Cozumel : Tours & Excursions

Getting Around | Lodging | Tours & Excursions | Diving | Bars & Restaurants | Shopping | Sightseeing | Inside Cozumel

Cozumel is considered by many as one of the best places for SCUBA diving and snorkeling in the whole world. You MUST experience at least one day of diving while in Cozumel. In case you have never had the experience of diving we definitely recommend you to take the time to do it. Dive shops offer a 1 hour "Discover Scuba" course. They will guide you through the basics of SCUBA diving and after the class they will take you to a shallow dive with the instructor next to you. For more information on this please visit our DIVING section in this site.

While in Cozumel there are also places such as archeological ruins, beach clubs, museums and natural parks. Cozumel also offers its visitors many things to do at night like restaurants that serve great food, night clubs, bars and pubs, where you will enjoy a wonderful evening.

The Nightlife

Cozumel offers visitors lots of fun and great party places for your enjoyment. Remember that because it is an island Cozumel is a very safe place. You can walk the streets downtown even late at night and not have to worry about anything.

Most of the bars, clubs and discos are located downtown and are walking distance from each other. Here are some of the places where you will have a lot of fun.

• 1.5 Tequila Lounge
  The newest lounge bar in Cozumel, with a great location right next to the ocean on a second floor, enjoy the great sunsets while you have sushi and tasteful drinks and the best house and lounge music in town.
• Carlos´n Charlie´s Cozumel
  Fun place where you will find great food, fun bar, pool table, TV screens, basketball court and lots and lots of fun.
• Sr. Frogs Cozumel
  Fun place where you will find great food, fun bar, pool table, TV screens, basketball court and lots and lots of fun.
• Ambar Lounge
  One of the newest bars in Cozumel, with a Lounge atmosphere, this place is worth visiting. At Ambar Lounge you can enjoy great Italian food at the restaurant, have a drink at the inside bar while you enjoy lounge music or sit down at their wonderful backyard.
• Baby Reef
  Baby reef is located right in the downtown plaza in Cozumel, this is a fun place to hang out, enjoy huge Margaritas, play pool, dance to great music and enjoy excelent food. Guests from the Reef Club Hotel receive a special disccount.
• Neptuno Disco
  The only Discoteque in Cozumel!!! at Neptuno you will enjoy the best of mexcan and international music, if lucky you will enjoy one of the traditional contests that make this place so popular.
• Viva México "Cantina"
  Preferred bar by locals and tourists, here you will enjoy the best music, and enjoy your favorite sporting events on their TV screens.

The determination of the Cozumel Carnival organizers has been put to the test this year. First there were fears that the new seafront works wouldn’t be finished in time for the parades to pass by and then the dates had to be changed due to a clash with local presidential elections as well.

But finally it’s full steam ahead. Carnival fever is taking grip again in Cozumel. The Carnival King and Queen have been elected - perhaps a more important vote for locals than the Presidential ballot that dared to interfere - and an electric buzz is starting to fill the island air.

Without doubt, Carnival is Cozumel’s noisiest, brightest, flashiest and happiest annual event. In the weeks and days leading up to the main parades there are costume, music and dancing competitions around San Miguel, Cozumel’s main city. Strutting their stuff, the sparkling, multi-colored sequin-and-feather-covered participants take the competitions very seriously. Indeed, many have been preparing all year.

The atmosphere really starts to heat up as the official opening to the Carnival approaches. Traditionally a week earlier, this year it will start on Ash Wednesday, 9 February, due to the local Presidential elections - and accompanying alcohol ban - the weekend before.

The biggest parades are on the last four days, culminating in the ritual burning of Juan Carnaval on the final Wednesday. For many, the processions are what Carnival is all about. Downtown is packed with friendly revelers and traffic jams form part of the fun. Locals and tourists watch together as the Carnival madness passes back and forth along the seafront.

Human peacocks wander around and bubbles fill shop doorways. All types of vehicles are dressed up and used as mobile stages, their shock absorbers put to the test with dancers and giant bass speakers jumping up and down. From Egyptian Goddesses and Michael Jackson impersonators, to human glitterballs and transvestite surfers - the parade always brings some bright and musical surprises.

Traditionally, the Carnival parade participants – or Carnaveleros – exchange flowers and candies with the crowds that watch them, but in recent years beads and necklaces have also become popular. Children, parents, grandparents, locals, tourists, cats, dogs and even the police - everybody is welcome to join in.

Highlights not to miss outside of the main parades include the Masquerade Parade for children on Monday 14 February - a wise idea started by the organizers to keep the traditions alive through future generations. And - perhaps not for quite the same reasons - there is the Pet Masquerade to catch the day before.

Whether you want to jump around and go crazy with the dancers in the main plaza or just stay in one spot and watch the world go by, you are bound to find something to enjoy at Carnival. Once you have found accommodation - often the trickiest part at this time of year - all you have to do is look at the program below and plan how to enjoy the celebrations. Remember - this year is billed to be Cozumel’s biggest and best Carnival yet!