Hotel B Unique | Cozumel, México

It may be surprising that Cozumel, the 30-mile-long island just off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula that is one of the world’s busiest cruise ship destinations, can still feel comfortably uncrowded, peaceful and even wild. Go beyond the sometimes-thronging piers in the main town of San Miguel to swim above car-size spotted eagle rays, stroll the deserted dunes of the east coast and explore milleniums-old Mayan ruins, now ruled by iguanas. An effort to shift the tourist culture is emerging: Island leaders are trying to lure more multiple-night guests, and this year, the government halted a project to build a fourth cruise-ship pier on the west shore reef, following citizen protests. As you’re crunching fresh fish tacos at sunset, watching the cruise ships disappear over the Caribbean Sea, feel sorry for the daytrippers missing out on a longer stay.


KEY STOPS
● Rafael E. Melgar Avenue in the main town of San Miguel is ideal for strolling, sipping a cocktail and watching the fiery sun melt into the watery horizon.
● Wild beaches on the east coast like Playa Chumul front a vast mangrove forest, so the air is salty with the aroma of sunbaked wood.
● Playa Mantarrayas is a public beach on the south end of San Miguel where athletes and snorkelers mingle and enjoy a marked swimming route.


ATTRACTIONS AND OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
● San Gervasio is the only Mayan archeological site on the island maintained for the public. Its 18 mapped remnants of structures offer a fascinating look into a well-organized city that thrived in the center of the island 1,000 years ago.
● The Cozumel Museum is filled with fascinating displays on endemic species, religious ceremonies of the Mayans, shipwrecks around the island, and more.
● Playa Palancar is a laid-back beach club under a thatched-roof pavilion on the south end of the island.


RESTAURANTS AND BARS
● Jungle by Tikila is a small waterfront restaurant above a dive center that has a sensational view of cruise ships, expert cocktails and first-rate fish tacos.
● Cerveceria KUSAM is a new craft beer bar on a lively corner in town serving tacos filled with grilled fish or marinated pork, thick tortilla chips and excellent sauces.
● Sol de Maple is one of the few purely vegan restaurants on the island, with tasty cauliflower tacos, tangy green chile enchiladas and rich chocolate cake. No alcohol.
● Cerveceria Punta Sur is a buzzy bar that opened as the island’s first microbrewery in 2017. Find refreshments like lionfish pizza, ceviche, salad with pear and caramelized walnuts, and a freshly brewed I.P.A.
● At La Estrella, fishermen friends of the owner bring daily catches for the tasty ceviche, fish pies and tostadas on the budget-friendly menu.
● Guido’s is an upscale Swiss-Italian eatery, serving seafood, wood-fired pizza and housemade pastas, where all the locals seem to know one another.
● Restaurante El Cedral is a daytime neighborhood restaurant with a charming garden aesthetic featuring plants, outdoor patio furniture and mismatched tables. It serves homestyle fare like coconut muffins called queques.
● El Rincón de Addy is tucked in a tranquil backyard with an open kitchen and hand-painted tables set with authentic Mexican dishes.


SHOPPING
● Los Cinco Soles has a handsomely displayed plethora of handmade jewelry, pottery, traditional toys and Day of the Dead figures from communities across Mexico. Pancho's Backyard cafe, in a courtyard behind the retail showrooms, features local musicians playing marimba daily.
● Sergio’s Silver from Taxco is a fourth-generation jewelry store glittering with original silver earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces, including a design that looks like pearls from afar.
● The Artisans Market at Benito Juarez Park, held nights on Friday through Sunday, hosts a couple of dozen tents and tables offering jewelry, sculptures, watercolors, lamps and more.


WHERE TO STAY
● Ventanas al Mar is the only hotel on the east coast shore, so the views from the family-run gem are of an empty swelling sea and secluded sand dunes shielding the beach. The 18 rooms with plush beds are all uniquely furnished, many with a balcony overlooking the sea, patterned tiles and handmade hammocks. Rooms start at 3,800 pesos, or about $207.
● Hotel B Unique is a sleek, modern and adults-only boutique hotel on the northwest coast that offers yoga and spa treatments along with 27 rooms, most with a sea view. The bright, spacious Ocean Front Grand rooms have terraces with hammocks. Rooms start at about $180 (prices here, as at many other hotels, are advertised in U.S. dollars). The adjoining Hotel B Cozumel welcomes families.
● Casa Mexicana is on the waterfront in San Miguel with a breezy multistory lobby and front-row view of massive cruise ships docked at Punta Langosta. Sixteen of the 88 rooms face the sea. Rooms start at $142, and include the popular breakfast buffet.
● For short-term rentals, the town of San Miguel has plenty of homes and apartments on quiet back streets.


GETTING AROUND
● You can rent a Jeep or topless-doorless car for $70 to $100 (U.S. dollars are widely accepted on the island, and prices for services are advertised in either dollars or pesos) a day from kiosks on San Miguel’s main plaza. You can find a scooter for $20 a day from multiple shops in town (the often-deserted, one-way coastal road on the west side between the InterContinental resort and the Chulas beach club, is a delightful ride that alternates between sea-hugging and tree-canopied stretches.)
● Taxis are plentiful, and most drivers speak English and charge set rates for rides from town to popular spots like Punta Sur at the bottom of the island for 800 pesos, or Chen Rio on the east coast for 400 pesos.


ITINERARY

Friday

4:30 p.m. Get in the water
The often-ideal weather and clear sea make Cozumel a hub for sporting events, including the Ironman triathlon, GFNY Cozumel cycling race and the Oceanman Cozumel swim race. Get in the water where the athletes train at Playa Mantarrayas, a narrow public beach of rock and sand on the island’s west coast and at the south end of San Miguel. There, you can swim or snorkel along a mile-long course between two big piers that’s safe from boat traffic and marked by buoys for several hundred yards. Hover 10 to 25 feet deep above a sea floor dotted with purple sea fans and green urn-like formations. If you’re lucky, you’ll share the reef with a green sea turtle or massive spotted eagle ray gracefully gliding by.



6 p.m. Sip cocktails at sunset
The west coast has the calm sea, sunsets and, along San Miguel’s waterfront, restaurants and bars with stunning views such as Jeanie’s (which has a dock from which you can snorkel) and aqui + ahora rooftop. It’s also where you can witness, in awe or horror, the comings and goings of the world’s biggest cruise ships while sipping a superb mezcal cocktail (about 200 pesos, or $10) on the deck at Jungle by Tikila, just north of the international cruise terminal. Behold the towering boats longer than a New York City block, including the world’s largest, Royal Caribbean’s 20-deck Icon of the Seas. Ship horns bellow around sunset before cruising in seeming silence out to the blue horizon.



7:30 p.m. Combine a pint with a lionfish pizza
On a Mexican island, tacos and seafood are perfect sustenance. In town, you can find delicious fish tacos with corn tortillas at the brewpub Cerveceria KUSAM, battered and deep-fried cauliflower tacos at the vegan Sol de Maple, and grilled fish at Azul Madera. For an exceptional wood-fired pizza with lionfish (an invasive species), capers and dried chiles (295 pesos), head to Cerveceria Punta Sur. Opened in 2017 by a Mexican entrepreneur and his American wife, the neighborhood dive-bar-meets-pizza-parlor is a pioneer in craft brewing on the island, with a rotating selection of beers made by the couple using filtered water from an on-site well (pint, about 100 pesos).



9 p.m. Browse a night market
Cozumel is pretty sedate on the nightlife (unless it is Carnival, in February or March). Skip the American pop-and-rock cover bands at the bars off a public square in front of the ferry terminal; instead, walk to the adjacent Benito Juarez Park and support local artisans at the night craft market (from around 5 to 10 p.m., Friday through Sunday). Try the cheesecake with melted caramel (80 pesos) at Valentine’s table, staffed by the baker Valentina Arceo and her mother, Azalia Canul. And check out Fusión-Arte, where Arianne Garduño sells her clear crystal resin magnets encasing seashells (100 pesos) and her sculptor husband, Josué Estrada, displays fiberglass and polyester resin pieces in the forms of skulls and sharks (500 to 2,500 pesos). His public artwork includes the giant swallows in front of the ferry entrance.



FUENTE / SOURCE: New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/13/travel/things-to-do-cozumel.html

Photographs by Tony Cenicola