“Can't recommend this any more highly for people who love food and culture and want to see Cancun, away from the tourist traps.”
— Jalen, 2025
01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Cancun.
Tortilla Trails
Cancun
Eat Cancún at lunchtime — cochinita pibil, panuchos and ceviche verde from the marisquería.
Salsa Streets
Cancun
Discover Yucatán on the coast — ceviche verde with coconut, panuchos and pescado tikin xic.
02 Meet the tastemakers
The local food experts who help us research, refine and lead every A Chef's Tour.
Ceviche verde with coconut, panuchos stuffed with black bean, pescado tikin xic, chayote in the salbutes. Cancun cooks Yucatecan for a global crowd.
04 The pantry
- Achiote, brick-red Yucatecan seasoning paste
- Habanero, blistering local chilli for xnipec
- Fresh Caribbean fish, straight from the boats
- Coconut, milk and grated flesh in local ceviche
- Chaya, Mayan spinach for empanadas and drinks
05 In the kitchen
- Curing ceviche verde fish with lime, coconut and cilantro
- Griddling salbutes and panuchos to order on the comal
- Baking tikin xic fish wrapped in banana leaf and achiote
- Pickling red onion in sour orange and habanero for xnipec
- Grilling al pastor pork on the vertical spit at street stalls
06 Eat this first
- Ceviche verde, lime-cured fish with coconut, cilantro and habanero
- Pescado tikin xic, achiote-marinated fish grilled in banana leaf
- Salbutes, puffed fried tortillas piled with turkey and pickled onion
- Panuchos, bean-stuffed fried tortillas with cochinita pibil
- Marquesitas, crispy crepes rolled around Edam cheese and cajeta
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
09 Recipes
A collection of authentic recipes we couldn't leave behind.
Fluffy corn masa filled with pork shredded in red guajillo-ancho salsa, wrapped in corn husks and steamed. The classical Mexican tamal, red edition.
Oaxaca's street mash-up: a crunchy tostada base piled with hot esquite corn, mayo, cheese, lime and chile. The prehispanic dish gets a modern platform.
Fried tortillas stuffed with black beans and topped with shredded turkey, pickled red onion and avocado — the Yucatán's crunchy answer to the tostada.
Fresh fruit blended with water and a splash of lime — the mercado thirst-quencher. Jamaica, horchata, tamarindo, sandía or piña, poured from big glass tanks.
A silky caramel-topped custard, richer and denser than the European original. Mexico's most-eaten dessert, born in nuns' kitchens 300 years ago.
Pineapple-marinated pork carved off a spinning vertical trompo, caught on a small tortilla with a flick of chopped pineapple, onion and coriander. Mexico City's most famous taco.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Cancun.
Weather
Tropical Caribbean. Hot and humid year-round (28–32°C). Hurricane season June to November. December to April is peak, dry and sunny.
Currency
The Mexican peso (MXN). US dollars widely accepted in the Hotel Zone but often at a poor rate. Pay in pesos. Cards work everywhere.
Language
Spanish. English is widely spoken in the Hotel Zone thanks to tourism. Yucatec Maya heard in the wider region.
Etiquette
Casual and beach-focused in the Hotel Zone. More traditional downtown. Modest dress at cenotes and Mayan sites.
Getting around
The R1 and R2 buses run the Hotel Zone axis cheaply. Uber operates but has friction with taxi unions. Download apps in advance. Colectivos to Playa del Carmen and Tulum are cheap and easy.
Prayer
Predominantly Catholic. Small Mayan spiritual practices survive in the surrounding communities. Sundays fill the downtown parish.