Punta Cancun - Where the Seven Bends

A stop on Cancun: Downtown and the Hotel Zone, a free self-guided tour.

This is the corner of the 7. Here the top bar of the Hotel Zone, facing the calm bay, turns south into the long leg that faces the open Caribbean Sea. Walk down to the beach and you can feel the difference: more wind, more waves and deeper blue water.

Punta Cancun was the first part of the Hotel Zone to fill in. The early hotels went up along this stretch in the 1970s, financed by the government's tourism fund because private investors doubted anyone would come. Today the point is the busiest crossroads on the boulevard, with the convention center, shopping and nightlife packed close together.

The beach below you, Playa Gaviota Azul, is reached by public access paths between the buildings. Out to the east, the coral reefs off this coast are part of the Mesoamerican Reef, the largest reef system in the Western Hemisphere. Pause on the sand and compare this open-sea water with the bay you just left.

Getting here: Continue east on the R1 or R2 bus or a short taxi ride to km 9 at Punta Cancun, where the boulevard turns south. Use the marked public path down to the beach.

Did you know?: In 1981 Cancun, barely a decade old, hosted the North-South Summit, a meeting of leaders from 22 countries on five continents.

Photo op: From the sand, look north to frame the point where the shoreline turns, with the hotel towers curving away along both arms of the 7.

More on Wikipedia: Hotel Zone · Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System · North-South Summit

Punta Cancun - Where the Seven Bends

Stops on this tour