Cancun, December 2007

Ranked as their first destination by American travelers, Cancun is the Mexican tourism flagship confirmed by this Mexico travel writer: I find myself living in many places that typify a third world country. Cancun Mexico is NOT one of those places. And the writer adds: a new city with high end shopping malls, movie theaters, clean streets, modern police and fire departments . . . the city has no real history and reflects capitalism at its zenith . . . I feel like I'm home in the US!

No history! Thirty years ago, Cancun was still a small fisher village along the Caribbean seashore. To protect each others against the episodic typhoons, the small colored one level houses were all concentrated around the church and the old circular market with its four cardinal painted doors.
No foreigner was coming here as the swamps were known for being infested by mosquito and crocodiles and it was winter home for millions of migrating birds. Now their numbers are decreasing following the increasing of the human developments and resorts but birds and even crocodiles feel such in a confidence with golfers to stand on their fairways which are standing on their native swamps. Natural comeback!

The grand doors of the market and the old houses have been freshly repainted, but the ancient village of Cancun is not the main attraction for so many visitors. At a few miles from there, between ocean and lagoon, the New Cancun shows up sort of a giant tourism resort designed by Cecil B. de Mille for a Hollywood super, super production! Local Tourism Office is proud to announce more than 50000 rooms available. Beautiful people, luxurious cars, sounds and furies, drums and frenzies. To hear the high tune rhythms, just go along Slices and Congo on the main (and only) road! And sometimes the stench of the Laguna Nichupté…

As the Mexican writer said : Cancun offers everything that can make American tourists feel home .. Abd obviously, golf resort development is one major niche for the future of Mexico 's huge stake in tourism.. But according to M. Rogozinski, the government would rather finance a seaside golf course project in Baja California than a mega-project like Cancun . " We are not going to put one more cent into those kind of {Cancun-style} projects ."


Where to play ?______ What to see ?______ Where to stay ?
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Old painted houses
Hilton Reort

Where to play ?

The Hilton Cancun Golf & Spa Resort has conducted in 2006 a great golf course renovation. Recognizing the island's ideal location for year-round golfing, as well as the opportunity to provide additional top-notch facilities to this already first-class accommodation provider, the Hilton Cancun has positioned itself as a premier golf resort. Designed by PGA member Isao Aoki, the 6,735-yard course and club will offer breathtaking views of the Nichupte Lagoon as well as exotic wildlife and indigenous flora and fauna (even crocodiles resting on the fairways!).

The Moon Spa & Golf Club , the only Nicklaus Signature Course in Cancun and Riviera Maya, is conveniently located within the municipality of Cancun . It was designed with environmental conservation in mind. Totalling 10,798 yards of play, the three, 9-hole, par 36 courses are surrounded by natural mangroves and exotic animals. The "all-inclusive" package offers transportation, unlimited food and beverage along the course and at the clubhouse. 

Playa Mujeres Golf Club , the newest Greg Norman signature course for Cancun , features ecologically friendly championship golf with carefully crafted water holes, jungles, bunkers and greens, utilizing a rearrangement of the site's native plants, trees and other indigenous foliage. Several of the holes offer spectacular views of the Caribbean Sea and additional facility amenities.

Cancun Golf Club at Pok-ta-Pok is the oldest Golf Club in Cancun . Located in the heart of Cancun's Hotel Zone, near to the President Intercontinental, the 18-hole, par 72 championship golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and incorporates the Caribbean shoreline and a wealth of archeological treasures dating back to the ancient Mayas. 

El Camaleon Golf Club is Greg Norman's first Mexican design and is located at the Mayakoba resort. The 7,000-yard layout bends through three distinct landscapes: tropical jungles, dense mangroves and stretches of oceanfront sand. Incorporated into the open fairway is an ancient cavern common to the area. In February 2007, El Camaleon will host the first PGA tournament in Mexico . 

Iberostar Playa Paraiso Golf Club is a par 72, P.B. Dye design incorporating native Mayan jungle into the narrow fairways and deep bunkers. This par 72 course spans 7,144 yards and is surrounded by lakes and lush vegetation. A great course!

Playacar Golf Club is an 18 hole, par 72 championship golf course designed by Robert Von Hagge. This course is carved through the lush Mayan jungle where it awaits any golfer to come and tame it.

Cozumel Golf Country Club is the island's first course and the Rivira Maya's newest test of golf. The Construction of the course has been a cooperative effort blending the requirements for a championship course and consideration for the environmental concerns of the site. Special corridors called Ecovias hasve been managed beneath the roadways to provide safe passage ways for crabs, iguanas and other wildlife.

Las Velas Golf Club is a recent 18 hole, par 72 course on the Cancun-Chetumal highway, at km350 Bacalar. And the Cancun Golf Association is obsessed with boosting the number of tourists who golf (currently that's only 7 percent of visitors, with 90 percent of those golfers coming from the United States ). There is also plenty of pride in the fact that a few more courses are in the works and that the Riviera Maya-Cancun area should have 20 courses within two years (in all of Mexico there are only 137 courses).

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Hilton golf
Moon
Playa Mujeres n°16
Camaleon n°7
Playacar

Aerial view