Quintana Roo And The Caribbean Coast - Playa Del Carmen

The coastal state of Quintana Roo was a forgotten frontier for most of modern Mexican history - its lush tropical forests exploited for their mahogany and chicle (from which chewing gum is made), but otherwise unsettled, a haven for outlaws and pirates, and for Maya living beyond the reach of central government. In the 1970s, however, the stunning palm-fringed white-sand beaches of the Caribbean coast and its magnificent offshore coral reefs began to attract tourists : the first highways were built, new townships settled, and the place finally became a full state (as opposed to an externally administered Federal Territory) in 1974.

The stretch of coast between Cancún and Tulum is the most heavily visited - and the focus of much recent, rapid hotel construction. Modern development is centred on the resorts of Cancún and Playa del Carmen , along with the islands of Isla Mujeres and Cozumel , which have become some of the world's most desirable package tour destinations and increasingly overdeveloped as a result. You'll see images of the Maya everywhere here, but while their culture is shamelessly used to promote tourism, little of this money ever reaches the Maya themselves, and where they haven't been forced out by developers, they continue to live in poverty in small communal villages in the scrub forest, growing maize and carving or weaving a few trinkets for tourists.

Further south things get quieter: the beaches within the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve are nesting sites for turtles, and behind them are areas of mangrove swamp, home to numerous animals including jaguar and even manatee. The vast and beautiful Laguna de Bacalar was an important stop on the Maya's pre-Columbian trade routes and was later used as an outpost for arms shipment from Belize during the Caste Wars. Chetumal , the state capital but otherwise a dull, duty-free border town, is of chief importance as a gateway to and from Belize. The southern coast, while rewarding for naturalists and adventurers, is difficult to visit: only a couple of roads offer access, and public transport is minimal.

Inland , Quintana Roo is little visited. There are some spectacular Maya sites here, though they are not as accessible or as well restored as the pristine open-air museums of Yucatán. Cobá , a lakeside Maya city just off the road to Valladolid, has some of the Maya world's tallest temples, but is only partially excavated, hidden in jungle swarming with mosquitoes. The early Classic site of Kohunlich , famous for its giant sculpted faces of the Maya sun god, lies in the heart of the Petén jungle that stretches into Guatemala and Belize; even more remote are the ruins of Kinichna, Chacchoben and Dzibanche .