The ancient Maya site of Oxkintok and the caves of Calcehtok are close to Maxcanú, while another ancient Maya settlement, Chunchucmil, is located ca. 25 kilometers west of the town.
Facilities available in Maxcanú include: internet cafes; grocery stores; fresh produce market; family restaurants; public telephones; hardware stores; bus station (for connections to Mérida and Campeche); and a "combi" taxi stand for travelling to local villages. Maxcanú railway station on the Tren Maya is just outside of town.
Maxcanú is the birthplace of Alfredo Barrera Vásquez, the noted Mexican anthropologist and Mayanist scholar who was the principal editor behind the Diccionario Maya Cordemex [es], the influential Mayan-Spanish dictionary and orthography.