The 22-kilometre barrier island stretching south from Puerto Juárez along Boulevard Kukulcán is what most people mean when they say "Cancun" — a single strip of beachfront resorts, malls, restaurants, and clubs facing the open Caribbean on one side and the Nichupté Lagoon on the other. Built from scratch starting in 1970 on what had been an uninhabited mangrove and sand spit, it is one of the few entirely planned tourist developments of its size in the world.
The R1 bus runs the length of the boulevard day and night for 15 pesos. Punta Cancun (at the elbow halfway down) concentrates the clubs and the busiest restaurants; the southern stretch toward Punta Nizuc is quieter, with the bigger all-inclusive resorts. The beach is public the entire length, despite what some hotel security guards may suggest.