The Top Cheap Hotels to Book in Cancún

This family house is tucked away in a quiet residential backstreet in the southern suburbs of Cancún city. It feels like a B&B: rooms are very simple but bright, with light spilling in from full-length French windows that open to small balconies and an internal courtyard. They are pleasant to behold, too, decorated with stencil art and painted in whitewash and Mexican egg-yolk-yellows. Staff, who keep them meticulously clean, are warm and helpful and serve a great Mexican breakfast. The beach is 3mi (5km) away.

This branch of the international flashpacker hostel-meets-digital-nomad-den sits in the heart of downtown Cancún, a 20-minute bus ride from the beach. It’s as spacious, well kitted-out and brand-conscious as its sister hostels worldwide – with an outdoor patio bar separated by wattle stick partitions and raw wood, reminiscent of a beach palapa. Dorms and rooms with en-suites keep things cool with whitewash and muted tones or distressed concrete hung with poster art. There’s a pool and yoga deck and dance-party bar.

The best thing about this plush family home – set in a townhouse on a residential street a few blocks from the landward side of Cancún’s lagoon – is the garden swimming pool. It’s large enough to contain a small island (occupied entirely by two shady palms). Rooms are super-pared down and plain – we’re talking tiled floors and cream walls – but they have fitted wooden wardrobes and plenty of shelf space. Beaches are a 10-minute cab ride away, and there are cake shops, restaurants, cafes and a supermarket within 15 minutes’ walk.

This simple hotel has been receiving guests for more than 30 years, and the local owners have honed their formula for good-value Cancún stays down to a fine art. Rooms in tile and creams offset by anodyne wall art are simple – with little more than beds and a chest of drawers, but they are well-kept. The restaurant serves big breakfasts, huevos rancheros and Yucatecan dishes. There are shops and other services nearby. Buses and cabs leave for the beach just outside the door, and there’s even a beach club.

This hotel has the spick-and-span, smart anonymity of an airport property, albeit one with an appealing pool. Simple rooms are decked out in modern, clean whites and warm woods, with bright blocks of primary color from bedspreads. Those facing east have over-the-lagoon-views to the serrated skyline of the Zona Hotelera and the tantalizing turquoises and blues of the Caribbean Sea. This is easy to reach. The property stands beside the fast and convenient Carretera – and cabs can whisk you to the beach in minutes.

The best things about the Antillano? The pool and sun lounge/patio, as well as the location: staying here you’re only minutes away from Boulevard Kukulcan, the road running behind Cancún’s 14mi (22km) beach. The hotel is on a quiet side street close to restaurants and shops and a pretty little public park with street-food stalls. Rooms are very straightforward – in whitewash and terracotta, with en-suites, bed and cable TV. Stays include a modest buffet breakfast.

In a great location – less than 1mi (1.5km) from Boulevard Kukulcan – the main road to Cancún’s long stretch of beach, Ambiance Suites rolls out guest house amenities with a few contemporary touches. Rooms are very simple, in contemporary soft creams and light yellows, with quality floor tiles, wall-high windows and modern granite-lined en-suites with walk-in showers. Suites come with separate living areas with a glass dining table and linen sofas. There’s a decent restaurant and a tiny pool set in a palm-tree shaded garden patio.

It’s a 20-minute drive to the best beach from Santa Fe, but the hotel is a bargain. There are malls and restaurants five minutes’ walk away, and a rooftop pool, sheltered behind tall walls on a townhouse patio. Rooms are business-inn subtle – all greys and whites, with colorful scatter cushions and comfy wood-frame beds. The best have tall windows opening onto balcony-terraces with a table and chairs. Some have kitchenettes (there are supermarkets in the mall across the road). All have en-suites.