Viva vibrant Mexico
Whether it’s ancient history and architecture, culture and art, or beautiful landscapes and people, Mexico has it all in abundance.
Palm-fringed beaches, chilli-spiced cuisine, steamy jungles, teeming cities, fiesta fireworks, Frida’s creativity: Mexico conjures up diverse, vivid dreams. And the reality lives up to them.
An outdoor life
With steaming jungles, snowcapped volcanoes, cactus-strewn deserts and 10,000km of coast strung with sandy beaches and wildlife-rich lagoons, Mexico is an endless adventure for the senses and a place where life is lived largely in the open air.
Harness the pounding waves of the Pacific on a surfboard, strap on a snorkel to explore the beauty beneath the surface of the Caribbean Sea and ride the whitewater of Mexico’s rivers. Or stay on dry land and hike Oaxaca’s mountain cloud forests, scale the peaks of dormant volcanoes, or marvel at millions of migrating monarch butterflies.
Art & soul of a nation
Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilisations built some of the world’s great archaeological monuments, including Teotihuacan’s towering pyramids and the exquisite Maya temples of Palenque.
The Spanish colonial era left beautiful towns full of tree-shaded plazas and richly sculpted stone churches and mansions, while modern Mexico has seen a surge of great art from the likes of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. Top-class museums and galleries document the country’s fascinating history and its endless creative verve.
Popular culture is just as vibrant, from the underground dance clubs and street art of Mexico City to the wonderful handicrafts of the indigenous population.
A varied palate
Mexico’s gastronomic repertoire is as diverse as the country’s people and topography. Dining out is an endless adventure, whether you’re sampling regional dishes, such as Yucatan’s cochinita pibil (slow-cooked pork) or a vast array of moles (complex sauces, their recipes jealously guarded) in Oaxaca and Puebla, or trying the artsy concoctions of world-class chefs in Mexico City.
Some of Mexico’s best eating is had at simple seafront palapa (thatched-roof shack) restaurants, serving achingly fresh fish and seafood, and the humble taquerias, ubiquitous all over Mexico, where tortillas are stuffed with a variety of fillings and slathered with homemade salsas.
Los Mexicanos
At the heart of your Mexican experience will be the Mexican people.
A super-diverse crew, from Mexico City hipsters to the shy indigenous villagers of Chiapas, they’re renowned for their love of colour and frequent fiestas, but they’re also philosophical folk, to whom timetables are less important than simpatia (empathy).
You’ll rarely find Mexicans less than courteous. They’re more often positively charming, and know how to please guests.
They might despair of ever being well governed, but they’re fiercely proud of Mexico, their one-ofa-kind homeland with all its variety, tight-knit family networks, beautiful-ugly cities, deep-rooted traditions and agave-based liquors.
Mexico’s Top 10 Peerless Palenque
Gather all your senses and dive headfirst into the ancient Maya world at the exquisite Palenque, where spectacular pyramids rise above emerald jungle treetops and furtive monkeys shriek and catapult themselves through dense canopies.
Take your time to marvel at the abundance of reliefs, seek out the tomb of the mysterious Red Queen and her sarcophagus, wander the maze-like palace, gazing up at its iconic tower. Then pay your respects to Pakal (Palenque’s mightiest ruler) at the Temple of the Inscriptions, perhaps the most celebrated burial monument in the Americas.
Cabo Pulmo
Rediscover the magic of old Baja by visiting the largely undeveloped east coast, discovering worldclass diving off Cabo Pulmo, the only coral reef on the west coast of North America and, at 71 square kilometres, one of the largest and most successful marine protected regions in the world.
In this beautiful place you can see black coral bushes, schools of trigger fish, and yellowfin tuna and snapper. Depending on the seasons and currents, you may also spy hammerhead sharks, huge manta rays and whale sharks.
Mexico City, cultural capital
The nation’s longstanding political capital clearly stands at the forefront of Mexico’s cultural scene as well.
Remember, this is where many of the country’s top muralists left their most important works, such as Diego Rivera’s cinematic murals in the Palacio Nacional and the social-realism work of Jose Clemente Orozco in the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Art, music, dance and theatre are everywhere in Mexico City – even a gondola ride along the ancient canals of Xochimilco wouldn’t be complete without taking in a fervent mariachi ballad.
Mexico’s last train journey
The Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacifico remains one of Latin America’s best rail trips. Trains climb from sea level at Los Mochis to Chihuahua’s high desert plains via the sensational rocky landscapes of the Copper Canyon.
Vistas from your window include alpine forests, subtropical valleys, Tarahumara villages, and glimpses of some of the world’s deepest canyons.
Alight at a photogenic stop for 15 minutes along the canyon’s edge, or stay for days of exploring, hiking, biking, and even zip-lining in one of Mexico’s most breathtaking destinations.
The pyramids of Teotihuacan
Once among Mesoamerica’s greatest cities, Teotihuacan lies just an hour out of Mexico City. The immense Piramide del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and Piramide de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon) dominate the remains of the ancient metropolis, which even centuries after its collapse in the 8th century AD, remained a pilgrimage site for Aztec royalty.
Today it is a magnet for those who come to soak up the mystical energies that are believed to converge there.
Oaxaca City
This highly individual city basks in bright upland light and captivates everyone with its deliciously inventive version of Mexican cuisine, gorgeous handicrafts, colourful fiestas, colonial architecture, booming arts scene, and fine mezcals distilled in nearby villages.
Within easy reach of the city are the superb ancient Zapotec capital, Monte Alban, dozens of indigenous craft-making villages with weekly markets, and the cool, forested hills of the Sierra
Norte, perfect for hikers, mountain bikers and horseback riders.
Marvellous Merida
The cultural capital of the Yucatan Peninsula, this large but manageable city has a beautifully maintained colonial heart. It’s veined with narrow cobbled streets and dotted with sunny plazas, with a wealth of museums and galleries, and some of the best food in the region. Just out of town are wildlife reserves, graceful haciendas (estates) and jungle-shrouded cenotes (sinkholes) to swim in.
A little further afield, the little-visited Mayan sites along the Ruta Puuc allow you to step back without the tour groups.
Shopping for artisan crafts
Mexico’s bright, infinitely varied artesanias (handicrafts) are today’s successors to the costumes and ceramics of pre-Hispanic nobility, and to the everyday handcrafted clothes, baskets and pots of their humbler subjects. Everywhere you go – whether wandering through markets, or visiting artisans in their village workshops to buy textiles, jewellery, ironwood carvings, bead-inlaid masks, and more – the skill and creativity of potters, weavers, metalsmiths, carvers, and leather workers delights the eye and tempts the pocket.
Magical San Cristobal de las Casa
Saunter the cobblestone streets of hill-ringed San Cristobal de las Casas, the highaltitude colonial city in the heart of indigenous Chiapas. A heady mix of modern and Mayan, with cosmopolitan cafes and traditional culture, it’s also a jumping-off point for Chiapas’ natural attractions and fascinating Tzotzil and Tzeltal villages. Spend sunny days exploring its churches and bustling markets or riding a horse through fragrant pine forest, and chilly evenings warmed by the fireplace of a cosy watering hole.
Chichen Itza
There’s a reason why this Mayan site is the most popular of Mexico’s ancient sites – it is simply spectacular. From the imposing, monolithic El Castillo pyramid (where the shadow of the plumed serpent god Kukulcan creeps down the staircase during the spring and autumn equinoxes) to the Sacred Cenote and curiously designed El Caracol, the legacy of Mayan astronomers will blow your mind.
Admire the Wall of Skulls and the stone carvings at the Temple of Warriors, or come back at night for the sound-and-light show.