Cozumel, Mexico's Shopping & Fun Activities

The downtown area of San Miguel de Cozumel is the hub of activities ranging from shopping and dining to meeting up with your tour & attraction guides to snorkel, scuba dive, take a sailboat ride, parasail, have a dolphin encounter, meet the friendly stingrays, stand up paddle, ride in a small submarine to 100-feet depth, a glass bottom boat and enjoy land activities such as horseback riding, car, motorbike and ATV rentals. For the sedentary crowd there are easy tours making stops at beaches and attractions.

If shopping is your thing, tourist shops sell souvenir key chains, shot glasses, T-shirts and knick knack gifts, though you may find fantastic deals in original art and other items. Keep in mind that Cozumel has practically no manufacturing—food and manufactured goods are shipped from the mainland to the island—which means your souvenirs and treasures were probably made somewhere else.

I wandered into a jewelry boutique, enticed by several human window mannequins draped in diamond-studded earrings, rings and necklaces. Intending to spend no more than $50, I began to browse, but not without being escorted to the table in the back with complimentary tequila. I found a necklace with a synthetic stone I liked at the right price, and bought it as my souvenir to take home. Before you start your negotiations, be sure not to drink too much of the "fire water."  Diamonds, black coral and tanzanite are several of the gems that island shops tend to specialize in.

If fun in the sun is what you seek, the optimal time to visit Cozumel with least amount of rain is December through May during the dry season. According to its municipal website, "Cozumel is constantly crossed by tropical waves that generate wind belts causing torrential rains mainly in the summer."

The weather during my December trip was fantastic (not too hot or humid and no rain.) Plan as you can but if it rains, there are a few attractions such as shopping, dining, dropping into a local cathedral or attending Museo de la Isla de Cozumel (The Island of Cozumel Museum) where you can spend time indoors. As long as your attraction operator declares it's safe to be in the water, diving and aquatic sports will get you wet, anyway.

Cozumel, Mexico is a diver's paradise...>>