But in general, know this about the beaches: The hotel zone is a barrier island shaped like the number '7'. The north section—the top of the 7—faces the bay and usually has calm, totally waveless water. But the closer you get to the bend in the 7, the more rocks there are, and some hotels have some creative "beaches" that are more like sand over breakwaters. On the other hand, the beach at the Presidente Intercontinental (and its neighbor, Ambiance Villas at Kin-Ha) is one of the most beautiful in the whole hotel zone, as it's especially deep.

Once you go around the bend in the 7 and head south, you're right, the feel is less congested, and the beaches feel a bit more open. The water on this side is the open Caribbean, though, and the waves can be high and occasionally too dangerous to swim in. But the scenery really is gorgeous. One other note about the beaches in this section: in many cases, the hotel towers are so tall that they cast shade all over the beach by mid-afternoon—so if you're staying on this side, you should be an early riser! (Or book at the Westin or the Club Med, which have west-facing pools.)

As for Playa del Carmen and the rest of the Riviera Maya, there is a lot of variety there. Playa is great for nightlife that's not as party-hardy as Cancun's, and Tulum is extremely mellow, but staying on the beach there is really for people who have money but don't care about not having electricity (and a/c, and TV and all that) all the time. And there are scores of individual resorts in between these towns and Cancun.

You probably are more likely to find a good package deal in Cancun proper, but you could also keep an eye out for other options down the coast—these will mostly be all-inclusive deals.

Hope that helps—and have a great holiday, wherever you wind up!

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Anchorage, Alaska: My two twenty-something daughters and I are vacationing in the Yucatan during the first week of January. We will be renting a car at the Cancun Airport and driving to Tulum where we will be staying for seven nights. We will be driving around and sightseeing in various places in the area. Are there any safety concerns we should be aware of as three women traveling by ourselves? Thanks.

Zora O'Neill: You are in for a great trip! Having a car will open up some great opportunities for you—there are some nice hidden-away spots that you can visit.

In terms of safety, do not worry at all! The Yucatan is generally very low in crime, and the roads here are all in very good condition. And you won't encounter that stereotypical "macho" Mexican vibe in the Yucatan either.

A couple of general pointers, though (not just for women!):

First, road rules. The most important is that a left-turn signal most often means "Pass me on the left"—a trucker might put his left blinker on if he's going slow. So what do you do if you want to make a left turn? It's a little tricky: you should not do it from the left lane unless there is a designated turn lane (on the coast highway, there are left-turn bays, but not many other places). Instead, put your left blinker on, but slow down and pull over as far to the RIGHT as you can—ideally the shoulder—and wait for the traffic to clear. This sounds convoluted, but that's the way it's done. Also, when someone passes you, you're expected to pull over to the right if you can, and even slow down a little to make everything easier.

Second, keep alert at gas stations. I hesitate even to mention this, because in general people in the Yucatan are honest and do not take advantage of tourists. But I have had a couple of small scams pulled at gas stations. One is the "Hey, lady, you gave me 20 pesos instead of 200 pesos" line. The other is that one guy will stand near the front of your car, chatting with you to distract you, while the guy filling the tank will siphon off some of the gas (to resell later)—this way, the total on the meter reads, say, 200 pesos, but you wind up with only 150 pesos worth of gas. For the sake of the 99 percent of the people who are honest, try not to act paranoid and distrustful at the gas station—but do keep track of what money you're handing over, and if someone does start chatting with you, occasionally look back at your tank being filled. Many guidebooks warn you about attendants who don't reset the meter to zero before filling your tank, but now that stations have digital pumps, this isn't really an issue.