Cancun Holiday

Cancun & the Yucatan For Dummies (Dummies Travel)
$17.99
I bought this guide book to learn more about the Yucatan Peninsula. Apart from Chichen Itza, the book only covers Quintana Roo, and really only the beaches. The sparse chapter on the ruins only covers 3 ruins, because "of course, most of these smaller ruins aren't of interest to the casual observer because they're mere mounds of earth ..." How wrong the book is on this. People wax rhapsodic about UXmal, and are excited by the new discoveries at Ek Balem. I bought it at a going out of business sale, and wish I hadn't succombed to the temptation. I notice that Merida is a suggested tag -- it isn't even in the Index.

Frommer's Cancun, Cozumel & the Yucatan 2008 (Frommer's Complete)
$18.99
I'm headed to Cancun soon and was looking for a comprehensive guide to Cancun. While the title of this guide starts with Cancun, the guide covers all of the Yucatan.... the section on Cancun is only 15 or so pages. I was disappointed with the limited infomation on Cancun... a handful of restaurant recommendations.... brief, not very informative descriptions of the outdoor activities... it's more of a general overview instead of the in depth guide I wanted...

Adventure Guide to the Yucatan, Cancun & Cozumel
$19.99
This is a great guide. I've been to the Yucatan and Cozumel many times, and have family who live there. Still I found new places to go and things to do using this guide. I recommend it over the other guides out there. Some of the other guides claiming to be for the current year (2007-2008) list restaurants that closed down 2 or 3 years ago as favorites. It doesn't seem like the reviewers have actually been to the area. This guide really does seem to be from first hand experience. The descriptions are honest and informative.

Cancun, Cozumel & the Yucatan (Regional Guide)
$19.99
I felt like the guide could have had more detail in terms of budget hotels or hostels. I ended up staying in places I found on hostelworld.com that weren't even listed in the Lonely Planet guide. In terms of scuba diving in Cozumel, the book listed only two recommendations, including the random name of a person the writer had met back in 2006 when he was doing his research. Turns out there are over one hundred dive shops in Cozumel that offer to take people out on trips of varying lengths.

The food suggestions in the guidebook were good. The maps of the cities were helpful as were the transportation information tables. The descriptions of the ruins weren't enough to go by without hiring a guide. Still, it was better than the Frommer's guidebook that my sister brought with her.