Monterrey
A monument to Monterrey’s late-20th-century ambition, this city-block-wide series of interconnected squares, also known as the Gran Plaza, was created in…
Monterrey
A monument to Monterrey’s late-20th-century ambition, this city-block-wide series of interconnected squares, also known as the Gran Plaza, was created in…
Chiapas
The remote Maya jungle ruins of Bonampak are spread over 2.4 sq km, but all the main ruins stand around the rectangular Gran Plaza. Never a major city,…
Palenque
Pakal’s son, Kan B’alam II, was a prolific builder, and soon after the death of his father started designing the temples of the Grupo de las Cruces…
Puerto Escondido
The 6km-long Manialtepec Lagoon, beginning 14km west of Puerto Escondido along Hwy 200, is an essential spot for bird enthusiasts and a fascinating place…
Chiapas
The Sumidero Canyon is a spectacular fissure in the earth, found north of Tuxtla Gutiérrez. In 1981, the Chicoasén hydroelectric dam was completed at its…
Chiapas
The Sima de las Cotorras is a dramatic 160m-wide sinkhole that punches 140m down into the earth into a crater thick with rainforest. At sunrise, a green…
Bahías de Huatulco
This long, sandy beach, 14km west of Santa Cruz Huatulco, is backed by a fishing village, and in contrast to Huatulco's other settlements, there's…
Chichén Itzá
The great ball court, the largest and most impressive in Mexico, is only one of the city’s eight courts, indicative of the importance the games held here…
Monterrey
Formerly a vast steel-factory complex, this once-blighted industrial zone has been transformed into a huge urban park. Designers cleverly retained the…
Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Gorda
Northern Central Highlands
The Reserva de la Biosfera Sierra Gorda, in the rugged Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range, covers a huge swath of the northeastern third of Querétaro…
Polanco & Bosque de Chapultepec
Museo Jumex was built to house one of Latin America's leading contemporary art collections. Temporary exhibits draw on a collection of around 2600 pieces…
Central Pacific Coast
Surrounded by forested mountains, this idyllic lake fills a volcanic crater that's over 100m deep and 2km in diameter. You can walk around the lake and in…
Palenque
In the jungle south of the Grupo de las Cruces is the Southern Acropolis, where archaeologists have made some terrific finds in recent excavations. You…
Misión San Ignacio de Kadakaamán
Southern Baja
With lava-block walls nearly 1.2m (4ft) thick, the former Jesuit Misión San Ignacio de Kadakaamán stands directly across from San Ignacio's small plaza…
Oaxaca City
Traffic-free, shaded by tall trees and surrounded by elegant portales (arcades), the Zócalo is the perfect place to start soaking up the Oaxaca atmosphere…
Western Central Highlands
Overlooking Comala and Colima, 23km and 30km to the north respectively, is smoking Volcán de Fuego (3820m), Mexico’s most active volcano. It has erupted…
Northeast Mexico
The official visitor center for the Cuatrociénegas nature reserve, this small structure has informative displays about the reserve in Spanish and English…
Puerto Ángel
The coast east of Puerto Ángel is dotted with small hidden beaches, none of them very busy on weekdays. Playa La Boquilla, on a gentle bay about 7.5km…
The Copper Canyon & Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacífico
Meaning 'Horseshoe' in Rarámuri, the peaceful waters of this U-shaped lake reflect the surrounding pines and rock formations. Paddleboats can be rented…
The Copper Canyon & Ferrocarril Chihuahua Pacífico
Few natural sites in Mexico boast the exquisitely pristine beauty of the country’s highest full-time waterfall, Cascada de Basaseachi, where a plume of…
Bahía de Kino
This mountainous island, Mexico's largest, lies 3km off the coast from Punta Chueca. It was once a Seri homeland, but was depopulated when the island was…
Bahías de Huatulco
The oddly named 'rabbit bay,' 3km east of Tangolunda, has a long main beach divided by a small rocky outcrop into the western Playa Arenas and the eastern…
East of Mexico City
This ceremonial pre-Hispanic site inhabited by Los Totonacas has niche 'pyramids' similar to El Tajín’s (Veracruz) that are in varying states of ruin. The…
Cobá
The most prominent structure in the Grupo Cobá is La Iglesia (the Church). It's an enormous pyramid; if you were allowed to climb it, you could see the…
Monterrey
Don't miss the outstanding Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, its entrance marked by Juan Soriano's gigantic black dove sculpture. Inside, its idiosyncratic…
Bahías de Huatulco
Cacaluta is a 1km-long slice of paradise that's protected by an island, backed by dunes and usually deliciously deserted. The Mexican road-trip movie Y Tú…
Oaxaca City
A top-class museum, even by Oaxaca's high standards, showing off a wondrous collection of pre-Hispanic art donated by the city's most famous artist,…
Zihuatanejo
Isolated 'Cat Beach' is named – depending on whose story you believe – either after the whiskered nurse sharks that once inhabited its waters, or for the…
Bahías de Huatulco
Three kilometers west of Santa Cruz and easily walkable along a roadside pavement, Maguey’s fine 400m beach curves around a calm bay between forested…
Centro Histórico
Past the pedestrian corridor Gante stands the amazing Casa de los Azulejos. Dating from 1596, it was built for the Condes (Counts) del Valle de Orizaba…
Zihuatanejo
The gorgeous white-sand expanse of Playa La Ropa (Clothes Beach) was named after a Spanish galleon that was wrecked and had its cargo of silks washed…
Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso
Centro Histórico
Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Siqueiros painted murals here in the 1920s. Most of the work on the main patio is by Orozco; look for the…
Isla Cozumel
For the price of admission to this park, you can visit a lighthouse, a small nautical museum and a Maya ruin. The park road leads past an observation…
Guadalajara Region
Free Spanish- and English-language tours are available at the high-end 100% agave distillery Tres Mujeres, where some 40 different tequilas are produced,…
Monterrey
At the southern end of the Macroplaza, the red 70m concrete tower Faro del Comercio (Lighthouse of Commerce) soars above the city, its green lasers…
Oaxaca City
Historic, romantic, dignified and safe, wonderful Calle Alcalá (traffic-free since the 1980s) is what Oaxaca is all about. It runs north from the…
Cabo San Lucas
Baja's most famous beach, Playa del Amor (Lover's Beach) has stunning white sands adjacent to El Arco on the Pacific and bay sides. You can walk between…
Palenque
East of the Grupo Norte, the main path crosses Arroyo Otolum. Some 70m beyond the stream, a right fork will take you to Grupo C, a set of jungle-covered…
Isla Mujeres
Once you reach Playa Norte, the island’s main beach, you won’t want to leave. Its warm, shallow waters are the color of blue raspberry syrup and the beach…
Costa Maya & Southern Caribbean Coast
This archaeological site sits on a jungle-backed grassy area. The ruins, dating from both the late pre-Classic (AD 100–200) and the early Classic (AD 300…