Café
La Casa de las Mayoras
A homely vegetarian Mexican restaurant in Donceles 28, listed in the 2026 Michelin Guide, best known for breakfasts with handmade tortillas.
A family-run downtown coffee house in a converted home near Mercado 28, roasting Chiapas arabica every week and serving frappés, paninis and homemade bread.
Good to know
Café con Gracia is one of downtown Cancún's favourite independent coffee houses, a family project that opened on 20 December 2013. It was founded by Karla Alzaga, who brought her background in design and art, and Omar Rodríguez, a barista and mixologist, and their aim was a homely café with good coffee and products a little different from the usual offer.
The coffee is the main reason to go. The house blend is 100 per cent arabica from the Soconusco region of Chiapas, grown at between 1,400 and 1,650 metres, and the beans arrive green and are roasted in Cancún every Thursday. The result is an espresso the café describes as fresh, with medium acidity. Alongside the espresso drinks there is tea, and a long list of frappés, with more than 30 flavours ranging from key lime pie and Nutella to arroz con leche.
Food runs to homemade baked goods and handmade bread, bagels, paninis, waffles and desserts, including cuernitos, Mexico's take on the croissant. It works equally well for breakfast, a light lunch or an evening coffee, as the café opens daily from 8:00 to 23:00.
The setting is part of the charm. Café con Gracia occupies a former house on Avenida Tankah, with a garden at the back, a terrace at the front and cosy rooms inside, decorated in a playful style. There are books to read or buy, and the café hosts events, including a free Saturday gathering at midday called El Gallo, so check its social media for what is on. The website has sections on the team, the café's spaces and the full menu, and the founders' background in design and mixology shows in both the decoration and the drinks.
It suits remote workers, couples and friends meeting for coffee, and anyone staying downtown who wants a relaxed place to sit for an hour.
The café is close to Mercado 28, so it makes a good break before or after browsing the market's craft stalls and seafood counters. Café Nader, with its half-hourly batches of sweet bread, and the downtown branches of Rooster are also nearby if you want to compare Cancún's coffee houses.
It opened on 20 December 2013 as a family project.
The house blend is 100 per cent arabica from Soconusco in Chiapas, roasted in Cancún every Thursday.
Daily from 8:00 to 23:00.
At Avenida Tankah 69 in downtown Cancún, near Mercado 28.
Yes, homemade bread and baked goods, bagels, paninis, waffles and desserts.
Yes, in more than 30 flavours.
Yes, a front terrace and a back garden.
Yes, including a free Saturday midday gathering called El Gallo.
Bar
Cancún's famous show nightclub in Punta Cancún, mixing an open bar with acrobats, tribute acts and Broadway-style productions until the early hours.
Thing to do
A short ferry hop from Cancún to a narrow seven-kilometre island of beaches, golf carts and Maya history, sacred in the past to the goddess Ixchel.
Restaurant
Downtown Cancún's long-running garden restaurant, open since 1977, serving Yucatecan and Caribbean dishes among Maya-style stelae and statues.
Attraction
INAH's Maya museum in the Hotel Zone, opened in 2012, with Quintana Roo's key archaeological finds and the San Miguelito ruins in its grounds.