Most clients are staying in an all-inclusive resort, and the resort is the first thing to check. Each resort in the Zona Hotelera sets its own rule for outside photographers, so two hotels on the same beach can answer differently. Ask the hotel for its current outside-vendor policy, including any access fee, before booking. The beach in front of it is public under the Ley General de Bienes Nacionales, so a session can always move onto the sand, though a set-up with an arch or chairs may need a permit from the municipal ZOFEMAT office.
Three Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH) sites sit inside the city limits: San Miguelito at km 16.5, El Rey at km 18 and El Meco on the Puerto Juárez to Punta Sam road. Personal photography is allowed on a ticket, but a session with professional equipment needs INAH authorisation INAH-01-001, applied for at least 10 business days ahead. The reefs off Punta Cancún and Punta Nizuc belong to a national park managed by the Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas (CONANP), and that park charges its own daily fee.
Cancún International Airport sits on Carretera 307 at km 22, south of the city, which makes it the constraint on every drone plan. Downtown Cancún, around Avenida Tulum and the Parque de las Palapas, is the city’s own centre, away from the resorts, and the natural setting for local family portraits and XV años sessions.
