Destination Overview
Time difference: GMT -5 hours
Capital: Mexico City
Currency: Mexican Peso
Flight time: 11 hours+
With two coasts bordered by white sandy beaches, an interior peppered with Maya ruins and colonial towns, warming cuisine and fabulous fiestas, Mexico is a holiday destination like no other. Its capital, Mexico City, runs to an energetic samba beat, fuelled by bright colours, teeming traffic and modern Mexican cuisine. Here, recently-revamped plazas and parks are the stage for outdoor living, with pre-Hispanic and colonial buildings providing a genteel backdrop. Outside the city, however, a laid-back way of life has permeated the beach resorts and small towns like Los Cabos and Tulum, where you can relax on talcum powder softs sands and snorkel in marine-rich turquoise waters.
If you’re looking for a Mexican beach holiday you’ll need to pick a coast: Pacific or Caribbean? The latter is the country’s most popular stretch of coast, where you’ll find the resort towns of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. Here you can explore the Yucatan Peninsula and its many ruins, swim in gin-clear cenotes and dine on the freshest seafood. However for a different experience altogether, head to the Pacific Coast of Baja California and the region of Los Cabos. Here, empty stretches of road offer views at every turn, beautiful beaches offer surfing and the chance to spot humpback whales during mating season, and seriously chilled-out resorts offer the perfect place to star gaze in clear night skies.