Where to book in Cancun's Hotel Zone on a first trip

Reading the kilometre markers

The bars, the malls and Coco Bongo sit around Punta Cancún, the headland at roughly Km 9 to 10. Book a single-digit marker and you can walk to the nightlife. Go south down the boulevard and you get closer to the airport and further from the bars. Km 9 is about 23 minutes from Cancún International Airport. Km 21, at the southern tip, is 10 to 15 minutes.

The water changes too. The sheltered corner of the headland has flat bay beaches you can swim off. Further south the beaches face open sea, with the waves that come with it.

The Punta Cancún corner

Krystal Cancún sits right on the corner at Km 9, and it is the cheapest way to get this address. You can book it room-only, with breakfast or all-inclusive, so it suits anyone who wants to eat out in the city. Coco Bongo is about two minutes away on foot, with Plaza Caracol and the Coral Negro craft market around five. It is an older building run on value.

Hotel Riu Cancún, along the same stretch at Km 9, is now adults-only, for guests over 18. Plenty of older guides still list it as a family hotel, so don't book it expecting a kids' club. The all-inclusive runs 24 hours, with snacks round the clock and unlimited domestic and international drinks. There are four pools and free loungers down to the water. Student and spring-break groups are taken only at 21 and over.

If you want one expensive booking and no surprises, Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach at Km 9.5 is the safest luxury choice on the strip. Every unit is a suite, it sits on the sheltered side of the headland, and the clubs are a short walk away. Meals and drinks are covered, including Le Basilic for French-Mediterranean cooking and Isla Contoy for ceviche beside the sand. The pools are heated through the winter and there is a supervised kids' club. The eight-course Yucatán tasting dinner at The Table at La Joya is on Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and costs 2,850 pesos a head.

Hyatt Ziva Cancún has the best position in the Zone. It takes the tip of Punta Cancún with sea on three sides, so you get a calm bay beach and an open-sea one without leaving the grounds. That matters if the children want to swim. Coco Bongo is under a 10-minute walk and the airport about 25 minutes by road. The rate covers meals, snacks, domestic and selected international drinks, room service, gratuities and taxes. Premium cuts and spa treatments are billed on top. Children aged 4 to 12 have a kids' club and teenagers have their own lounge. One catch: under-13s cannot stay in the swim-up rooms and suites, so check the category before you pay for one. An environmental tax of 70 pesos per room per night is collected at check-in.

Le Blanc Spa Resort Cancún at Km 10 is the quiet option in the middle of everything. It is strictly 18 and over, so it is out if you are travelling with children. Every suite comes with a butler who will book your restaurant and spa slots for you. Dinner is a steakhouse, Italian or Japanese, and the last two ask for a collared shirt and long trousers.

Flat water at Km 8.5

Beachscape Kin Ha Villas & Suites at Km 8.5 is the pick if your children are small. The beach here is shallow and calm, which most of the strip is not. The shops and restaurants of the central strip are a short walk away. One-bedroom suites have a full kitchen with a stove and fridge, and the two- and three-bedroom villas add a dining room. Standard rooms have no kitchen and there is no meal plan, so a standard room means eating out three times a day.

The middle of the strip

Live Aqua Beach Resort Cancún at Km 12.5 is adults-only, 18 and over, and the most design-led of the mid-strip resorts. Its beach holds Blue Flag certification and the Balinese daybeds on the sand are free to guests. The rate covers meals, national and international spirits, cocktails and beer, a minibar restocked daily and the coffee and deli counter. Pools are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the spa until 9 p.m.

The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort Villas & Spa is on the same stretch, a few minutes' walk from the La Isla shopping plaza. Book here if a week of wristband food sounds like too much. Studios have a kitchenette and one-bedroom villas a full kitchen. The two-bedroom lock-offs sleep eight and have a washer and dryer. Tierra Market on site sells deli food and groceries. It is a vacation-club property, so expect to be offered a sales presentation. Check-out is 10 a.m., early for Cancún, so plan the last day around it.

Kempinski Hotel Cancún is the Zone's former Ritz-Carlton, and the old name is still on plenty of maps and guides. It stands on Retorno del Rey, a side turning off Kukulcán, with a long white beach in front and the Caribbean from every room. Kukulcán Plaza and La Isla are both walkable. It is not all-inclusive, so every meal and drink is billed separately. Fantino does Mediterranean fine dining and there is a grill on the sand.

Occidental Tucancún at Km 14 is the budget all-inclusive with a good beach straight off the terrace. Food, cocktails and bar drinks are unlimited. There are three pools, one with chairs set in the shallow water, and the Barcy Club runs activities for children. Guests complain about dated rooms and food.

South of Km 16

Grand Oasis Cancún at Km 16.5 is the loud one, deliberately. The beach club runs DJ parties, and there is an 18-and-over pool as well as the all-ages one. Tatish serves late food from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Meals and bar drinks are included, though a few restaurants cost extra and the Balinese beds at the beach clubs are charged separately. Children up to 3 stay free, those aged 4 to 12 pay 30% of the adult rate, and adult rates start at 13. If you want quiet, book anywhere else on this list.

Crown Paradise Club Cancún at Km 18.5 is the cheapest way to keep children on water slides all week. There are slides, a splash zone, kids' clubs grouped by age and family suites sleeping seven, plus adults-only pools and a swim-up bar. Food and drink are unlimited round the clock. The catch is the address. You are a long ride from the Punta Cancún bars and malls, and this end of the strip faces open sea with real surf.

NIZUC Resort & Spa is barely part of the strip. It sits on its own mangrove point at Km 21. Two private beaches face the reef, one of them reserved for adults, and the grounds are a protected mangrove preserve. The airport is 10 to 15 minutes away and the nightlife is a long drive, which is the idea. Ramona does contemporary Mexican, Ni is Peruvian, and La Punta grills fish outdoors. If you want to walk to the clubs and the taco stands, don't book here.

Before you book

Check whether the rate is all-inclusive or room-only before you pay. Several of these hotels take no one under 18, and some room types have their own age rules. See the Cancun hotel search for rates along the strip and the Cancun guide for the rest of the city.