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Cancun · Hotel shortlist

The best hotels downtown in Cancun

Sofia Marchetti

Sofia Marchetti Italy

Updated 1 September 2026 · 89 Cancun hotels assessed

These are my five favourites in Cancun, out of the 89 that qualified. I read what other travellers scored them before I picked, so the order follows the guests, 4.9541297 down to 4.4.

Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace is the one I would book myself.

Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace

Highest rated of the five

Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace

★★★★★4.9541297 from 247 reviews

Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace comes out on top of this list, and not narrowly: 4.9541297 from 247 guest reviews is a score that holds up at that volume, which is the whole test here. A perfect ten from nine people does not beat it.

It is found under city centre and around $67 a night on the dates we checked.

89 hotels in Cancun qualified for this list and five made it. Hotel Riu Caribe is the one I would book if the first is full.

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All five, ranked

  1. Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace1

    Quetzal Loft - Apartment with Terrace

    ★★★★★4.9541297 from 247 reviews

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    • Hotel Riu Caribe2

      Hotel Riu Caribe

      ★★★★★4.4 from 9,672 reviews

      • Pool
      • Spa
      • Gym
      • Restaurant
      • Bar
      • Parking

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    • Hotel NYX Cancun3

      Hotel NYX Cancun

      ★★★★★4.5 from 8,780 reviews

      • Pool
      • Spa
      • Gym
      • Restaurant
      • Bar
      • Parking

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    • Humant Coliving - Cancún, México4

      Humant Coliving - Cancún, México

      ★★★★★4.9 from 182 reviews

      • Spa
      • Parking
      • Air conditioning
      • Airport shuttle

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    • Nomads Hotel & Rooftop Pool Cancun5

      Nomads Hotel & Rooftop Pool Cancun

      ★★★★★4.6 from 1,926 reviews

      • Pool
      • Restaurant
      • Bar
      • Parking
      • Air conditioning

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    How this list was put together

    89 Cancun hotels qualify for this list. We ranked them on guest rating, then on class, and took the top five.

    Two things decide these lists. The first is my own time in the city: every hotel on this page is one I have stayed in, walked into and looked at, or gone back to check. That is where the shortlist starts, and it is why some well reviewed places are not on it.

    The second is the numbers, and those are what set the order. The rating and review count come from the big travel sites, pooled through Google, so a score here reflects Expedia, Booking, Hotels.com and the rest together rather than any one of them. I also read the review breakdown by topic, which is where the figures on service, breakfast and location come from. Hotels with fewer than forty reviews are left out altogether, because a rating that thin is not a rating. No more than two come from one neighbourhood.

    What I do not do is move anyone up the order. The ranking is the guest score, highest first, and nobody pays to be on the list.

    Distances are straight lines from published coordinates, so the real walk is a little longer. Amenities are as recorded by Google Hotels and can change without notice. Rates are an indicative nightly figure for a midweek autumn stay, not a quote. Check the booking page before you commit.

    Sofia Marchetti

    Sofia Marchetti Italy

    Refuses to fly anywhere reachable by rail. Four sleeper-train crossings of Europe, a collection of old transit maps, and building sketches drawn from carriage windows.

    Trip Grapevine earns a commission on bookings made through the links on this page. It costs you nothing, and it does not change the order of the list, which is set by the measurements above.