At the beginning of 2022, my family and I went to Cancún for a week where we stayed in the Royal Solaris Hotel on the hotel strip. We arrived late into the Cancun airport after a day full of travel where we then had to wait in line at the baggage counter as my bag decided it didn't want to make the full trip. With that being said, we were unable to book tours for our first day in Mexico, so La Isla was the first trip of the week.
We hopped onto one of the local busses, paid the 12 pesos per person, and headed to La Isla. The bus ride was quick and painless as we were the only riders at the time. We hopped off the bus about 10 minutes later and embarked on our adventure for the day. We were well aware that La Isla was a tourist destination full of stores, souvenir shops, and, of course, a Starbucks.
Walking into the shopping center, we were presented with bright, colorful shops, canals like those in Amsterdam (but much smaller), and beautiful murals painted on the sides of the buildings.
My first stop was Starbucks (don't come for me, it was for one of the 'You are Here' mugs [and maybe a coffee]) and then we were off. Since we didn't have a set plan for the day, we meandered around until we happened upon the aquarium. We looked at each-other, shrugged, and bought tickets to enter.
I don't know about you, but I love aquariums. We walked in, put on some hand sanitizer, and marveled in the fish and ocean-life that was there. My personal favorite was the giant puffer fish that greeted us as soon as we walked into the building. The aquarium had two sections, the first being that of a normal aquarium where you walk through and see the ocean life that is on exhibit, and then the second section was comprised of interactive exhibits where you were able to touch manta rays, needle fish, and starfish, to name a few. They also had an entire interactive experience where you can swim with the dolphins and learn their hand signals from the trainers. We didn't swim with the dolphins, but we watched as others interacted with them and the trainers had them do their tricks for some fish. There was also an experience where you would be able to utilize one of those scuba helmets that go to your shoulders and can go on an aquarium trek with some of the fish!
After the aquarium, we hit a couple of souvenir shops and then stumbled upon a wax museum where, of course, we bought tickets.
My mom and I had been to a wax museum when we were in Krakow, Poland, so we thought it would be fitting to go to this one as well. The wax museum had a ton of different rooms filled with wax figures that ranged from The Simpsons to Mr. Bean to Edward Scissor Hands. While it didn't take us too long to make our way through the museum, I thoroughly enjoyed the museum.
Before we went on to our last activity of the day, we went to Cancun Lighthouse Restaurant for lunch. The food was amazing as were the drinks. They have a large seafood menu as well as options for those who are not too keen on sea food, like me. Our waiter was also super helpful with some amazing recommendations for snorkeling, day trips, and local attractions. I would definitely recommend the Cancun Lighthouse Restaurant for anyone who is looking for a sit-down restaurant at La Isla.
The final stop was to El Sol De Cancún. The ferris wheel's trip included 3 laps and 15 minutes. It allowed us to see Cancún, the hotel strip, the Caribbean Sea, and Nichupté Lagoon from 70 meters in the air. The views were beautiful and definitely worth the price.
Overall, La Isla was a fun place to go and walk around for the day. If you are looking for somewhere to go, away from your hotel, La Isla is a great option for shopping, eating, drinking, and fun activities that won't break the bank!
Below is the TLDR recommendations based on what we did at La Isla as well as other activities we saw while we were there
TLDR Recommendations:
Food and Drink: Cancún Lighthouse Restaurant, Taco Grill La Isla
Activities: El Sol de Cancún, Cancún Interactive Aquarium, Cancún Wax Museum, Tequila Museum
Shop: Señor Frog's Official Store, Louis Vuitton, Birkenstocks, Miscellaneous Souvenir Shops
Travel on!
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