Cancun (Mexico)

Cancun is a famous beach town by the Caribbean sea, the area is also called Riviera Maya. The town is called party and beach town but it's also a good place to make shopings. For some tourists it's too touristic but it's good to remember that there are two sides in Cancun, first the hotel zone area and the downtown. The hotel zone area by the Caribbean sea is very touristic, full of fancy hotels, restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, Coco Bongo. Sometimes you wonder if you're even in Mexico there. It's very American but the most tourists come from USA so you understand it. You can find some nice beaches over there but The Coco Bongo beach that is said to be the best one is too crowded and noisy to me. In the beginning of the Hotel Zone area is a nice, small quiet beach and there's even a library well you can take books for reading from there. The most people are locals or Mexican tourists and it's nice to watch how Mexicans spend time on the beach.
About 10-20 minutes bussdrive from the hotel zone area is the Downtown. My favourite area in Cancun, There you can also feel Mexican culture. You're able to find nice small Mexican restaurants, nice clothing shops, other shops and the prices are lower in the downtown than in the hotel zone. I always stay in the Hostel in the downtown and there are many good ones with a good price.The buses go regularly to the Hotel Zone area 24/7.
I recommend to visit Cancun but please stay in the downtown area. If you want to party and enjoy beach life Cancun is your place. But if you're only looking for Beach Life then there are much better beaches in Mexico. I've been to Cancun many times, the first time in summer 2010 and the last time 2 weeks ago. It's interesting mixture of Mexican and American culture.