The complete guide for travellers: Mexico City’s food scene that earns every superlative, Oaxaca’s sixteen indigenous cultures and the mezcal made from wild agave on a hillside, the cenotes that connect underground rivers beneath the Yucatán, Chichen Itza at 8am before the tour buses, the canyon railway that is one of the great train journeys in the Americas, the whale sharks at Holbox, and the safety question answered specifically rather than vaguely.
Reading time: 16 minutes | Last updated: 2026
Mexico is Cancún until you go somewhere else.
This is not a criticism of Cancún — the Hotel Zone functions precisely as intended for approximately 6 million visitors per year who want the Caribbean, the all-inclusive model, and sun that is guaranteed by the regional meteorology. It delivers. But Cancún and the Riviera Maya beach resorts represent perhaps 15% of what Mexico actually contains, and the people who have been to Mexico and only seen that version have, technically, not seen Mexico.
What Mexico actually is: a country of 130 million people speaking 68 officially recognized languages, with a civilizational history spanning 3,500 years before European contact. The Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, built on an island in a lake at 2,240m above sea level, was one of the largest cities in the world in 1519 — larger than any city in Europe at the time. Mexico City is built on its foundations. You can see the Aztec temple ruins beneath the colonial Cathedral in the historic centre.
South of Mexico City: Oaxaca, the cultural capital of southern Mexico, surrounded by 16 distinct indigenous cultures, each maintaining their own language, ceramics tradition, textile tradition, and relationship with the land. The mezcal produced in the surrounding valleys from wild agave plants that take 25-30 years to mature is the finest spirits production process in the Americas. The mole negro — a sauce of 35 ingredients, ground by hand on a stone metate, cooked for hours — is the most complex dish in North American cuisine.
North of Mexico City: the Copper Canyon, a system of canyons deeper and larger than the Grand Canyon, through which a single-track railway runs for 653km from the high desert of Chihuahua to the Pacific coast at Los Mochis — one of the three or four finest train journeys in the world.
East of Mexico City: the Yucatán Peninsula, where the limestone bedrock has dissolved into a network of underground rivers and sinkholes (cenotes) connected to each other and to the sea, some of them filled with clear fresh water in caverns 20 metres underground, and above them the ruins of the cities built by the people who mapped these water sources 2,000 years ago.
None of this is secret. All of it is consistently underrepresented in UK travel content about Mexico, which tends to concentrate on the beach resorts and the question of whether it’s safe.
The safety question is addressed directly in this guide. The short version: Mexico City, Oaxaca, the Yucatán, and the Copper Canyon are all accessible to UK travellers with standard travel awareness. Mexico has specific regions with serious security situations (the northern border states, parts of Guerrero, areas of Michoacán) that the Foreign Office advises against travel to. The destinations in this guide are not in those regions.
Quick Navigation
- The Case for Mexico — Beyond the Resorts
- The Safety Question — The Specific Answer
- When to Go — Rainy Season, Dry Season, and the Whale Sharks
- Getting There — The Routing Options
- Mexico City — The Most Underrated Food Capital in the World
- Oaxaca — The Cultural Heart of the South
- The Yucatán — Cenotes, Ruins, and the Colonial Cities
- Chichen Itza — The Pyramid Before the Buses Arrive
- The Cenotes — Underground Water Done Right
- Mérida — The Yucatán’s Colonial Capital
- Tulum — What It Is Now and What It Isn’t
- Holbox — The Island With the Whale Sharks
- The Copper Canyon — The Railway That Changes Everything
- San Cristóbal de las Casas — The Highlands of Chiapas
- Hidden Mexico — The Places Most Guides Don’t Reach
- What It Costs — Real Numbers
- Eating in Mexico — The Food That Earns Every Superlative
- Practical Notes
- Two Itineraries — Mexico City to Yucatán and the South Circuit
The Case for Mexico — Beyond the Resorts
The numbers first: Mexico receives approximately 32 million international visitors per year. Of those, the majority arrive through Cancún airport. A significant proportion go directly to their hotel and leave via the same airport without seeing anything beyond the Riviera Maya corridor.
The same country contains: the largest urban archaeological zone in the world (Teotihuacán, the Avenue of the Dead, the Pyramid of the Sun — 50km from Mexico City), one of the 20 most diverse ecosystems on Earth (the Selva Lacandona rainforest of Chiapas, which contains more species of birds than the continental United States), the second-largest barrier reef in the world (the Mesoamerican Reef, running from the Yucatán to Honduras), the world’s most complex food culture (as designated by the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list, where Mexican cuisine was inscribed in 2010 — the first cuisine to receive this designation), and a music tradition (mariachi, son jarocho, norteño, cumbia, salsa, and dozens of indigenous musical forms) that has influenced popular music across the Americas.
It also happens to have a taco culture that would be worth the flight even if nothing else existed.
The Safety Question — The Specific Answer
Mexico’s safety reputation is the most consistently misapplied piece of information in UK travel discussion about the country. The homicide rate statistics that circulate in news coverage are accurate but applied to the wrong geography — they refer to Mexico as a whole, dominated by the statistics from specific northern border states and regions with active cartel violence that very few international tourists visit.
The FCO advice as of current publication:
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office advises against all but essential travel to: several northern border states (Tamaulipas, parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa — with specific exceptions including the Copper Canyon tourist zone), parts of Guerrero (including significant areas around Acapulco), and parts of Michoacán and Colima.
The FCO advises exercising a high degree of caution (not “advise against”) in Mexico City and many other states. This is the same designation applied to France, the United States, and most large countries with urban crime.
The destinations in this guide:
Mexico City: Safe for tourists in the areas visitors actually go — Roma, Condesa, Polanco, Coyoacán, the Historic Centre. Standard urban awareness applies: use Uber rather than street taxis, keep your phone in your pocket rather than in your hand, be aware of your surroundings at night in unfamiliar areas. It is a city of 22 million people. It has the crime levels that urban areas of this size have.
Oaxaca: Consistently rated one of the safest cities in Mexico. The FCO exercises high degree of caution for Oaxaca state broadly; the city of Oaxaca and the tourist circuit (Monte Albán, Hierve el Agua, the mezcal valleys) is safe for international visitors.
Yucatán state (Mérida, Valladolid, Izamal): The safest state in Mexico by most crime metrics. Lower crime rates than many European countries.
Quintana Roo (Cancún, Tulum, Holbox, Playa del Carmen): Tourist areas are generally safe; some violent crime in Cancún exists but is largely separate from the tourist zone.
Copper Canyon (Chihuahua state, Creel area): The FCO advises against some Chihuahua routes; the specific tourist area around Creel and the El Chepe railway corridor is explicitly listed as accessible within the broader state advisory. Check the current FCO advice before booking.
Chiapas (San Cristóbal de las Casas): FCO exercises caution generally; the tourist areas of San Cristóbal are safe for visitors.
The practical approach: Check the FCDO travel advice at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico immediately before booking and before departure. The advice is updated regularly and is significantly more specific and nuanced than the headline statistics suggest.
When to Go — Rainy Season, Dry Season, and the Whale Sharks
November to April — Dry Season
The main tourist season across most of Mexico. Mexico City and Oaxaca are comfortable (20-25°C). The Yucatán is hot and dry (27-32°C). The cenotes are accessible and clear. Hurricane season has ended on the Caribbean coast. The best months for the Copper Canyon (cooler than summer, clear skies).
June to September — Rainy Season and the Whale Sharks
Afternoon rains across most of Mexico — heavy but typically short (1-2 hours). The landscape is vivid green. Hotel prices drop 30-40% in many areas. The whale shark aggregation at Holbox and Isla Contoy peaks from June through September — the only time this specific experience is available. Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) preparations begin in October with the holiday peaking November 1-2.
Día de Muertos — November 1-2
The most significant and most misunderstood Mexican cultural event. Not a Mexican Halloween — a genuinely distinct indigenous tradition (pre-dating European contact) of welcoming the dead back for one night, combined with Catholic All Saints’ Day. Oaxaca’s Day of the Dead (the cemeteries, the flower offerings, the altar competitions, the neighbourhood processions) is the most intact version of the tradition accessible to visitors. The Oaxacan Day of the Dead has attracted enough tourism to slightly dilute the experience but remains genuinely powerful. Book accommodation in Oaxaca months ahead for November 1-2.
The BGGD recommendation: November for Day of the Dead in Oaxaca. January-February for the full circuit in dry season comfort. July for Holbox whale sharks with afternoon rain.
Getting There — The Routing Options
From the UK:
No direct scheduled flights from the UK to mainland Mexico (there are direct flights to Cancún, but this guide isn’t primarily about Cancún). The main routings:
Via the US: British Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta all offer connections through their US hubs (Miami, Houston, Dallas, New York) to Mexico City or Cancún. Total journey: 13-16 hours.
Via Madrid: Iberia connects London Heathrow to Madrid, then Iberia or Aeromexico to Mexico City. Total journey: 13-15 hours. The Madrid connection is often the most price-competitive option to Mexico City.
Via Bogotá: Avianca or LATAM — useful when combining Colombia with Mexico.
Return flights to Mexico City (MEX): £550-800 booked 8-12 weeks ahead. Cancún (CUN) direct summer charters from UK airports: £350-600 (worth considering if starting the Yucatán).
The open-jaw strategy:
Fly into Mexico City, fly home from Cancún (or vice versa). The internal flight Mexico City to Cancún costs £50-100 one way (Aeromexico, VivaAerobus, Volaris). Open-jaw tickets from the UK are typically the same price as returns and eliminate the need to backtrack.
Getting around internally:
Mexico’s bus network is extensive and excellent. ADO is the primary first-class operator for the Yucatán and southern Mexico — comfortable coaches, onboard Wi-Fi, air conditioning, on-time departures. Booking at ado.com.mx. Mexico City to Oaxaca: 6.5 hours overnight by ADO (£15-25). Cancún to Mérida: 4 hours (£10-18).
Domestic flights: Aeromexico, Volaris, and VivaAerobus connect all major cities. Mexico City to Oaxaca: 1 hour (£35-70). Worth it when the overnight bus doesn’t fit the schedule.
Uber: Works in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Cancún, and most major cities. Significantly safer and more reliable than street taxis in most cities. Use it.
Mexico City — The Most Underrated Food Capital in the World
Mexico City (CDMX) is the largest city in North America by population (22 million in the greater metropolitan area), the third-largest city in the world, sits at 2,240m above sea level on the dried lakebed of what was once Lake Texcoco, and is frequently ranked alongside Tokyo, Lima, and San Sebastián as one of the great food cities on Earth.
The food alone would justify the flight. But the food exists within one of the most historically layered and culturally dense urban environments in the Americas — a city built on Aztec ruins, shaped by Spanish colonialism, influenced by French intervention (the 19th-century Emperor Maximilian left behind the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard and a castle), and transformed by the cultural explosion of the 20th century that produced Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Vasconcelos, and one of the most significant muralist traditions in world art.
The Historic Centre (Centro Histórico)
The Zócalo (formally the Plaza de la Constitución) is the second-largest public square in the world — the political and symbolic centre of Mexico since the Aztec period, when it formed the ceremonial heart of Tenochtitlan. The Metropolitan Cathedral (begun 1573, completed 1813 — built over 240 years, incorporating four different architectural periods) sits on the north side. To its east: the National Palace, where Diego Rivera’s monumental mural of Mexican history covers the stairwell walls — 450 square metres of fresco depicting pre-Columbian civilisations, the Spanish conquest, the colonial period, the Reform War, the Revolution, and the socialist future Rivera imagined. Free entry to the National Palace.
The Templo Mayor: directly adjacent to the cathedral — the ruins of the main Aztec temple, excavated beginning in 1978 when electrical workers struck a carved stone disc underground. The disc was the image of Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess. The subsequent excavation revealed the temple complex that was the religious centre of the Aztec Empire. The museum on site contains the finest collection of Aztec artefacts in the world, including the Coyolxauhqui Stone. Entry: £6.
Roma and Condesa
The two adjacent neighbourhoods that define Mexico City’s contemporary food, coffee, and cultural scene — tree-lined streets of Art Deco and Art Nouveau apartment buildings, independent restaurants, mezcalerías, specialty coffee roasters, bookshops, and galleries. The density of quality food per square kilometre in Roma Norte is extraordinary — Casa Jacaranda, Contramar, Lalo!, Rosetta, and dozens more.
Parque México in Condesa: a circular park surrounded by the Art Deco buildings that make Condesa’s residential streets the most architecturally interesting in the city. The Saturday morning market around the park.
Coyoacán
The neighbourhood where Frida Kahlo was born and lived — the Museo Frida Kahlo (La Casa Azul, the Blue House, her family home, filled with her art, her possessions, and the specific details of her life and relationship with Rivera) is the most visited museum in Mexico City and requires advance booking. Entry: £8. Book at museofridakahlo.org.mx weeks ahead in peak season.
The Coyoacán market (Mercado de Coyoacán): on weekend mornings, one of the finest market experiences in Mexico City — fresh produce, hot food stalls (the tostadas and the quesadillas from the market vendors are the correct lunch), artisanal products.
Teotihuacán:
50km northeast of Mexico City — the pre-Aztec city of Teotihuacán, built from approximately 100 BCE to 550 CE by an unknown civilisation (the Aztecs found it abandoned and named it “the place where the gods were created”). The Avenue of the Dead runs 4km between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela. The Pyramid of the Sun (the third-largest pyramid in the world by volume, 65m high) is climbable — the summit view over the full site, the Valley of Mexico beyond, and the mountains in the distance is the best single view available within 2 hours of Mexico City.
Entry: £6. Arrive at 8am opening. By 10am, tour groups from Mexico City are numerous. The site at 8am, in the early morning light on the Avenue of the Dead, with the pyramids emerging from the haze over the valley — one of the finest archaeological experiences in the Americas.
Oaxaca — The Cultural Heart of the South
Oaxaca city (officially Oaxaca de Juárez) is in the southern highlands of Mexico — 500km southeast of Mexico City by road, 1 hour by domestic flight. At 1,550m above sea level, the climate is permanently mild (18-25°C year-round). The city is the centre of one of the most culturally rich regions in Mexico: 16 indigenous peoples (Zapotec, Mixtec, Mazatec, Chatino, Chinantec, and eleven others) maintain living cultures in the surrounding valleys and mountains.
The food, the art, the textiles, the mezcal, and the archaeological heritage of the region are the reasons Oaxaca has been described, by food writers, anthropologists, and travel writers alike, as the finest single destination in Mexico for the traveller who wants to understand the country beyond its surface.
The Zócalo and the City Centre
The main square of Oaxaca — a tree-shaded plaza surrounded by the colonial buildings of the state government, the Templo de Santo Domingo, and the outdoor cafes and restaurants where the life of the city operates. The Zócalo at dusk, with the swallows and the music and the chocolate atole (a hot drink of Oaxacan chocolate and corn) from the market stalls: the specific pleasantness of a Mexican city that is genuinely, unreservedly pleasant.
The Templo de Santo Domingo (1575-1608): the finest baroque church in Oaxaca, the interior covered in gold-leaf decorative plasterwork of extraordinary density — vine patterns, religious imagery, family coats of arms — the product of 75 years of Dominican monastic labour. The attached museum (Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca) covers Zapotec civilisation and the remarkable Tomb 7 at Monte Albán: a Mixtec royal burial from the 14th-15th century containing gold jewellery, turquoise mosaics, and carved bone of exceptional craftsmanship. Entry to the museum: £4.
The Markets
Oaxaca’s markets are the best single introduction to the region’s culture and food:
Mercado Benito Juárez: the city’s main covered market — tlayudas (the large dried tortilla), tasajo (dried beef), Oaxacan string cheese (quesillo), mole pastes, dried chillies, chocolate, and the working commerce of the city.
Mercado 20 de Noviembre: adjacent to Benito Juárez, the market specifically for prepared food — the corridor of stalls grilling meats (the mesquite smoke is visible from the street), the tlayuda vendors, the soups, the memelas. The correct lunch for £2.50-4.
Monte Albán
A 2,500-year-old Zapotec city on a mountain top, 30 minutes from Oaxaca by colectivo van. The site was continuously occupied from approximately 500 BCE to 700 CE, making it one of the longest-occupied cities in the Americas. The builders levelled the mountain top — removed the peak of the mountain and filled the valleys to create a flat plateau — then built their city on the result. The scale of this engineering project, in a pre-industrial society, is one of the most significant achievements in pre-Columbian America.
The buildings surround a central plaza that aligns astronomically with the solstice and equinox positions of specific star formations. The Observatory building (Building J) is angled differently from every other building on the site — oriented to the point on the horizon where the star Capella rises in the period 275-275 BCE, the period when the building was constructed. Entry: £3.50. The sunrise view from the platform above the North Platform looks over five valleys simultaneously. Arrive at 8am.
The Mezcal Valleys
The valleys surrounding Oaxaca (the Tlacolula Valley, the Etla Valley, the Zimatlán Valley) are the primary production zone for Mezcal Oaxacano — the most complex and most varied mezcal in Mexico. The agave plants used for Oaxacan mezcal include: Espadín (the most common, 7-10 years to maturity), Tobalá (a wild agave found only in highland terrain, 15-20 years), Tepeztate (wild, 25-30 years to maturity, among the rarest spirits ingredients in the world), and a dozen other wild and cultivated varieties.
The palenque (mezcal distillery) visits in the Tlacolula Valley: a half-day drive from Oaxaca. The production process — the roasting of the piña (heart) of the agave in an underground pit with hot stones, the fermentation in open wooden vats, the distillation in clay or copper stills — varies between producers in ways that produce genuinely distinct flavours. The comparison between an Espadín mezcal (fruity, smooth, accessible) and a Tepeztate (wild, herbal, aggressive, complex) from the same producer illustrates what terroir means when applied to a 25-year-old plant from a specific wild hillside.
The correct approach: arrange a palenque visit through your Oaxaca accommodation or through a tour operator (not the tourist-facing mezcal bars in the city centre). £20-30 for a half-day with transport, guide, and tasting.
Hierve el Agua
1.5 hours from Oaxaca in the Tlacolula Valley — mineral springs at the edge of a mountain, the calcium-rich water flowing over the rim and petrifying as it falls, creating formations that look exactly like frozen waterfalls. The largest formation is 12 metres high and 90 metres wide. A swimming pool has formed where the springs collect at the top of the formations.
Entry: £3. Go early (arrive by 9am — the minivans from the Tlacolula market start bringing visitors from 10am). The formations in the morning light, with the valley spread 200 metres below, are one of the most visually extraordinary landscapes in southern Mexico. The swimming in the spring water at the top: cold, clear, mineral, available from the small pool before the tour groups arrive.
The Yucatán — Cenotes, Ruins, and the Colonial Cities
The Yucatán Peninsula is the northeastern extension of Mexico into the Caribbean — a flat limestone platform that has dissolved over millennia into a network of underground rivers and caves. Where the cave ceilings have collapsed, they’ve created cenotes: sinkholes filled with fresh groundwater, some open to the sky, some partially covered, some entirely underground.
The Yucatán also contains the most significant concentration of Mayan ruins outside of Central America — Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Tulum, Cobá, Dzibilchaltún, and dozens of smaller sites spread across the peninsula.
Chichen Itza — The Pyramid Before the Buses Arrive
El Castillo (the Pyramid of Kukulkan) at Chichen Itza is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico — 2.5 million visitors per year. The pyramid is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It is also, by mid-morning in peak season, surrounded by approximately 4,000 people simultaneously.
The pyramid itself: 24 metres high, 55 metres at the base, each of the four stairways has 91 steps — total 364, plus the temple platform at the top equals 365, matching the solar calendar year. The astronomical alignment: at the spring and autumn equinoxes, the setting sun creates a triangular shadow on the northern staircase that creates the illusion of a feathered serpent descending — the shadow of Kukulkan returning to the earth. This happens twice a year, drawing tens of thousands of visitors.
The timing strategy:
The site opens at 8am. The first tour buses from Cancún, Playa del Carmen, and the Riviera Maya resorts arrive at approximately 9:30-10am. The first hour at Chichen Itza — 8am to 9am — is a categorically different experience from the experience available at any other hour of the day.
Stay in Valladolid (45 minutes east of Chichen Itza): a colonial city of 80,000 people that functions as an actual city rather than a tourist hub. Guesthouses from £18-30/night. The cenote Zaci is in the middle of town (a partially underground cenote in a city park, free entry, the limestone walls dropping 30 metres to the clear water below). The local restaurants serve the Yucatecan food that the tourist restaurants at the Chichen Itza entrance don’t.
Leave Valladolid at 7am. Be at the Chichen Itza gate by 7:50am. Walk the site in the hour before the buses arrive. Entry: £17.
The Cenotes — Underground Water Done Right
The Yucatán has approximately 6,000 known cenotes — this number has been revised upward every decade as aerial survey and ground-penetrating radar identify more. Some are entirely underground (accessible only by ladder or rope, illuminated by a shaft of light from a hole in the ceiling above the water). Some are semi-open (the ceiling partially intact, the effect of an enclosed swimming hole). Some are fully open (collapsed completely, more like a lake than a cave).
The cenote spectrum:
Cenote Ik Kil (near Chichen Itza): the most famous, the most photographed, the busiest. A circular open cenote with vines descending from the rim, the water 26 metres below, platforms for jumping. Worth visiting for the image. Worth visiting early (9am, before the tour groups arrive from Chichen Itza). Entry: £5.
Cenote Dos Ojos (near Tulum): two interconnected pools in a partially underground cave system — the name means “two eyes” for the two openings visible from outside. One of the finest snorkelling cenotes in the Yucatán (visibility typically exceeding 30 metres in fresh water). Beginner cave diving available with guides. Entry: £6, snorkel hire £3.
The Coba cenotes (around Coba, inland from Tulum): several cenotes within the Coba archaeological park area — significantly fewer visitors than the cenotes on the main Tulum-Playa del Carmen corridor. The walk from the Coba ruins to the cenote through the jungle is part of the experience.
Cenotes near Mérida (the Cuzamá cenotes, the Dzemul cenotes): the inland cenotes of Yucatán state receive a fraction of the visitors of the tourist-corridor cenotes. Accessible by colectivo from Mérida, or by car. Entry £2-4, often entirely or partially empty.
The rule: The further from Cancún and the Riviera Maya, the emptier the cenote and the lower the entry price. Rent a car and drive inland. The cenotes accessible by road from the main tourist corridor are the most photographed and the most crowded. The ones requiring an extra 30 minutes of dirt road are the finest experiences.
Mérida — The Yucatán’s Colonial Capital
Mérida is the capital of Yucatán state — a colonial city of 900,000 people, the largest city in the Yucatán Peninsula, and consistently rated one of the safest and most liveable cities in Mexico. The historic centre (the white cathedral on the Plaza Grande, the Casa de Montejo mansion — its facade carved with the figures of conquistadors standing on the heads of Mayan warriors, one of the most honest pieces of colonial iconography in Mexico), the Paseo de Montejo boulevard (a 19th-century French-influenced promenade lined with mansions), and the food scene centred on the Mercado Lucas de Gálvez and the surrounding restaurants.
The specific Mérida food:
Poc Chuc (marinated pork grilled over charcoal), Cochinita Pibil (pork slow-cooked wrapped in banana leaves in a pit oven), Papadzules (egg-filled corn tortillas in a pumpkin seed sauce), Sopa de Lima (lime-scented chicken soup) — the Yucatecan cuisine is Mayan-influenced in its use of achiote, citrus, and banana leaf cooking in ways that distinguish it clearly from the central Mexican tradition.
La Chaya Maya restaurant (Calle 55): the reference restaurant for traditional Yucatecan food in Mérida. The set lunch menu (comida corrida): three courses including soup, rice and beans, and a main of Yucatecan preparation. £6-8. Book ahead for weekend lunch.
Tulum — What It Is Now and What It Isn’t
Tulum in 2025 is a fundamentally different place from the Tulum that appeared on travel lists as a “hidden gem” in 2012.
What it is:
One of the most developed beach destinations on the Riviera Maya — boutique hotels, beach clubs, wellness retreats, a celebrity visitor base, and an influencer-facing aesthetic that has become the reference image for a specific kind of luxury beach travel. The Tulum ruins (a 13th-century Mayan walled city on a cliff above the Caribbean, the most dramatically sited Mayan ruins in Mexico) are genuinely extraordinary and genuinely surrounded by tour groups from 9am.
The beach is beautiful. The Caribbean water is clear and turquoise. The cenotes in the surrounding jungle are accessible. The food scene has grown significantly with the hotel development.
What it isn’t:
Undiscovered. Affordable (hotel prices in peak season rival Santorini). Quiet (the beach clubs operate until midnight). The “alternative” to Cancún that it was positioned as for a decade — it is now a premium version of the same beach resort economy.
The BGGD position:
Go to Tulum if the specific experience it offers (a boutique beach resort with Mayan ruins nearby) is what you want. Don’t go expecting the off-grid discovery experience. Consider Bacalar instead (a lagoon town 2 hours south of Tulum, genuinely quieter, genuinely more affordable, with a “Lake of Seven Colours” freshwater lagoon system that is arguably more extraordinary than anything at Tulum).
Holbox — The Island With the Whale Sharks
Holbox (pronounced Hol-BOSH) is a sandbar island north of the Yucatán Peninsula, accessible by ferry from Chiquila (30 minutes, £5 each way). The island has no paved roads — golf carts are the standard transport, available for hire at £10-15/day.
The whale sharks:
Between June and September, the largest congregation of whale sharks in the world (occasionally exceeding 500 individuals) feeds on fish spawn in the waters around Isla Mujeres and Holbox. A whale shark can reach 12 metres in length and weigh 20 tonnes. It is entirely harmless (filter feeder, no teeth capable of harming humans).
Snorkelling with whale sharks from Holbox: the boat takes you to the feeding area, the guide enters the water first to locate the shark, then you slip in next to it and snorkel alongside. The experience: a creature the size of a small bus, swimming at 3km/h, you keeping pace alongside it for 5-10 minutes until it dives or moves on. Then another. The aggregation can have 20-30 sharks visible simultaneously.
Tour cost: £40-55/person including equipment and park entry. Book through operators in Holbox the day before; the boats depart at 7am.
The island outside whale shark season:
Holbox in January has: bioluminescent plankton in the water at night (swimming in the dark produces trails of cold blue light from the disturbed dinoflagellates), flamingos visible from the western tip of the island at dawn (a seasonal colony of several hundred birds), and a specific quietness. The development clock on Holbox is running — each year brings more restaurants and more guesthouses — but the island in low season retains enough character to justify a two-night stay.
The Copper Canyon — The Railway That Changes Everything
The Chihuahua al Pacífico railway (universally known as El Chepe) is a single-track railway built between 1898 and 1961 across the Sierra Madre Occidental — 653km from Chihuahua in the Chihuahuan Desert to Los Mochis on the Pacific coast. The railway crosses 37 bridges and passes through 86 tunnels, reaching its highest point at 2,400m before descending to sea level. The canyons it traverses — the Barranca del Cobre system — are collectively deeper and larger than the Grand Canyon.
The journey:
Three days minimum to do the railway properly — the full journey is 16 hours in one direction, but the point is the stops along the route rather than the full journey in one sitting.
The standard BGGD itinerary:
Take the overnight bus from Mexico City or a domestic flight to Chihuahua. Board the El Chepe from Chihuahua heading west. Stop at Creel (the main canyon gateway town, 4-6 hours from Chihuahua) for 2-3 nights. Continue by train to Bahuichivo for the village of Cerocahui, the canyon rim viewpoint at Cerro Gallego (one of the finest panoramas of the Copper Canyon system), and the Urique River at the canyon floor. Continue to El Fuerte (a colonial town at the western end, genuinely beautiful) and connect to Los Mochis for the Pacific coast.
Creel and the surrounding area:
Creel is the main town of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) indigenous people — a community known internationally for their long-distance running ability (the Tarahumara ultra-marathoners documented in Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run) and locally for their craftwork in baskets and carved wood. The surrounding canyon area: the Valley of the Monks (a landscape of eroded rock formations), the Valle de los Hongos (a field of giant mushroom-shaped rocks), and the Cusárare waterfall (a 30m falls accessible by a 3km walk from the road).
Booking El Chepe:
The train is bookable at chihuahua-pacifico.com.mx — tourist class (clase turista) is comfortable and significantly cheaper than the express service. Creel round-trip from Chihuahua: approximately £35-45. The full journey one way: approximately £65-85 in tourist class. Book ahead in December-January (holiday peak) and summer. The train runs approximately every other day — check the current schedule.
San Cristóbal de las Casas — The Highlands of Chiapas
San Cristóbal de las Casas is a colonial city at 2,200m in the highlands of Chiapas — the southernmost and most linguistically diverse state in Mexico. The surrounding indigenous communities (the Tzotzil and Tzeltal Maya communities of Chamula, Zinacantán, and dozens of smaller villages) maintain cultural practices, dress, and ceremonial life that have been in continuous practice since the pre-colonial period.
The city:
Cobblestone streets, coloured facades, the Santo Domingo church (its baroque facade carved with Chiapanecan saints and indigenous symbolism simultaneously), the amber market (Chiapas produces the finest amber in Mexico, some containing Oligocene-era insect inclusions), and a restaurant and café culture significantly better than a city of 200,000 in a highland Mexican state has any right to have.
San Juan Chamula:
25 minutes from San Cristóbal by colectivo van — a Tzotzil Maya community where the Catholic church was syncretised with indigenous Maya religious practice in the 16th century and the result has evolved continuously ever since. The church interior: no pews (removed), pine needles on the floor, candles in clusters at every column base, the sound of prayer and of healing rituals simultaneously, the smell of copal incense and pine.
Photography is strictly prohibited inside the church. The community enforces this rule seriously. The prohibition is not a restriction on documentation — it is a requirement of the sacred space, as clearly stated as the no-photography rules in the holy cave at Lourdes. Enter respectfully. Entry fee: £2, paid to the community.
The Sunday market in Chamula (the main square, from 8am): fresh produce, handwoven textiles, and the specific social commerce of a highland Maya community.
Hidden Mexico — The Places Most Guides Don’t Reach
Bacalar:
A lagoon town 2 hours south of Tulum — the Laguna de Bacalar is a freshwater lagoon system 42km long, fed by cenotes, with water that shifts through seven shades of blue and green as the depth and mineral composition change (hence the “Lake of Seven Colours” designation). The town of Bacalar has wooden docks extending over the lagoon, guesthouses from £20-35/night, kayak hire, and the Fort of San Felipe (1733, built by the Spanish against British pirate incursions from Belize — the Baymen of British Honduras raided the lagoon for logwood throughout the 17th century). Significantly less developed than Tulum, significantly more beautiful than most Tulum content suggests.
Guanajuato:
A silver-mining city in central Mexico — a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the entire historic centre is built into a canyon, the streets connecting at different levels, the University building with its pink quarry-stone Gothic facade appearing at the end of a narrow alley. The Callejón del Beso (Alley of the Kiss) where two balconies across a 69cm wide lane almost touch. The Teatro Juárez (a 19th-century opera house). The mummy museum (Museo de las Momias — accidentally mummified bodies from the 19th-century cemetery, now on display, one of the more singular museum experiences in Mexico).
4 hours northwest of Mexico City by bus.
Pátzcuaro and the Lake Purépecha:
A highland lake region in Michoacán — the island of Janitzio on Lake Pátzcuaro is the site of the most photographed Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico (November 1-2, when the island cemetery fills with candles and flowers and families spending the night with the dead). The Purépecha people of the lake region are one of the few indigenous cultures the Aztecs never conquered.
Yaxchilán and Bonampak:
In the Selva Lacandona rainforest of eastern Chiapas — two Mayan sites accessible only by a combination of road and river boat (a motorised dugout canoe on the Usumacinta River, the border between Mexico and Guatemala). Yaxchilán: a major Late Classic Maya city on a river bend, the site largely unexcavated and jungle-covered, with howler monkeys in the trees above the temples. Bonampak: contains the finest surviving Maya mural paintings in the world — three rooms of floor-to-ceiling murals depicting a battle, its aftermath, and a victory celebration, painted approximately 800 CE. The colour is still vivid. The content is brutal, specific, and extraordinary. Entry to both: £6 each.
What It Costs — Real Numbers
Mexico is excellent value for UK travellers — one of the best-value long-haul destinations from the UK relative to the cultural richness and geographic diversity it delivers.
Daily Budgets
Budget (£25-38/day)
- Accommodation: hostel or budget guesthouse (£10-20/night)
- Food: market meals, tacos from taquería stands, local restaurants (£6-10/day)
- Transport: colectivos, ADO second class, Uber for cities
Mid-range (£45-65/day)
- Accommodation: mid-range hotel or boutique guesthouse (£22-40/night)
- Food: mix of market and restaurant meals (£12-18/day)
- Transport: ADO first class, occasional domestic flight
Comfortable (£80-120/day)
- Accommodation: boutique hotel in Roma/Condesa or Oaxaca’s historic centre (£45-75/night)
- Food: quality restaurants (£22-35/day)
- Activities: cenote tours, mezcal tasting, whale shark tour
What 14 Days in Mexico Actually Costs from the UK
| Category | Budget | Mid-Range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (via US or Madrid) | £550–800 | £650–900 |
| 14 nights accommodation | £175–320 | £380–620 |
| Food (14 days) | £95–155 | £185–280 |
| Internal transport (buses + 1 domestic flight) | £70–120 | £100–170 |
| Activities (cenotes, ruins, mezcal tour, whale sharks) | £60–110 | £100–180 |
| Total | £950–1,505 | £1,415–2,150 |
Eating in Mexico — The Food That Earns Every Superlative
Mexican cuisine was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010 — the first national cuisine to receive this designation. The citation specifically references the complexity of the technique, the diversity of ingredients, and the living community knowledge that maintains the tradition.
This is not marketing language. The complexity is real. A traditional mole negro from Oaxaca involves 35 distinct ingredients, ground by hand over multiple days, cooked in sequences that develop specific flavour compounds, the entire process representing accumulated knowledge that took centuries to develop. The corn preparation (nixtamalization — soaking and cooking the maize in an alkaline solution before grinding) is a 3,500-year-old technology that makes essential amino acids in corn bioavailable and gives the masa its specific flavour and texture. These are not simple preparations.
The dishes worth seeking by region:
Mexico City and the Central Plateau:
Tacos al Pastor: Pork marinated in dried chillies, pineapple, and spices, stacked on a vertical spit (trompo) and cooked against a gas or charcoal heat source, shaved to order into corn tortillas with onion, cilantro, pineapple, and salsa. The technique was introduced by Lebanese immigrants (al pastor — “shepherd style” — is adapted from the shawarma tradition brought to Mexico City in the early 20th century). At any taquería with a trompo visible: £0.70-1.20 per taco.
Tamales: Masa (corn dough) filled with mole negro, chicken, pork, cheese and chilli, or sweet preparations, wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves and steamed. The tamal vendor pushing a cart at dawn is the correct breakfast. Cost: £0.50-0.90.
Pozole: A thick soup of hominy corn and pork (or chicken), the broth slowly cooked for hours, served with shredded cabbage, radish, dried oregano, lime, and tostadas. The pozole verde (green, made with tomatillo and herbs), rojo (red, dried chilli-based), and blanco (clear broth) versions are regional distinctions.
Oaxaca:
Mole negro: The most complex preparation in Mexican cuisine — chilhuacle negro, mulato, pasilla, and chihuacle rojo dried chillies, chocolate, tomatoes, plantain, sesame, cinnamon, cloves, thyme, marjoram, avocado leaf, and the blackened tortilla that gives the sauce its colour and body. Cooked for hours. Served over turkey or chicken. The complexity of the flavour — simultaneously bitter, sweet, spiced, earthy, and aromatic — is unlike any other sauce in world cooking.
At a traditional comedor in the Benito Juárez market: £4-7 for a full plate including rice, beans, and tlayuda.
Mezcal: As described in the Oaxaca section. The correct approach: drink it neat (at room temperature, in a small clay or wooden cup called a copita), slowly, with an orange slice and sal de gusano (salt made from ground dried agave worm, toasted, with dried chilli — the combination amplifies the mezcal’s flavour rather than masking it).
Yucatán:
Cochinita Pibil: Pork marinated in achiote paste (annatto seed ground with citrus, garlic, and spices), wrapped in banana leaves, and slow-cooked in a pit oven (pib) for 8-12 hours. The meat falls apart. The colour is deep orange from the annatto. Served with pickled red onion and habanero chilli. The archetypal Yucatecan preparation. At any traditional Mérida restaurant: £4-7 for a full portion.
Poc Chuc: Thin pork steaks marinated in sour orange juice and grilled over charcoal. Simple, specifically Yucatecan. The sour orange (naranja agria, which grows in the Yucatán and is closer to a bitter orange than to the sweet orange of commerce) gives it a citrus character impossible to replicate with commercial orange juice.
The Taco Principles:
A taco is defined by its tortilla: corn (the authentic and traditional version, two small corn tortillas stacked) or flour (northern Mexico and border regions). The filling is secondary to the tortilla quality. A taquería where the tortillas are made fresh on a comal on the premises is categorically better than one using pre-packaged tortillas. The freshly made tortilla is still warm, slightly charred at the edges, with a specific corn flavour that the packaged version doesn’t have.
The cost principle: the best tacos in Mexico are available for £0.70-1.50. The best restaurant taco costs £3-5. The quality relationship is not proportional — the taquería in the market at 1pm has been making tacos al pastor since 6am and the meat has been slow-cooking on the trompo for 7 hours. The tourist-facing restaurant’s version was prepared in advance. The cheaper version is almost always better.
Practical Notes
Visa: UK passport holders do not require a visa for Mexico for stays up to 180 days. Tourism card (FMM — Forma Migratoria Múltiple) completed on arrival or, for many flights, on the plane. No fee for stays under 7 days; small fee for longer stays (approximately £15).
Getting there: No direct scheduled flights from the UK to Mexico City. Connect via the US (Miami, Houston, Dallas) on British Airways, American Airlines, United, or Delta, or via Madrid on Iberia. Return flights to Mexico City: £550-800. Direct charter and scheduled flights from UK airports to Cancún are available in summer for £350-600 — worth considering if beginning in the Yucatán.
Currency: Mexican Peso (MXN). £1 ≈ 25 MXN at time of writing. ATMs widely available in cities and tourist areas. Cash necessary for market stalls, taquerías, and colectivo transport. USD accepted in some tourist-facing businesses but at unfavourable exchange rates — use pesos.
Getting around: ADO bus network for southern Mexico and the Yucatán — first class, bookable at ado.com.mx. Uber in cities (Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Mérida, Cancún). Colectivo minivans for shorter routes (significantly cheaper than dedicated taxis). Car rental for the Yucatán cenote circuit and rural Oaxaca — useful but not essential. The El Chepe train for the Copper Canyon (separate booking as described).
Language: Spanish. Mexico has 68 indigenous languages with various numbers of speakers; Spanish is the lingua franca. English is spoken in tourist-facing businesses in Mexico City, Oaxaca, and the Yucatán tourist corridor. In rural markets, indigenous communities, and the Copper Canyon area: Spanish is the required communication language. “Gracias,” “¿cuánto cuesta?”, “una cerveza, por favor” — the basics.
Getting a SIM: Telcel has the best coverage nationwide; AT&T Mexico and Movistar have good urban coverage. A 30-day SIM with 3-10GB data costs £6-12 at airport kiosks or OXXO convenience stores (found on every block in every Mexican city). Airalo eSIMs work on Mexican networks.
Two Itineraries — Mexico City to Yucatán and the South Circuit
14 Days — Mexico City to Yucatán (The Classic Circuit)
Days 1-3: Mexico City
Day 1: Land. Roma neighbourhood hotel. Recovery. Walking Roma Norte and Condesa at dusk.
Day 2: Templo Mayor (9am). National Palace Diego Rivera murals (free). Lunch at Mercado de San Juan (the premium food market south of the Zócalo — the most concentrated quality food per square metre in the city). Coyoacán in the afternoon — Frida Kahlo Museum (book ahead) or walk the neighbourhood.
Day 3: Teotihuacán (first bus from Norte station at 7am, arrive 8am, 2-hour visit before the tours arrive). Return to Mexico City by noon. Afternoon: Polanco and the Museo Nacional de Antropología (the finest museum of pre-Columbian culture in the world — one full afternoon minimum). Dinner in Roma Norte.
Days 4-6: Oaxaca
Day 4: Domestic flight Mexico City to Oaxaca (1 hour, from £35). Afternoon: Zócalo, Santo Domingo, the nearby mezcal bars.
Day 5: Monte Albán at 8am. Return to city by noon. Afternoon: Mercado Benito Juárez and Mercado 20 de Noviembre (lunch). Mezcal palenque visit in the late afternoon (arrange through accommodation).
Day 6: Hierve el Agua (7am colectivo from Tlacolula — be at the site by 8:30am). Return by noon. Free afternoon. Dinner at Casa Oaxaca restaurant (book ahead — the tasting menu uses local ingredients from a rooftop terrace above the historic centre).
Day 7: Oaxaca → Mérida (fly)
Morning flight to Mérida (via Mexico City or direct, 2-3 hours total). Afternoon in Mérida old city. La Chaya Maya for dinner.
Days 8-9: Yucatán (Mérida-based)
Day 8: Uxmal (1.5 hours from Mérida) — the finest Mayan ruins in the Yucatán by most measures. The Pyramid of the Magician, the Nunnery Quadrangle, the Governor’s Palace. Entry £9. Return Mérida afternoon.
Day 9: Day trip to Izamal (45 minutes by colectivo) — the “yellow city,” entirely painted in ochre, a Spanish colonial city built directly on top of a Mayan one (some of the Mayan platform bases are visible at street level). The San Antonio de Padua Convent is the second-largest atrium in the world after the Vatican. Return to Mérida.
Days 10-11: Chichen Itza and Valladolid
Day 10: Bus to Valladolid (2 hours, £6). Check in. Afternoon: Cenote Zaci in the city centre. Evening in Valladolid.
Day 11: 7am taxi to Chichen Itza. Site at 8am opening. Return by 11am. Cenote Ik Kil or Cenote Dos Ojos in the afternoon (both near Chichen Itza, book the tour from Valladolid).
Days 12-14: Holbox or Tulum
Day 12: Bus to Chiquila (3 hours from Valladolid). Ferry to Holbox. Golf cart hire. Afternoon on the island.
Day 13: Whale shark tour (June-September) or swimming with bioluminescence (any season, night). Flamingos at dawn.
Day 14: Return ferry to Chiquila. Bus to Cancún airport. Evening flight home.
10 Days — The South Circuit (Mexico City + Oaxaca + Chiapas)
Substitute Days 7-14 with: Oaxaca Day 3 (Tlacolula market and surrounding villages). Days 4-5: Overnight bus or short flight Oaxaca to San Cristóbal de las Casas. Days 6-7: San Juan Chamula, Zinacantán, the Sumidero Canyon. Day 8-9: Palenque (the finest Mayan ruins in Chiapas, the Pakal tomb inscription that proved Mayan hieroglyphs recorded real history). Day 10: return to Mexico City or fly home from Cancún via Villahermosa.
Final Thought
I was at the trompo in a taquería in Roma Norte at 1pm on a Tuesday. The cook had been working since 6am. The pork had been on the spit for seven hours.
He carved the meat with a long knife and a fast motion — shaving thin slices onto two stacked corn tortillas, topped with a sliver of pineapple from the top of the trompo (the pineapple is there to caramelize against the meat and drip its juice down the column as the spit turns — this is why al pastor tastes the way it does), then the onion, the cilantro, the salsa verde.
I ate three. They cost £2.70 total.
I’ve eaten at restaurants in Mexico City that charge £30 for a tasting course that uses these same ingredients with more steps between them. Both experiences are Mexico. Both are real. The taco from the trompo, eaten standing at a counter in a market at 1pm, with a woman standing next to me who had clearly been coming to this specific taquería for years — that one stays with you longer.
Go to Mexico. Eat at the trompo. Everything else follows from there.
Question about Mexico this guide doesn’t cover? Drop it in the comments.
