The Rough Guides' Cancun & Cozumel Directions 1 (Rough Guide Directions)

small book with lots of information about cancun and cozumel. It also comes with a CD that you can put on your laptop and read the book digitaly

I just returned from a 2 week trip to the Yucatan peninsula. Starting off in Cancun and driving the cultural triangle route to the west to visit the Mayan ruins (Chichen Itza, Coba, Uxmal etc... and Spanish colonial cities (Merida, Valladolid etc...). For professional reasons I took along 4 travel guides (The Rough Guide to Cancun & Cozumel, DK's Eyewitness Top 10 Cancun & The Yucatan, Hidden Cancun & the Yucatan, and the Cadogan Yucatan & Mayan Mexico. In the past I've also used the frustrating Moon guide and weak Lonely Planet). Each of these travel guides has a different style and focus - some are pocket-sized reference guides to help the traveler find concise lists of sights to visit, places to eat, stay and shop without much in the way of history or background. Others are much more hefty (literally and literary) serious travel guides with extensive listings and a great deal of background information. Comparing the two types of guides is like comparing apples and oranges. Instead I believe each needs to be judged on it's own merits for the purpose each was obviously designed and the degree to which it suceeds in accomplishing that job. Personally I'm a fan of the consistent quality of Rough Guides. An intelligent, well researched and regularly updated series of generally hip orientated guides, the Rough Guide to Cancun & Cozumel is a good addition. Lots of photographs, a few very useable maps, a good simple layout of easy to access information regarding restaurants, bars, accommodations, shopping, sights along the Mayan Riviera but also covering the most famous Mayan ruins inland. This pocket sized book is a very convenient small size and the information inside is of course, a decent selection of recommendations with accompanying maps to find them. A small disc of directions and an ebook copy of the book is included but I didn't use it. For the general visitor relaxing in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel or Tulum who also wants a bit of extra information on interesting places to visit, it's ideal and very handy. Of course this guide is short on lengthy histories, more extensive recommendations and coverage of a wider area of the Yucatan peninsula. But the vast majority of North American or European visitors to this part of Mexico limit themselves to the area covered in this guide. A great many never actually buy a travel guide or think to explore much beyond the boundaries of the hotel zone or their all-inclusive unless they take an organised trip to Chichen Itza. However both the casual tourist and more intrepid traveler will find this pocket sized guide a useful reference companion. To some this book is ideal just to open eyes to the wonders of a bit of exploring further afield but not so much so that one wants to buy and carry a large serious and more expensive travel guide. To others, it works well as a small accompanying guide to use in combination with one of those thick guide books (I recommend the Cadogan Yucatan &