Cancun—Hold Your Breath! Extreme Sports to Try in Cancun

If you’re someone who loves the quickening of your pulse, the thrum of your heartbeat in your ears, and the hairs on the back of your neck perking up from a sense of danger and a hint of adventure, then pack your bags for Cancun. Sure, you can spend your trip sunbathing and feasting, but this beach town has more than a few extreme adventures too. Anyone can post a picture of themselves on the sand in Cancun, but why not post a picture of yourself flying above the sea, diving through the depths, and ziplining through the dense forest trees? You’re not the average traveller; don’t settle for an average vacation. Here are the top extreme sports to try in Cancun:

Jetpacking Over the Sea

Who says that flying is reserved for Superman? With jet packs strapped on your feet and hands, you can fly over the waters of Cancun in true superhero style. Sign up for Flyboard, a jet pack service that allows you control your flight over the waters of Cancun’s shoreline. Hold on tight as you jet up 9 km from the sea to the sky, floating at roughly the same height of a 3-story building. Do you dare look down at the speeding water below you?

Ziplining Through the Jungle

With your stomach tight and your grip even tighter, prepare to whiz past the blurs of jungle trees on a Cancun zip tour. The city offers several zipline options, but Cancun Extreme Zipline Canopy Tour is one of the most widely known. Rated by Travel + Leisure Magazine as one of the “Top 35 Great Adventures in the World,” it’s the largest zipline course in North America. Prepare to zig and zag through 12 lines covering nearly 3 km of jungle canopy at a neck-breaking pace.

Scuba Diving with a Strange Man

A few metres under the azure ocean is a man waiting to see you. He’s been waiting underwater for you to visit for a few years now, along with an army of other statues standing tall in the deep blue sea. It’s a sight both startling and enchanting. MUSA (Cancun Underwater Museum) is part of an underwater art gallery featured in deep waters around the world. One of the best is in Cancun, where several human statues are poised, including Man on Fire, a favourite among divers.

Kiteboarding the Waves

With a board beneath your feet, along with a few metres of air, kiteboarding is one of the best extreme sports to try in Cancun. Get a good handle on your kite bar as you whip in the air and jump off the waves with cutting grace. Some of the best kiteboarders reach speeds of 50 knots and heights of 10 m –a worthy challenge for an adventurer such as yourself.

Cave Diving in Coba Maya

If dangling over an abyss and lowering yourself by rope into an underground lagoon is something you’ve always wanted to try—or certainly want to try now that you’ve read about it–sign up for a Coba Maya tour. Only a 47 km day trip from Cancun, the town of Coba is home to steep underground caves, better known as cenotes. Hold your breath as you descend down the cavern on a rope ladder, and watch as pockets of light drip down from the cavern’s opening to the water below. Just remember your camera because a sight like this is one to behold.

Whether you prefer to be up in the air with jetpacks strapped on your toes and palms, or underground with only prisms of lights illuminating the cavern walls, prepare to encounter a heart-pumping side of Cancun only the bravest ever experience.