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Cancun’s Top Beaches Extend Opening Hours During Holiday Period

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Travelers headed to Cancun over the Christmas holidays will be able to enjoy some of the city’s top beaches after officials announced that they would be extending their opening hours from 9 am to 6 pm. The decision has been warmly welcomed by visitors and locals alike, who will be able to enjoy the Mexican Caribbean’s plentiful sunshine for several more hours compared to before.

View of Cancun beach with clear water and sand

This week authorities announced that several of Cancun’s top-rated beaches would see their opening hours extended over the busy holiday period. The decision was made to allow travelers and residents to make the most of their Christmas vacation and enjoy some of the world’s most renowned beaches.

The new opening hours will apply to the city’s Blue-Flag-certified beaches – which total seven – including Chac Mool and Playa Delfines. It’s all thanks to local authorities from the Benito Juárez municipality – where Cancun is located – who are in charge of maintaining the city’s public beaches. 

Stunning beach with palm trees and blue water

Under the new guidelines, more public services will be available in all 7 of Cancun’s Blue-Flag beaches from 9 am until 6 pm. This includes, among other things, regular cleaning, customer service, lifeguards, and enhanced police patrols. 

In a statement published earlier this week by ZOFEMAT, a local environmental authority, the goal of the new measure is to allow tourists to enjoy seaside activities, including snorkeling, sunbathing, and of course – swimming. By extending the operating hours of the city’s public beaches, travelers will benefit from a greater array of services, including bars and restaurants as well as on-duty lifeguards.

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Workers Cleaning Sargassum from Playa del Carmen Beach wit wheelbarrows and shovels.

Cancun’s beaches’ extended opening hours will remain in effect during most of the holiday period, from December 12 all the way until January 6th, 2023. The period, known locally as Guadalupe – Reyes, sees the highest number of travelers flock to the sun-soaked tropical destination. 

All of Cancun’s Blue-Flag beaches are open to the public and currently include Playa del Nino, Playa Ballenas, Playa Coral, Playa Chac Mool, Playa Delfines, Playa Marlín, and Playa las Perlas. Cancun prides itself on being the city with the most Blue-Flag beaches nationwide, an accolade the location has consistently held for several years. Whilst Cancun’s Blue-Flag beaches are public, several of the city’s luxury resorts have private beaches that are off-limits for the general public.

Blue flag sign in Cancun beach

Blue-Flag beaches must meet extremely high environmental and cleanliness standards, and authorities regularly conduct clean-up efforts in order to retain the certification. A thorough analysis is conducted yearly to determine which beaches meet the requirements, and in Cancun, officials have made keeping public beaches in impeccable condition.

Panoramic view of Cancun beaches and waters

There’s plenty of good news for sun-seeking travelers headed to Cancun this winter. Earlier this month, officials announced that the sargassum season had finally come to an end. After fighting near-record amounts of the pesky seaweed this year, beachgoers can now enjoy spotless public beaches across not only Cancun but also the Mexican Caribbean.

Travelers Waiting for Flights at Cancun Airport. One woman is in the background looking out the window, while others are sitting and waiting.

Cancun keeps its beaches in tip-top condition thanks to a team of over a hundred cleaners that work around the clock to keep beaches clean. During busy travel periods, such as summer and Christmas, the city ramps up cleaning efforts to keep trash at bay. Whilst natural residue like sargassum can pose an issue to tourists, so can artificial pollution like plastic and glass, which can also endanger the area’s delicate ecosystem. 

Clean beach with blue waters and sunbathing facilities

Officials have also launched a new security operation over the holiday period, deploying hundreds of troops and law enforcement personnel across busy hotspots. Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum are expected to receive the lion’s share of the new deployments, and police officers will regularly patrol popular beaches to deter criminals. 

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