Cancún Nightlife: A Guide to the Best Clubs and Live Music

By Liza Prado and Gary Chandler, authors of Moon Yucatán Peninsula

sunset over cancun — You don’t have to be on spring break to join in on the fun. Photo © yvesgagnon1974/iStock.

Cancún’s most popular nightclubs are within walking distance of each other in the Zona Hotelera, at Punta Cancún. Downtown, meanwhile, has some great cocktail bars and nightclubs specializing in Latin music.

Cuncrawl does fun guided bar/club crawls in the heart of Cancún’s Zona Hotelera, hitting three different clubs (they vary by night) with VIP entrance and seating, unlimited drinks, and bottle service, over the course of five hours.

Nightclubs

Nightclubs in the Zona Hotelera charge US$60-80 admission with open bar included. Most clubs are open every day, from around 10pm until 4am or later. Special events, like ladies night or bikini parties, vary by the day, club, and season; check the clubs’ websites or Facebook pages for the latest info and deals. Discounted tickets also are occasionally sold at concierge desks.

Zona Hotelera

Coco Bongo is a spectacular club featuring live rock and salsa bands, flying acrobats, and impersonators ranging from Beetlejuice to Freddy Mercury. For dancing, hit the main floor; for free-flowing drinks, reserve a seat in the VIP section.

Party at Coco Bongo in Cancún, Mexico. © Soeten, Dreamstime.

The City is a megaclub with three levels and a total capacity of 6,000 (and allegedly the world’s biggest disco ball). Be sure to take a whirl on the movable dance floor, which descends from the 3rd floor to the center of the club below. Open Friday only.

Palazzo books big-name DJs and draws raucous crowds. The interior has a sleek Vegas-like look, huge chandeliers, and a VIP section. Open Wednesday and Saturday only.

Mandala is an upscale club with indoor and outdoor areas for partying. There’s plenty of VIP seating in case you want to splurge on a private table (and better service).

Dady-O (Blvd. Kukulcán Km 9.5, tel. 998/883-3333) is, well, the daddy of Cancún’s nightclubs, with seven different “environments,” including laser shows, swimsuit contests, and theme parties on five different levels.

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Downtown

Grand Mambocafé is Cancún’s biggest Latin music club, and popular with locals, tourists, and expats alike. Live Latin music—mostly salsa, cumbia, and bachata—doesn’t start until midnight, but the crowds arrive earlier than that, spinning to recorded rhythms.

A popular gay nightclub, 11:11 Club Cancún features drag shows, go-go dancers, and DJs spinning pop and electronica until breakfast. There are drinks sold by the liter plus open bar specials too. Look for the rainbow signage on the building.

Bars and Live Music

Several of the major nightclubs feature live rock music and even big-name concerts, most notably Palazzo and CocoBongo, while the lounges and bars tend toward DJs or recorded music. Downtown, you’ll find smaller venues filled with locals.

Zona Hotelera

Congo Bar is about as lively as a bar can get without being called a club. Music is upbeat and drinks are plentiful. A conga line inevitably forms at some point (or points) and usually heads out the door and onto the street for a quick spin.

Old standbys Carlos n’ Charlie’s and Señor Frog’s both open at noon for meals and stay open until 3am for drinking, dancing, and general mayhem.

Cancún’s Zona Hotelera along a Caribbean beach, in Mexico. © Vadim_777, Dreamstime.

Downtown

Nomads is a hipster restaurant with a killer cocktail bar. The place itself feels like an old-world pub—wood-panel ceilings, brick walls, mismatched tile floors. Outside, a breezy patio has towering trees and twinkling lights. Thursday means open bar for just US$17. Look for the huge black duckling standing guard at the entrance.

Mixologists at Amarula con Acento Tropical serve up strong cocktails with a tropical flair: chili-rimmed glassware, floating seashells, anise stars, and bright flowers on top. Set in an old Cancún house, the bar has a 1920s-meets-hacienda style with art deco flair, tropical woodwork, and arches here and there. Head to the patio for cozy seating under the stars.

It may be the bullring but the Plaza de Toros is also a nightlife hotspot. Bars encircle the structure, selling cheap beer and finger food, many blasting Mexican rock and classics. A couple of food trucks park outside on weekends should you need something heftier to soak up your drinks. Most bars are open 3pm-3am daily.

On the southern end of Parque Las Palapas, La Terraza del Vino is a pleasant open-air wine bar that books live guitar soloists most nights starting at 9pm.

La Taberna is a locals’ sports bar with lots of big-screen TVs and drink and meals specials every night of the week. Free appetizers often come with each round of drinks.

Liza Prado

About the Author

Liza Prado was working as a corporate attorney when she took her love of travel and photography (and a leap of faith) to try travel journalism instead. Twenty years later, she has become an Americas expert, authoring almost 60 guidebooks plus countless articles and photographs to destinations in Latin America, the Caribbean, USA, and Canada.

Covering the Yucatán Peninsula was one of Liza’s first assignments and it remains one of her favorite places in the world. For this book, she dived through coral reefs and swam in crystalline cenotes, listened to howler monkeys and watched flamingos in flight; she also explored colonial cities and Maya ruins, ate countless salbutes and even walked in a two-mile-long Day of the Dead procession. A graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School, Liza lives in Denver, Colorado with her frequent coauthor Gary Chandler and their children, Eva and Leo.

Gary Chandler grew up in a small ski town south of Lake Tahoe, California. He earned his bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley, including a year abroad in Mexico City and Oaxaca. After graduation, Gary backpacked through much of Mexico and Central America, and later Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. His first guidebook assignment was covering the highlands of Guatemala, followed by assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere.

Gary has contributed to almost 40 guidebooks, many coauthored with wife and fellow travel writer/photographer Liza Prado. Between assignments, Gary earned a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University, worked as a news reporter and criminal investigator, and published numerous articles and blogs about travel in Latin America. He and Liza have two children and live in Colorado.

Learn more about this author

Gary Chandler

About the Author

Gary Chandler grew up in a small ski town south of Lake Tahoe, California. He earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley, and also studied abroad in Mexico City and Oaxaca. After graduation, Gary backpacked through much of Mexico and Central America, and later Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean. His first guidebook assignment was covering the highlands of Guatemala, which was followed by assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere.

Gary has contributed to almost 30 guidebooks, many coauthored with wife and fellow travel writer/photographer Liza Prado. Between assignments, Gary earned a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University, worked as a news reporter and criminal investigator, and published numerous articles and blogs about travel in Latin America. He and Liza have two children and live in Colorado.

Liza Prado was working as a corporate attorney in San Francisco when she decided to take a leap of faith and try travel writing and photography. Ten years later, she has coauthored 20 guidebooks and written dozens of feature articles and travel blogs to destinations throughout the Americas. Her photographs have been published by Moon Travel Guides and websites like Gogobot and Away.com.

Since her first visit to the region in the early 2000s, the Riviera Maya has remained one of Liza’s favorite places to travel. For this assignment, she dived on coral reefs and snorkeled through cenotes, climbed Maya ruins and toured monkey reserves, explored beach towns and fishing villages, caught a few local bands and listened to rock-star DJs – all with two kids in tow (well, at least part of the time).

A graduate of Brown University and Stanford Law School, Liza lives in Denver, Colorado, with husband and coauthor Gary Chandler and their children, Eva and Leo.

Learn more about this author