the main coast road (Highway 307) is straightforward and makes day trips easy.

December to April is the classic time to go. It's dry and sunny, daytime highs sit in the high twenties, and the sea is at its calmest. It's also when prices are highest, particularly over Christmas, February half term and Easter.

May is a lovely month, hotter and quieter. From June the humidity builds and you'll get heavy afternoon showers, though they usually pass within the hour, and prices come down noticeably through the summer.

Hurricane season officially runs from 1 June to 30 November, with most storms between August and October. In most years the coast gets through it without a direct hit, but it's the reason I'd always want proper travel insurance for a late summer or autumn trip.

The other thing to know about is sargassum, the brown seaweed that washes up on Caribbean beaches. It tends to arrive somewhere between spring and early autumn, and it varies a lot from year to year and beach to beach. Plenty of resorts clear their beach first thing every morning. If it's a real worry, winter is your safest bet, and the Cancun bay side and Isla Mujeres usually see less of it than the open coast.

Most of the hotels on this page are all inclusive, and in Mexico that usually means a lot more than a buffet and a wristband. A few things I tell everyone before they go:

Book the à la carte restaurants early. At Bahia Principe you can book up to 10 days ahead in their app, even before you travel. Other hotels take bookings at reception, so pop in on your first afternoon before the good slots go.

Check what's shared. Some of the big complexes share restaurants and facilities between a family hotel and an adults only one. That can be a bonus or a surprise, depending on which one you're staying in.

Tipping. Mexico has an American style tipping culture. It isn't required on an all inclusive, but a few dollars or pesos for your waiter, barman or room cleaner is appreciated, and you will notice the difference.

Water. Don't drink from the tap. Your hotel will give you bottled water.

Adults only is easy to find here. TUI BLUE El Dorado Seaside Palms, Secrets Akumal and Excellence Riviera Cancun are three of the best known, and the hotels above show where they sit on the coast.

Even if you're not planning to leave the sun lounger much, I'd make the effort for one or two of these.

Chichen Itza is the big one, the stepped pyramid you'll have seen in every Mexico brochure. It's a long day from the Riviera Maya, roughly two and a half to three hours each way, so choose a tour that stops at a cenote for a swim on the way back.

Tulum's ruins are much closer, and you can pair them with an afternoon on the beach below. Get there early, before the heat and the coaches arrive.

Cenotes are the thing people tell me about most when they get home. They're natural freshwater pools in caves and jungle sinkholes, cool and clear, and there are hundreds of them inland from the coast.

On the water, you can snorkel with turtles in Akumal Bay, take the ferry from Playa del Carmen to Cozumel, or hop across from Cancun to Isla Mujeres for a lazy day of golf buggies and beach bars.

Xcaret and Xel Ha are the big nature parks between Playa del Carmen and Tulum. They're not cheap, but they're a full day out and children tend to love them.

Passport. Mexico only requires it to be valid for the length of your stay, but the Mexican Embassy recommends at least 180 days, and so would I.

No visa needed for UK tourists. You'll get a stamp on arrival, or a printed ticket if you use the e-gates, showing how long you can stay. Keep it safe, because you need to show it when you leave.

Visitax. Every foreign visitor to Quintana Roo, the state Cancun and the Riviera Maya are in, pays a small entry tax, roughly £12 each at the time of writing. Pay it on the official Visitax website before or during your trip and keep the proof, as it's checked at Cancun airport on the way home. Steer clear of lookalike sites that charge more.

Travelling with children. You may be asked for evidence of your relationship to them, so a copy of their birth certificate in your hand luggage is sensible.

Travel advice. The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to some parts of Mexico. Quintana Roo isn't one of them as of October 2026, but read the latest advice when you book and again before you fly.

Money. US dollars are accepted in most resort areas, but you'll usually get better value paying in pesos.