Museo de la Isla - The Island in One Building
A stop on Cozumel: San Miguel and the Island, a free self-guided tour.
This two-story building on the waterfront began life in the late 1930s as one of the island's first hotels. It became the island museum in 1987 and reopened in 2020 after a long renovation, and it is the best hour you can spend before driving the island.
The rooms walk you through what you are about to see. Start with the reef, the coral and fish that made Cozumel famous among divers. Then come the Maya, who made the island a sacred destination for pilgrims honoring the goddess Ixchel. Later rooms cover the Spanish arrival, the centuries when the island was nearly empty and pirates used its coves, the families who resettled it after 1848, and the rise of tourism.
It is a small museum, easy to see in under an hour. Check current hours before you go, and notice how much of the island's story turns on the sea right outside the door.
Getting here: From the church, walk back to the waterfront and head north on Avenida Rafael E. Melgar for about four blocks. The museum faces the sea.
Did you know?: Up to 10,000 Maya lived on Cozumel in the early 1500s. After smallpox arrived with the Spanish in 1520, the island's population fell to just 358 people by 1570.
Photo op: Step across Avenida Melgar to the seawall and frame the museum's front with the palms and the street in front of it.
More on Wikipedia: Cozumel · Ixchel · Caste War of Yucatan
Stops on this tour
- Plaza del Sol - Where the Island Says Hello
- Iglesia de San Miguel - The Archangel Who Hid
- Museo de la Isla - The Island in One Building
- San Gervasio - Pilgrims of the Moon Goddess
- Punta Morena - Where the Island Turns Wild
- Chen Rio - A Pool the Rocks Built
- El Mirador - An Arch in the Surf
- Punta Sur - Lighthouse at the End of the Island
- El Cedral - The Village of the Vow
- Chankanaab - The Little Sea and the Reef
- San Miguel Waterfront - Sunset Over the Channel