Parque de las Palapas

This guide to Parque de las Palapas in Cancún opens with a mismatch: a square named for palm-thatched shelters torn down about twenty five years ago. It traces the plaza's start in the 1970s as downtown's first real gathering place beside the Cristo Rey church, through decades of rebuilds including a major 2024 overhaul. Family food stalls, mariachi bands and folk dance troupes fill the square most evenings. Best heard around six, as the griddles for tacos and marquesitas come out.