Cancun is world-renowned for its spring breakers and all-inclusive resorts. When we first decided to visit Mexico, we were actually quite hesitant to include Cancun in our itinerary for this reason. We enjoy an open bar or drink service on the beach as much as the next person, but we can get that anywhere in the world.

What could Cancun offer us that other popular destinations along the Caribbean couldn’t?

We quickly found out that Cancun is much more than its stereotype. Just for a fun fact, spring breakers only make up 2% of Cancun’s annual tourists. Maybe that’s a lot for one week, but it definitely doesn’t define the area on a whole.

And while we thought we would have to travel far outside Cancun to find local arts and history, we were wrong; there was plenty of culture to be had just steps away from our hotel room. A day split between the Maya Museum and the MUSA Underwater Museum was all it took to show us how.

The Maya Museum

Finding Art and History in Cancun - The Mayan Museum

Mayan culture is absolutely fascinating. While a glimpse into the legacy of the Mayans can be had at the numerous temples and ruins that dot the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya Museum provides an all-encompassing introduction to Mayan society. It greatly enhanced our knowledge, while also helping us to understand what it was we were witnessing at the temples and cenotes.

Cancun’s Maya Museum was only recently inaugurated in 2012. Though it is located in the center of the ‘Hotel Zone’, the museum feels worlds away. The ground level is a green oasis, providing a nice contrast from the neighboring resorts. The 350+ artifacts are located on the second floor to protect from potential flooding and damage.

The museum is divided into three parts. The first exhibition room is dedicated to the Mayan population of Quintana Roo, the state of Mexico that Cancun and the Riviera Maya are a part of. The second exhibition room explains Mayan culture on a whole, featuring Mayan architecture, art, and other artifacts that made up Mayan’s everyday life. The final exhibition room is a temporary exhibit; our visit correlated with ‘The Concept of Beauty’.

Below is a sampling of the artifacts on display:

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Skeleton

Mayans believed in life after death. It was a never ending, circular cycle. Though the cycle included an underworld called Xibalba, it was not ‘hell’ in the Western sense.
 
 

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Incense Holder

This is an incense holder – a bit bigger than what we are used to today! Mayans use incense as a medium to purify themselves and communicate with the gods. 

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Desceding god

The Descending God. He is the most important god in the temple of Tulum and is aligned with the planet Venus.
 
 

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Billboard

This is an estela. These were sort of like the Mayan version of billboards. The royalty would use estelas to communicate important messages, often including messages about power or the caste system.
 
 
Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Jewelry
 Original Mayan jewelry
 
 

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Masks

Mayans used masks to serve as tomb markers
 
 

Finding Art and History in Cancun - Mayan Museum Beauty

 The Concept of Beauty was definitely the most intriguing of the three exhibition rooms. If Mayans wanted to show that they were upperclass or royalty, they would scar their faces or shape their heads into cones. Additionally, they would make their children cross-eyed, as this would show they couldn’t (and didn’t need to) work. 
 
 

Cancun’s Maya Museum and the adjacent archeological site of San Miguelito are open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., except on Thursday (7 a.m. – 10 p.m.) Tickets cost around $5 for access to both the museum and San Miguelito site. Children under 13 and adults over 60 years old receive free admission. On Sunday, admission is free to local residents with official identification.

The Maya Museum was a perfect start to our day, but by mid-morning we were ready to get our adrenaline pumping once more. Our next destination fit the bill perfectly.

MUSA (Museo Subacuatico de Arte)

The vision of artist Jason deCaires Taylor, MUSA is both an ascetically pleasing art project as well as an eco-conservation project. It’s a little bit odd and a little bit creepy while also being extremely innovative and creative. We can say without hesitation that our visit to the Underwater Museum was a highlight of our two months in Mexico.

Finding Art and History in Cancun - MUSA Statues

Every year, over 150,000 people come to visit the nearby Mesoamerican Reef; naturally, this puts great strain on the reef and marine life. The idea behind MUSA was to create an alternative attraction. The Museum aims ‘to demonstrate the interaction between art and environmental science and form part of a complex reef structure for marine life to colonize and inhabit whilst increasing biomass on a grand scale.’

Finding Art and History in Cancun - MUSA Fish

To begin, artist Taylor created life-size casts of over 400 Mexicans, depicting different aspects of everyday life. Each sculpture tells a distinctive story. Some are stories of hope and rebirth, others, like Inertia, a critique on society. To our pleasure there were even a few sunken vochos!

Putting the statues into the water was just the beginning of the project. Taylor’s contemporary art display will keep evolving, attracting new coral and marine life and continuously changing the very nature of the statues.

Finding Art and History in Cancun - MUSA Coral

MUSA has exhibits on two reefs, the more frequently visited one between Cancun and Isla Mujeres.  The museum is accessible via diving or snorkeling. Unfortunately, I’ve recently been having ear troubles preventing me from equalizing, so we had to go the snorkeling route. The water is so clear that we were still able to get good views of the statues, though diving would have provided a good opportunity to get up-close to the lifelike statues.

We were guests of Aquaworld on our visit to MUSA. While they told us we were going snorkeling, we weren’t informed that it was going to be an adventure just to get to there! Luckily it was a whole lot of fun:

Believe it or not, we were able to see both these attractions and still get back to our hotel by 2:00pm. We learned a lot, had tons of fun, and still returned to our hotel with plenty of time for a few cocktails by the pool! (Unfortunately we had blogging to do which sort of limited the pool time, but we definitely didn’t let it infringe on those margaritas!)

We would definitely recommend the Maya Museum and MUSA to any visitors to Cancun, especially if residing within the Hotel Zone.

How to get around Cancun

Cancun is a beautiful and unqiue city near the Riviera Maya with many fun attractions. Below are a few different methods of transport to zip around town and get to your various adventures.

Car Rental

One of the most popular ways to get around Cancun is to rent a car in Cancun airport or its outskirts because it gives you the freedom to visit incredible places inside or outside the city.

Tips for car rental at Cancun airport

If you are going to get a Cancun Car Rental service, it’s best to make your reservation in advance. Cancun is a well known and frequently visited city, so car reservations are one of the most requested services.

If your trip is within Easter, Christmas vacation, summer vacation or spring break, be prepared to book your reservation more than a month in advance, remember that the prices are also different and may change according to the proximity of your trip.

Private transportation

A more straightforward method to get around Cancun is the Cancun Airport transportation by eTransfers service. If you are going to the airport or want to leave from the airport to any other destination like Cancun, hotel zone, Riviera Maya, Playa del Carmen, you can get this service as quickly as a taxi, direct transportation or open service.

When contracting a transport service, it is advisable to book its services as far in advance as possible, since the occupation of vans or SUV’s varies according to the season.

Have you been to Cancun before? Have you heard of the Underwater Museum? Do these activities sound like something you would enjoy?

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll LOVE: 

Reflections on 6 Weeks in San Pancho

Adventures in the Yucatan | A Video Journey Into Cenotes 

Rhythms of the Night |An Unforgettable Encounter With Ancient Civilization

How To Travel Mexico in Style – The Vocho

A Preview of Life in San Pancho, Mexico

A massive thank you to the Cancun Tourism Board for hosting our visit. As always, all thoughts and opinions are our own. Photos of the Underwater Museum courtesy of the Cancun Tourism Board.