15 best Instagram spots in Cancun, Mexico
Come with me to explore the most iconic Instagram spots in Cancun, Mexico! From picture-perfect tropical beaches to ancient Mayan ruins and gorgeous cenotes, there are a whole lot of Instagrammable places in and near Cancun.
We spent three weeks in Cancun exploring everything in the city and all the famous bucket list destinations around it so I can safely say that there is something for everyone in Tulum!
In this blog post, you will find all the best Instagram spots in Cancun with descriptions, photos, and locations on the map. I also included some of the most iconic places near Cancun that are worth going on a day trip for! Happy travels!
1. The colorful Cancun letters
One of the most popular Instagram spots in Cancun is the colorful Cancun letters. Everyone who travels to this part of Mexico quickly finds out that these letters are a thing here in the Yucatan Peninsula.
Wherever you travel, every city, town, and village has these photo-perfect letters somewhere in a central location and Cancun is not an exception.
We found Cancun letters in multiple locations around the city. The most popular spots in Cancun Hotel Zone are at Playa Delfines beach – one of the most beautiful beaches in Cancun – and at Playa Langosta beach.
I saw some nearby shops too but those signs in front of the tropical Cancun beaches are definitely more scenic and iconic!
If you are located somewhere in Cancun downtown then you will find the letters in the square in front of the Cancun Town Hall building. There are multiple Cancun signs outside of Mercado 28 market and at Plaza 28 market too.
Location: Playa Delfines – Playa Langosta – Cancun Town Hall – Mercado 28 – Plaza 28
2. Playa Delfines
Cancun is all about gorgeous white-sand beaches and turquoise water so exploring the most beautiful beaches is one of the top things to do in Cancun.
Playa Delfines is definitely amongst the most beautiful public beaches in Cancun. It is easily accessible as no hotels are blocking access and it features cute parasols, swings, and viewpoints.
If you stay in Cancun for a couple of days one of the must-do things in Cancun is watching sunrise in the Caribbean Sea. Cancun faces the sea to the East making it the perfect place for a sunrise at the beach.
We also went on a sunrise mission and headed to Playa Delfines. There were already a few people waiting for the sun to come out and it was very beautiful.
Playa Delfines is also one of the most iconic Instagram spots in Cancun with its scenic views and photo-perfect wooden parasols.
Location: Playa Delfines
3. Chichén Itzá Archaeological Zone
Chichen Itzá is one of the most visited places in Mexico and must be on your Cancun itinerary! It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and voted among the New Seven Wonders of the World.
This means you can’t travel to Cancun and not have an iconic photo at this glorious Mayan temple!
Historically it was one of the largest Mayan cities dating back to 600 AC. It existed as a major regional center for many centuries until its decline by the 12th century. It still operated until the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 16th century.
Chichén Itzá archaeological zone consists of multiple temples, pyramids, structures, and even a sacred cenote (cenote sagrado) where Mayans deposited valuables and gifts including human sacrifices as a form of sacrifice to their rain god Chaac.
The most famous structure is, of course, the great pyramid El Castillo (the castle) which is also known as the Temple of Kukulcan. The pyramid with the temple on top of it is 30 meters high and was built sometime between the 8th and 12th centuries.
Chichen Itza gets crowded so I recommend arriving first thing in the morning. The site opens at 8 AM, the parking next to the entrance opens at 7:30 AM. We arrived even before that so that we could be amongst the first ones in.
For parking, we paid around 100 pesos in cash but for the entrance fee (by card) we paid more than 620 pesos each. For the best photos, I recommend backing away from the pyramid so you can create a nice photo composition with plants, benches, and trees.
Location: Chichén Itzá
4. Punta Cancun Lighthouse
Punta Cancun is a rocky outcrop in the Cancun Hotel Zone and the Easternmost point of mainland Mexico. It also boasts a massive red and white striped lighthouse – Punta Cancun Lighthouse.
The iconic lighthouse is a worthy place to visit and a scenic photo spot in Cancun with waves crashing into the rocks.
Although hotels are blocking access to the lighthouse, you are allowed to visit it for free. Use this street to access Playa Caracol and then simply walk along the beach to the lighthouse. It will be a 10-15min walk. Your feet will be wet!
Location: Punta Cancun Lighthouse
5. The vibrant Isla Mujeres
One of the most popular day trips from Cancun for every traveler is a trip to Isla Mujeres – a small tropical island close to the shores of Cancun. We decided to spend a couple of days there to explore this ‘Island of Women’ to the fullest!
The 7-kilometer-long (4.3-mile) island is known as the sunrise of Mexico as it is the Easternmost point in the whole country.
The island also hosts one of the most beautiful beaches in Mexico and the whole world – Playa Norte. The tropical beach boasts crystal clear waters, fine white sand, and lush palm trees hanging over it.
Isla Mujeres is a picturesque place full of vibrant colors, street art, laid-back beach clubs with swings and hammocks in the water as well as small Mayan ruins dedicated to the Maya goddess Ixchel in the south of the island.
See more things to do in Isla Mujeres and find the best Instagram spots in Isla Mujeres for the coolest photos on the island! I recommend spending at least 2 days on the island – one for chilling in the village in the North and one for traveling around the island.
Location: Isla Mujeres
6. El Meco Archaeological Zone
Did you know that there are archaeological zones in the Cancun area? One of them is the El Meco archaeological zone. It is a small Mayan ruin site a 10-minute drive away from Cancun downtown.
This archaeological site dates back to the 4th-7th centuries when it was a small Mayan fishing village but it was gradually abandoned during the next couple of centuries as people moved to live in other areas.
The highest structure in this archaeological zone is a beautiful temple that measures 12.5 meters high (40 ft). It does resemble a pyramid if you ask me.
We arrived at the El Meco Archaeological Zone by taxi from Cancun downtown. The site is full of curious iguanas and will take about 30 minutes to explore.
Not many people visit this site as it can’t compete with Chichen Itza or Coba but I liked it. It all felt like a little secret when walking around there all alone. If you have extra time before your flight, this is a cool spot to squeeze into your itinerary!
Location: El Meco Archaeological Zone
7. Jardín del Arte at Mangrove Canal
Jardín del Arte or the Garden of Art is a public waterside garden with a view of a mangrove canal in the Nichupté lagoon. The perfect place for a picnic in Cancun!
The waterfront park features a 500-meter walkway along the canal, numerous benches to sit on, and a couple of palapas lined along the water.
However, my favorite part about this park were the spooky mangrove trees. You can easily climb on some of the roots and sit down if you like – they fit among some of the coolest Instagram spots in Cancun for sure!
Although the water here is crystal clear and super inviting and some locals even swim here I would refrain from such a thought as there are crocodiles living in this lagoon.
Location: Jardín del Arte
8. Cenote Suytun
Located a 2-hour drive from Cancun, Cenote Suytun is one of the most iconic cenotes in the Yucatan Peninsula. Nowhere else you will find a stone pathway leading into the middle of a large underground cenote with a hole in the ceiling above it.
If you time your visit right, there will be a light beam shining through the hole and illuminating the whole place. Or maybe it will shine right onto the stone platform. We arrived in the morning so we did not see the light beam.
Tip! We visited this cenote on March 9th and the stone platform was dry. However, the water level can be higher or completely cover the platform after rainy periods. The best way to make sure how it looks is by checking recent reviews on Google Maps.
Location: Cenote Suytun
9. Playa Langosta
Playa Langosta is a white-sand public beach with shallow turquoise water. It was one of my favorite Cancun beaches!
It is also one of the most photo-perfect beaches as it features a small lush palm tree garden right next to the white sands. It also has one of the colorful Cancun signs with the palm tree garden and the Caribbean Sea in the background.
Other Cancun beaches have been turned into hotel properties and everything next to them is man-made so to enjoy and take photos in this tiny corner of wild tropical paradise was a breath of fresh air!
Location: Playa Langosta
10. The Instagrammable pink lakes at Las Coloradas
The bright pink salt lakes Las Coloradas is one of the most beautiful and Instagrammable places in the Yucatán Peninsula! The lakes are one of the most popular day trips from Cancun located a 3.5-hour drive away from the city!
However, visiting this place is also a bit of a game of luck. Before coming here I studied all the reviews on Google Maps and felt really conflicted. It is a decent drive and to go there and to not get what I wanted would be a disappointment.
But we decided to go and somehow managed to arrive here on the perfect day with the best weather conditions (we visited on February 4th). It was sunny, no clouds, and the lake was screaming pink color at us! So what is the best time to come here?
The lakes won’t be pink if there was a storm or a lot of rain over the previous days, you will see a bright pink color only on sunny days (no clouds) and the best angle of the sun will be around midday. And a little bit of wind will make the color pop!
How to get there? The right place to go is marked on Google Maps as Las Coloradas Parque Turistico. There you will find the ticket office, the observation tower, and the entrance to the pink salt lagoons.
Shortly before arriving, we were met with a group of guides who stopped us and one of them took us to the ticket office. Don’t be scared of them, haha! You can’t visit the lagoons on your own so you need one of those guides anyways!
After you have chosen a guide, you will then have to drive to the ticket office and pay for the entrance. There are three options – you can do a walking tour, you can do a bicycle tour or a safari tour by car. All have different prices and lengths.
We chose the cheapest option (~350 pesos per person) and went on a walking tour with the same guide that picked us. At first, we climbed the observation tower and then walked by a road along the pink lake. The tour lasts about 45 minutes.
While the guide tells you stories about the place, you are allowed to take as many pictures as you like. There are different photo spots along the way. But you are not allowed to touch the water or swim there.
After the tour, the guide asked for a tip which is meant as payment for his service. Overall we really liked visiting Las Coloradas. However, I highly recommend checking out the latest reviews on Google Maps before you come!
Take into account that they usually harvest salt here around late July to August and the pink color is less visible. The guide also told us that after one hurricane the lake lost its pink color for a whole year so better make sure it’s worth coming!
Location: Las Coloradas
11. El Rey Archaeological Zone
There is a place to experience the history of ancient Mayans right in the heart of the Cancun Hotel Zone and it is the El Rey archaeological zone. This Mayan village dates back to almost 2000 years ago.
However, most of the structures you see today were built between the 14th and 16th centuries. Most Mayan people in this village worked in salt extraction and as fishermen.
The name of this place – El Rey – means ‘the King’ and comes from a sculpture that was found on this site and resembled a monarch. There are 47 structures in these Mayan ruins.
El Rey archaeological zone is one of the smaller ones and will only take about 30-40 minutes to explore. In case you are in Cancun nearby and have free time, this is a nice place to explore to see how the Mayans lived centuries ago.
Location: El Rey Archaeological Zone
12. Cenote Ik Kil
The photo-perfect Cenote Ik Kil is an oasis in the jungle! This cylindrical cenote is one of the most beautiful cenotes in Yucatan Peninsula and one of the most visited places in the area. Especially thanks to its proximity to the famous Chichen Itza ruins.
The cenote stands out with its circular shape and 26-meter walls covered by hanging plants and tree roots. The cenote itself is 40 meters deep and served as a place for sacrifices for ancient Mayans a long time ago.
The cenote is located within the territory of a hotel and a restaurant so you can not only go for a swim here but buy a combined ticket that offers a buffet-type catering. That’s why it is a popular place amongst tour buses. Arrive early to avoid them!
Did you know? Ik Kil from Mayan means ‘place of the winds’.
We visited Ik Kil Cenote on the same day we went to Chichén Itzá. The entrance fee to the cenote was 200 pesos per person. At first, you can observe the cenote from above and then descend 90 steps through a tunnel to the water. It was gorgeous!
Location: Cenote Ik Kil
13. Skywheel Cancun
Skywheel Cancun is a ferris wheel in the Cancun Hotel Zone and one of the best places to watch the sunset in Cancun. Your ticket includes three full roundtrips around the wheel to see the city and the Caribbean Sea from above.
And get some of those scenic Cancun photos from a bird’s-eye view!
The ferris when operates from early afternoon to late at night and is one of the highest places you can get to see Cancun from above. We happened to go there right before the sunset and got amazing golden views over the whole city and lagoon.
If you happen to be there after sunset then you will see the wheel illuminated in different colors – it comes alive at night! I liked it during the day tho when you can see more of the city.
It is not the cheapest attraction but you get your cabin all to yourself which is a big plus if you travel as a couple or with your group or family – makes for just another one of those unforgettable moments! We loved it!
Location: Skywheel Cancun
14. Mercado 28
Mercado – the legend of Cancun! Visiting the vibrant, colorful, and bustling Mercado 28 in Cancun is one of the must-do things to do in Cancun! It is a big fun maze in the middle of the city!
In this iconic downtown market, you can find all kinds of cool stuff – like colorful hats, handmade pottery, other souvenirs, unique jewelry, shoes, clothes, spices, and also food!
As we strolled through the narrow aisles stuffed full of all kinds of goods, friendly and passionate vendors invited us to come to their stores to see and try their crafts. Suddenly I felt so famous – everyone wanted to be friends, haha!
The whole vibe of Mercado 28 is just awesome – like stepping into a lively, colorful world full of local culture. There are also cool photo-perfect places around the market like the pink walls and colorful street art murals so check it out while visiting Cancun!
Location: Mercado 28
15. Cancun downtown street art
During our three-week stay in Cancun, we rented an apartment in Cancun downtown and it was the best decision. Yes, to get to the beaches we had to drive further but we got to explore the lively downtown to the fullest.
We walked around a lot in the center of Cancun to restaurants, shops, markets, cafes, and street food stands in the evening to get some of those tasty street foods in Cancun like marquesitas, tacos, and others.
While wandering around the downtown we notices a lot of street art murals in Cancun. They love street art over here and I love how it showcases the creative side of this beautiful destination.
Street art murals can be cool places for photos in Cancun. We found a lot of murals inside the Mercado 28 premises and a lot of street art was along Avenida Yaxchilán (we walked the distance from Avenida Xcaret till Avenida Sunyaxchen).
Other nearby downtown ‘avenidas’ are also popular street art spots so if you happen to be around keep your eyes open! Every time we walked to some nearby taco place we took a different route and found more and more cool street art!
Location: Avenida Yaxchilán – Mercado 28
Happy exploring!
Cancun was such a gem! This buzzing coastal city in Riviera Maya is all about enjoying the sandy beaches with blue water, trying different tasty Mexican foods, and fun nightlife. It is also the perfect place for exciting day trips around the Yucatán Peninsula!
We had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Cancun enjoying the famous beaches as well as the local cuisine. We also spent a couple of months traveling around the Yucatán Peninsula and exploring everything it had to offer.
From white-sand beaches to dark underground cenotes, and ancient pyramids – there’s just so much to see! I hope you enjoy your time there as much as we did and I hope you get some travel inspiration from this blog post for your travels too! Happy exploring!
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