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.

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.

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.

There are several swimming pools at the hotel and the kids made good use of those, myself included. Since this is not an All Inclusive hotel beers had to be bought either from the bar or the lobby shop, guess which one was cheaper. That said though, 6 beers were still 108 pesos at the lobby shop. From the gas station by our house you can buy 12 beers for 84 pesos. They also had Lays Salt n Vinegar chips which happens to be Brants favourite so we had some of those too.

Much lazing around in the shade ensued and as usual the wives separated off to talk about baby poo and the merits of different nurseries, while the guys drank beer and chatted about business and funny stories of the past. The buffet there was 200 pesos but none of us felt like it and we ended up snacking, eating fries and Claudia’s chocolate birthday cake and making more trips up the steps to the lobby beer shop.

It even rained about 3 times….. for about 20 seconds at a time. It was the kind of rain you often experience in Cancun, by the time you’ve realised it is actual rain rather than splashes from the pool it’s stopped again.

Here’s another pic of the Costa Maya from Sunday:

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.

The second video is a longer clip of the latin dancing. According to the newspaper, they are still assessing the success of the event and whether they may hold another event next year.

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.

With kids inflatables, a stage hosting live bands and silly games (male and female sexy dancing when we were there), volleyball and soccer tournaments and baby turtle releases (which we missed) it was a fun few hours out, although I’m not sure we could have enjoyed it for longer than that. Afterwards we went to the beach by Fat Tuesday and paid a very reasonable 100 pesos for a bucket of 6 beers on the beach. 

Our visit was last Saturday night. It’s always a good idea to get there early as the club fills quickly and good vantage points become scarce after 11pm.

We waited in the express line for about half an hour before they opened the doors around 10:30pm.

Ironically, the express line is actually longer than the regular line. Probably a sales tactic to get people to go in the first place if they think they receive some kind of VIP service.

It was fairly clear that, at that time of night, all the clubs are competing for the same customers. The careful management of the line, allowing only a trickle of clients at a time to enter, ensured the line looked long to passers by and would entice more to join the queue. One nice touch was that staff handed drinks out to the customers waiting in the hot Cancun night.

The price of admission is $45 or 475 pesos. I think that the price is higher on Friday and Saturday nights, with other nights of the week costing $5 less. The price of admission obviously includes the open bar deal.

Once inside a series of escalators takes you up to the top of the club where you then make your way into the amphitheatre type nightclub. The club consists of a main stage high up to the front with a central bar (both for the service of drinks and for dancing on). The club also has three or so tiers of seating, with the lower areas having a bleacher style and private tables occupying the upper levels. What seems like hundreds of waiters attend to the clubbers. A well placed tip at the beginning of the night ensures you’ll get good service all night long and don’t have to queue at the bar for your drinks.

The show starts about 11.00pm and on Saturday was opened by a Robbie Williams impersonator, closely followed by a Madonna lookalike. Set against a backdrop of bubbles, ticker tape, balloons and streamers falling from the ceiling it’s a spectacular sight. Scantily clad dancers trumpeters and drummers complement the acts.

There are also a couple of shows consisting of guys who hang from sheets above the crowded bar and perform synchronised gymnastic and acrobatic routines.

Beetlejuice and The Mask also provide entertainment as they fly around the club and dispense drinks of tequila mix direct from the bottle.

Around 2am the show is pretty much over but the night continues with a mix of 80′, 90’s and latin pop to suit all tastes.

All in all Coco Bongo is a not a place you’d want to visit every night of your vacation in Cancun but everyone should experience this unique concept at least once.

I’ve now added a Video clip of the Coco Bongo Show.

My Place, a popular Cancun message board addicts hang out, has recently joined the scheme. Joe the owner and amiable host and another friend of mine (it’s a close knit community here!) in conjunction with the card offers 2 for 1 meals. With Karaoke and Joe’s famous Kamikazi shots it’s a fun night out.

To buy the card for just $15 which includes a $15 voucher off a meal at Lorito Joes then please visit Brants site at Entertainment Plus

6 hours of drinking for just $50 proved to be irresistible to those who had been chatting online for months if not years and a chance for them to finally meet in person. Countries represented included Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, United Kingdom and the United States.

Truly an international flavour, but the language of drinking, having fun and maybe finding someone to take home that night knows no international boundaries. The drinks flowed freely and by the end of the night some were the worse for wear - which of course was the whole point of going!

As for us, Jannet and I had to return to relieve the baby sitter so we were back home early at 2:30am. Yes, 2:30am is early in Cancun!

Here are some more pics, there are 25 more on the message board at this link: