FROM BIG CITIES TO PUEBLOS PEQUENOS
Urban meets tranquil in Mexico
hether your dream vacation is dozing in a hammock to a soundtrack of lapping waves or frantically checkWing off tourist must-sees, Mexico has a destination for you. From the vibrant, sprawling metropolis of Mexico City to charming colonial-era towns and best-kept-secret beach communities, our southern neighbor offers so much more than just all-inclusive resorts and cheap-and-cheerful party weekends.
Ranked from large to small, here are five Mexico getaways that collectively offer something for every level of energy, curiosity and sense of adventure.
MEXICO CITY (population 9 million)
The Americas’ oldest capital, founded in 1325 as Tenochtitlan, Mexico City has preserved portals into history amid its contemporary urban bustle. The vast National Museum of Anthropology comprises indoor and outdoor exhibits spanning prehistory to the present, including a spectacular reconstruction of the tomb of seventh century Mayan ruler Pakal. Towering above the city’s Zocalo plaza, the Metropolitan Cathedral took more than 200 years to build, resulting in multiple architectural styles. Its regular Voices of the Cathedral candlelit tour, accompanied by period choral music, only amplifies its majesty. Mexico City’s many annual celebrations include the International Festival of Lights, which transforms its historic center into an otherworldly nocturnal canvas.
QUERETARO CITY (population 800,000)
Some 130 miles northwest of Mexico City, Queretaro consistently ranks among Mexico’s fastest-growing, safest and wealthiest cities. Yet in the shadows of its gleaming new buildings are evocative colonial echoes that earned UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Unmissable is Queretaro’s nearly 400-yearold aqueduct, a beautifully maintained marvel curving more than three quarters of a mile through the city. Much local tourism revolves around the pedestrian-friendly city center, where the geometrically arrayed streets of its onetime Spanish occupiers are lined with fine 17th- and 18th-century baroque facades. For here-and-now thrill seekers, the terrain and temperate climate of the surrounding region enable stimulating rock climbing, kayaking and ATV adventures.
CAMPECHE CITY (population 220,000)
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, Campeche has antique cannons pointing seaward from its colonial-era walls, as if still expecting the plundering buccaneers of old. With restored pastel buildings overlooking narrow cobbled streets, the historical center of this understated Yucatan Peninsula gem is an escapist haven from frantic modern life, yet remains mysteriously absent from most tourists’ radar. Centrally located on the Gulf of Mexico, it’s a gateway to the Mayan remains of Edzna and numerous surprisingly undervisited sites in that civilization’s Chenes architectural style. Outside of town, excellent fishing (notably in the Petenes Ecological Preserve) biking, hiking, wildlife photography and horseback riding opportunities abound.
ZIHUATANEJO (population 62,000)
Zihuatanejo is well cast as the dream escape in 1994 movie “Shawshank Redemption.” A backwater Guerrero-state fishing village until the 1970s, it has grown exponentially since the development of glittering resorts in nearby Ixtapa. Yet the town itself, situated on a natural Pacific Ocean bay popular with private boaters and cruise ships alike, has maintained a quietly unpretentious air. An unusually friendly throwback bolt-hole beloved by privacy-seeking celebrities, “Zihau” offers almost guaranteed hot weather, warm water and super-fresh seafood served along cartoonishly perfect coconut palm-fringed beaches — and all just a three-and-a-half-hour flight from L.A.
PLAYA ZIPOLITE (population 900)
With a lingering hippie aura and no enforced building codes, Zipolite looks like it spontaneously sprang up along a mile of unspoiled Oaxaca beach. A cosmopolitan backpackers’ paradise with mostly thatch-roofed buildings and only basic accommodations, it’s famed as one of Mexico’s few nude beaches. Though tiny, it boasts quite a variety of causal eateries, many operated by European expatriates. Decidedly rustic and with dangerous offshore currents, Zipolite isn’t for families or the fainthearted, but for travelers who can accept (or even welcome) sparse conveniences: air conditioning is rare and there’s only a single ATM. This is perhaps Mexico’s ultimate backto-basics recharging station