Mexico is this wonderful combination of very welcoming people, a superb culture going back thousands of years, fantastic scenery and above all great beaches. Throw in things like superb food and drink and why would you want to go anywhere else?
It’s a vast country and there is so much diversity. The Caribbean coast tends to be fairly flat. The Yucatán Peninsula, which is basically a slab of limestone, has resorts all the way down from Cancun, which is by far the most popular destination for British travellers. You can travel south from Cancun to places like Cozumel, an off-shore island with superb diving, and then to Tulum which is where you’ll find fantastic Mayan ruins from the greatest pre-Columbian civilisation.
The Pacific coast is much more rugged and hilly, and quite difficult to get around. There is the great long spine of the Baja Peninsula which is almost 1000 miles long, You also have popular resorts like Puerto Vallarta which was put on the map by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. You can still visit their holiday home there. Further around the coast towards the Guatemalan border you have places like Huatulco, which is the antidote to very ‘high pressure’ resorts. Whatever you want from a seaside resort you can find on one of Mexico’s coasts.
The main strip in Cancun is basically a twelve-mile island colonised by up-market hotels, great restaurants and fantastic pubs. It isn’t quite America but has a very Americanised feel to it. However along the coast you can find proper Mexican villages. For a real taste of Mexico head inland and you could, for example, visit some of the great Mayan sites like Chichen Itza. On the way you will come across some very sleepy villages.
Mexico City is possibly the world’s most populated city - people just won’t stand still long enough for anybody to count them. There are maybe 25 - 30 million people, more than the total population of some countries. Mexico city has a wonderful historic old town, based around the Zocalo, the ancient Mayan and Aztec hub of the city and now a beautiful main square with the Mexican flag at the centre of it.
The city has superb places to eat and drink, and world-class cultural attractions such as Teotihuacan, which is the old Aztec ceremonial centre just north of the city. The National Anthropological Museum is one of the great museums of the world. Everywhere you look you’ll find art, fun, excitement and nightlife.
In most of the places that we holidaymakers visit there is usually somebody who can speak English. The vast majority of the people are so very welcoming and they will do their absolute best to help you. If you have never been out of Europe and you arrived in the middle of Mexico City you could find it disorientating, maybe even quite scary. There are levels of crime aimed at tourists that are regrettable but no worse than in Prague, Rome and Barcelona. Some people in hire cars have been stopped by police and given an on-the-spot fine for something they didn’t realise they had done. But generally most people come away from Mexico with happy memories.
Simon Calder, Travel Writer
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