Cancun Yacht Rentals MexicoNichupte Lagoon: The Cancun Lagoon Between the Hotel Zone and Downtown
The Nichupte Lagoon is the body of water that fills the inside of Cancun's number 7. The Hotel Zone sits on a sandy strip between this Cancun lagoon on the west and the Caribbean Sea on the east, and the lagoon connects to the sea through two dredged channels. This guide covers the lagoon's size, its protected mangroves, its crocodiles, the bridge that now crosses it, the water quality findings, and what you can actually do on the water, from kayak paddles to the shared Sunset Lagoon Yacht Cruise. If you are shopping for a boat rather than a lagoon, the Cancun yacht rentals homepage compares the full fleet, and its where the boats leave section lists every marina.
Evening light over Nichupte Lagoon behind the Hotel Zone. Photo: sergejf, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Quick answer Nichupte Lagoon at a glance
The Nichupte Lagoon is the shallow lagoon system on the landward side of Cancun's Hotel Zone, a system of seven water bodies covering over 3,000 hectares, with depths from 10 to 30 cm on the shoals to up to 4 m in the dredged channels. It is framed by protected mangrove and holds crocodiles, so swimming is described as not advisable. Boating, kayaking and sunset cruises are the main draws.
Key takeaways
- The adult-only Sunset Lagoon Yacht Cruise spends 2 hours on the Nichupte Lagoon and the Bay of Cancun with an open bar, from $148 per person.
- Prefer the open sea? The Sunset Sailing Cruise is a 2-hour sail with an open bar and appetizers from $89 per person.
- Crocodiles live here and sightings near docks and golf courses are common, so follow the wildlife rules in the crocodile and mangrove section.
What the Nichupte Lagoon Is
The lagoon is the quiet water side of Cancun, the side of the Hotel Zone that faces away from the Caribbean.
Where It Sits and How Big It Is
The Nichupte Lagoon system lies at about 21 06 N and 86 47 W, separated from the Caribbean by a sandy tombolo, the strip that was a mangrove-covered barrier island before 1970 and now runs 22.5 km from Punta Cancun to Punta Nizuc with over 190 hotels and more than 35,000 rooms on it. The system holds seven water bodies: Cuenca Norte, Cuenca Central, Cuenca Sur, Laguna Bojorquez, Rio Ingles, Laguneta del Mediterraneo and Laguna del Amor, together covering over 3,000 hectares of water. A 1995 botanical study describes the whole system as roughly 12 km wide by 21 km long.
It is a marine lagoon. The water is mostly clear and of marine origin, with brackish pockets in the east where underground freshwater seeps in. The system connects to the sea through two dredged navigation channels, the Cancun channel to the north and the Nizuc channel to the south, Tides outside have an amplitude of 0.2 m, and the channels reduce the tidal range inside the lagoon to just 0.03 m.
The mangrove around the lagoon is protected. The Manglares de Nichupte protected area was decreed in the Diario Oficial de la Federacion on 26 February 2008 for the municipality of Benito Juarez, covering 4,257.4985 hectares in 12 polygons, the largest of them 3,756.18 hectares. Four mangrove types grow here: red, black, buttonwood and white. CONANP says these mangroves help sustain the reefs of the Costa Occidental de Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun y Punta Nizuc National Park next door, and restoration work since 2008 has reforested over 30 hectares with more than 175,000 trees and propagules at an 87.8 percent success rate.
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| System size | About 12 km wide by 21 km long | 1995 botanical study |
| Water area | Over 3,000 hectares in seven water bodies | Mexico Desconocido |
| Depths | 10 to 30 cm on shoals, 1 to 2 m in basins, up to 4 m in channels | 1995 botanical study |
| Protected mangrove area | 4,257.4985 hectares in 12 polygons, decreed 26 February 2008 | Diario Oficial de la Federacion |
| Tidal range inside the lagoon | 0.03 m, against 0.2 m at sea | 1995 botanical study |
| Navigation channels | Two, the Cancun channel to the north and the Nizuc channel to the south | 1995 botanical study |
Why the Marinas Care About It
Several Hotel Zone marinas are listed along this lagoon. Marina Aquatours sits at km 6.5 of Boulevard Kukulcan, Marina Chac Chi is listed at km 3.2, and Marina Kaybal and Marina Albatros are both listed at km 3.5. Marina Las Perlas is listed at km 2.5, and Puerto Cancun marina at km 1.5 offers 175 berths. One 46 ft charter meets guests at Marina Sunset Lagoon and another at Marina Puesta del Sol. The full list with berths and facilities is in the where the boats leave section of the yacht rentals in Cancun homepage.
A private yacht from the Cancun lagoon marinas takes 30 to 40 minutes to reach Isla Mujeres per Cancun Trip Insider. The lagoon mangrove channels themselves are named by getmyboat as a top nearby charter destination, so the water inside the system is not just a corridor, it is part of the trip.
Sources: Diario Oficial de la Federacion, CONANP
On the Lagoon: Boats, Kayaks and Sunsets
The lagoon is the water behind the Hotel Zone, separated from the Caribbean by the hotel strip.
What You Can Do
The activities listed for the lagoon include boat rides, kayaking, jet skiing and flyboarding, and speedboat jungle tours run from marinas such as Marina Aquatours at km 6.5. Note that swimming in the lagoon is described as not advisable, so these are all boats-first activities. No kayak or stand up paddle operators on the lagoon are named here, so if you want a paddle, ask at the marinas along Boulevard Kukulcan.
The clearest bookable product on this lagoon is the Sunset Lagoon Yacht Cruise: a shared 2-hour sunset yacht for adults only, at $148 per person, departing from marina offices at Blvd. Kukulcan km 12.5, Plaza La Isla. It includes an open bar with alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, a host and music. It does not include food, there is no hotel pickup, and the price is per person, not per boat. Free cancellation is available 24 hours ahead.
Sunset Cruises and the Yachts Passing Through
Two sunset options sit side by side in the catalog. The lagoon cruise above runs on the Nichupte Lagoon and the Bay of Cancun itself, adults only. The Sunset Sailing Cruise is a 2-hour shared sail at $89 per person with an open bar, gourmet appetizers and an optional hotel shuttle, minimum age 10 years. If you want a bigger party format, the shared Dancer Cruise to Isla Mujeres is a 7-hour catamaran day at $119 per person with breakfast, a fajita lunch and a premium open bar, though its route heads to the island rather than the lagoon.
Private charters use the lagoon as their doorway. From a Hotel Zone marina a private yacht takes 30 to 40 minutes to reach Isla Mujeres, and the two channels that let it do that are part of this system. Guests are advised to arrive 15 to 20 minutes before departure at the marina, and dock fees, usually paid in cash at the marina, come on top of most charter prices. For the full fleet and what each boat costs, start at the Cancun yacht rentals homepage.
Nichupte Lagoon in Cancun
A short look at Nichupte Lagoon behind the Cancun Hotel Zone. Third-party video by Nomadic Vanman. This site did not shoot it and has no relationship with the creator.
Crocodiles, Mangroves and Rules
This is a working ecosystem, a protected one, and it has a large reptile living in it.
Wildlife and How to Behave Around It
Wildlife in the system includes crocodiles, iguanas, leopard frogs, and local and migratory birds. The crocodile is listed under NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 within the protected area. Sightings are common near docks, golf courses and road edges, and the authorities' advice is clear: do not feed them and do not approach them for photos. Crocodiles and kayaks share the same water, so keep your distance from the shoreline vegetation and never dangle gear or hands over the side near the mangroves.
The mangroves themselves are the reason the system exists in anything like a healthy state. The 4,257.4985 hectare decree protects low deciduous forest, mangrove, tular marsh and petenes. The bridge project used the Top Down building method to limit mangrove damage, drove a 700 m section onto 84 piles 30 m deep, crossed a cavern with a 100 m metal arch, and reports 306 hectares of mangrove rehabilitation plus 40 km of reopened canals.
Water Quality: Both Sides
Honesty matters here. The 1995 study describes the water as mostly clear and of marine origin, but a SICT water assessment done for the bridge's environmental study tells a harder story. It rated the system hypereutrophic on the TRIX index, found water quality poor in Bojorquez and Tajamar, named Laguna Bojorquez the most contaminated zone with caffeine 31 times above the lowest reading, and reported heavy metals, fecal residue and black water there.
Mexico Desconocido also notes that unregulated speedboat tours cause oil and trash pollution. Swimming is described as not advisable. The mangrove restoration of over 30 hectares since 2008 is the counterweight, and the trend depends on who you ask.
The New Nichupte Bridge
The Puente Vehicular Nichupte, the new bridge over this Cancun lagoon, was inaugurated by President Claudia Sheinbaum on 2 May. It is 11.2 km long in total, of which 8.8 km crosses the lagoon and 2.4 km is access roads and junctions. It carries three traffic lanes, one per direction and one reversible, plus a two-way bike path, and it is toll-free.
Construction ran from July 2022 to April, the bridge is rated at about 12,000 vehicles a day, and Excelsior reports an investment of 10,319 million pesos. It is described as the second longest bridge over water in Latin America after Brazil's Rio-Niteroi bridge. Sources differ on the time the bridge saves, so no single figure is printed here.
Its name answers one of Google's common questions: the new bridge in Cancun is called the Puente Vehicular Nichupte.
Sources: Por Esto, El Financiero
Sunset on Nichupte Lagoon. Photo: Mauro I Barea G, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Lagoon Tips: Do and Don't
Do
- Do book a boat rather than planning a swim, because activities on the lagoon are boat rides, kayaking, jet skiing and flyboarding, and swimming is described as not advisable.
- Do arrive 15 to 20 minutes before departure at the marina, because that is the timing operators advise for check-in before your boat leaves the dock.
- Do keep cash for dock and marina fees, because many charters list these as paid on top of the booking price, usually in cash at the marina.
- Do look for wildlife from a distance, because the protected area lists crocodiles and migratory birds among its species and watching from a boat keeps it that way.
- Do pick the lagoon for a sunset cruise if you want to stay off the open sea, because the Hotel Zone strip separates it from the Caribbean.
Don't
- Don't feed crocodiles or approach them for photos, because the authorities' guidance on lagoon crocodile sightings says exactly that.
- Don't assume a sunset cruise includes dinner, because the $148 Sunset Lagoon Yacht Cruise states food is not included and there is no hotel pickup.
- Don't book a lagoon tour expecting open-ocean snorkeling, because the lagoon depths run from 10 to 30 cm on shoals to 4 m in channels and the reefs lie outside the system.
- Don't treat the whole lagoon as clean bathing water, because the SICT assessment found water quality poor in Bojorquez and Tajamar and rated the system hypereutrophic.
Nichupte Lagoon FAQ
Where is the Nichupte Lagoon in Cancun?
It fills the inside of the Hotel Zone's number 7, with the 22.5 km hotel strip between it on the west and the Caribbean on the east, and downtown Cancun on the mainland beyond. The where the boats leave section maps the marinas along its shore.
Are there crocodiles in the Nichupte Lagoon?
Yes, crocodiles are listed among the system's wildlife and sightings are common near docks, golf courses and road edges, so do not feed them or approach for photos. The crocodile section above covers the wildlife rules.
Can you swim in the Nichupte Lagoon?
Swimming is described as not advisable, and a SICT assessment rated water quality poor in Bojorquez and Tajamar. Do it on a boat instead, such as the Sunset Lagoon Yacht Cruise, a 2-hour adults-only cruise with an open bar at $148 per person.
What is the name of the new bridge in Cancun?
The Puente Vehicular Nichupte, 11.2 km long with 8.8 km over the lagoon, inaugurated on 2 May and toll-free. This guide covers its length, its bike path and its mangrove safeguards.
What can you do on the Nichupte Lagoon?
Boat rides, kayaking, jet skiing, flyboarding, speedboat mangrove tours and sunset cruises. For a sunset on the water, the Sunset Sailing Cruise offers 2 hours with an open bar and appetizers from $89 per person.
Do Cancun yacht charters leave through the Nichupte Lagoon?
Some Hotel Zone marinas sit on or beside the lagoon, and a private yacht from the Cancun lagoon marinas takes 30 to 40 minutes to reach Isla Mujeres. Compare every private and shared boat on the Cancun yacht rentals homepage.