Cancun Nightlife Guide

Cancun nightlife is something vague Polaroids and questionable choices are made of. In the photograph are twenty multicolored blotches that could be people, but you don’t remember; some guy in a mask at Coco Bongo was draining a bucket of tequila down your throat. You pull a little closer, study it a little harder, and settle on a blotch that best resembles you. Its arms are doing something in the air and a ridiculous grin is smeared across its face, and even though you can’t tell exactly what is going on in the photograph, every blotch is smiling and seems to be having a great time. And then it comes to you, infinitesimal at first as though lodged somewhere between your brain and your mouth and you can’t force it either direction. It becomes all too apparent; that’s the night you—

However hazy the memory may be, it takes an experience to complete that though. The Cancun nightlife is known for its diversity. While clubs and bars continue to dominate most of the scene, resort hotels have begun opening their own facilities to compete; often hosting large parties and attracting any number of vacationing celebrities on any given night. The saying has been worn tired, but as the day turns to night, Cancun evolves into another city, offering something for everyone.

It may be a nightlife may be for everyone, but the clubs and entertainment in this guide are not. Generally attracting a younger crowd (18-32), they provide an atmosphere that can only be described as hysteric.

The City – The City is the largest club in Cancun and therefore has earned its name. Described as a “mega-entertainment complex”, The City is a wave pool leading to a multi-level club that features suspended entertainers and an enormous video and sound system. Every year sees a packed lineup of celebrity curated parties; one of the most memorable being 50 Cent’s for Spring Break 2005.

CoCo Bongo – It can’t claim to be the largest, but comes damned near close; considered by many as the hot spot of Cancun. CoCo Bongo is a nightclub of smorgasbord allure. It teams the widest variety of entertainment, décor, and activities into one bowl-shaped arena. A hanging stage, flying acrobats, on-bar conga lines, video screens that drop from the ceiling, foam and bubble parties, tequila—it’s what separates CoCo Bongo from the other clubs and sets it a tier higher than the rest.

Maxim Beach Club – Hosts Cancun’s largest beach parties with DJs spinning global house and dance music, fire dancers, ME girls, and a different performance every night. As its name implies, Maxim Beach Club is hosted on the white shores of Cancun, at ME Cancun resort, and is open to the public.

Bulldog Café – Features Cancun’s greatest laser light show and live music. Although the club holds 2000, don’t be surprised if you see Bulldog bikini-clad girls in the mix. The Café has played host to many shows in the past including Radiohead, Naughty by Nature, and Shakira and conveniently sectioned into multiple areas, offering multiple atmospheres, and features a VIP room with Jacuzzi.

O Ultra Club & Terrace – A chic, intimate atmosphere of premium liquors and Euro-American house music. O Ultra Club is conveniently nestled between Dady Rock and Dady’O, so when the mood strikes, your night can transition, seamlessly, from one club to another. Built to hold 200 people, the walls, the décor, and the lighting have all been carefully orchestrated to provide guests with a sensual ambiance.

Pat O’Brien’s – O’Brien’s is not as crowded and overwhelming as its counterparts. It mirrors more of a bar atmosphere and is a great place to begin or end your night. Whatever you end up drinking at Pat’s, be sure to save room for their house Hurricanes.

The clubs and bars of Cancun run the gamut of head-imploding excitement to cool casual and relaxing. The aforementioned tend to tip the scale in favor of unbelievable nights and hazy mornings that will have you deciphering your own Polaroid. And say you still manage to deplete the stock; other clubs such as Carlos ‘n’ Charlies, Senor Frogs, Fat Tuesday, and Dady ‘O are all perfectly capable of keeping up and exposing you to Cancun’s wild nightlife.

Isla Mujeres Booze Cruise Video

When we were back in England I bought a new camcorder, a JVC fancy thing with internal hard drive. It’s so much easier to use than our old one that ran with tape.
Jannet has developed quite a skill at making montages of video clips, and is in the process of producing several different ones for us to promote our cancuncare website with.

This is the first one Jannet’s made which features our Isla Mujeres booze cruise.

The cruise we do is a private hire of a catamaran and we sail over to Isla Mujeres. It’s open bar all day, lunch included and we normally do a golf cart convoy of the island, I think the most carts we ever had at once was 9. We’ve held about 15 of these cruises so far this year and averaged around 25 people each trip, so almost 400 people have come along.

Day out at the Costa Maya Hotel, Cancun

On Sunday we spent a very pleasant afternoon and evening at the Costa Maya hotel. The Costa Maya is right next to the big Mexican flag, which I haven’t seen flying for a long time). We were celebrating Claudia’s (Brants wife) birthday, and along with Drew and Ana Lilia, John and Yolanda, Victor and his wife and between us all 10 kids between 3 weeks and 8 years old!

The Casa Maya is a fairly small hotel by Cancun’s standards and is mainly used by those who have purchased timeshare there. This time of year it was full of vacationing Mexicans.

Continue reading Day out at the Costa Maya Hotel, Cancun…

Fat Tuesday Cancun, to Close

The popular spring break hang out Fat Tuesday in Cancun is set to close. Apparently, the owners owe a lot of money both in rent and in wages to the staff.

The company that the land is rented from FONATUR (Mexico’s national trust for the promotion of tourism) have repossessed the building and it seems certain that Fat Tuesday will not re-open. The newspaper reports that the area will be redeveloped to provide beachside facilities such as restaurants and bars (and no doubt more of those tacky flea market stalls).

Sadly, it seems the workers are unlikely to receive get their wages either. We visited the beach nearby last Friday and the workers were on picket duty outside. The black and red flag is, apparently, the recognised symbol in Mexico that a strike is in progress.

More video from the Beach Party in Cancun

Here’s two more videos from the ‘Worlds Biggest Beach Party’ held over the weekend in Cancun. The first video is a pan across the beach at Playa Delfines with a view of the stage where some sexy dancers were performing.

Continue reading More video from the Beach Party in Cancun…

Video of the Worlds Biggest Beach Party - Cancun, Mexico

To celebrate the restoration of the beaches in Cancun and also to generate some world wide publicity the ‘Worlds Biggest Beach Party’ was held over 3 days in August. Officials were expecting 30,000 people to attend and the party would extend along thirteen miles of beach. Stretching from Punta Nizuc to Playa Delfines there were 3 main centres. We visited the main party event at Playa Delfines on Friday, a family friendly event with no alcohol allowed, we were greeted by hundreds of people enjoying the Cancun sun.

I have 5 videos to post the first one is above and you can see the second by following the continuation link, apologies that the quality is not all that (and for my big thumb on the second video!). I’ll have to use my digicam next time instead of the movie function of the stills camera. The other three will be posted in a day or twos time.

Continue reading Video of the Worlds Biggest Beach Party - Cancun, Mexico…