Travel packages to Mexico

Stretching from the Sonoran Desert to the jungles bordering Guatemala, Mexico packs ancient cities, colonial towns and two long coastlines into a single trip. Most itineraries begin in Mexico City, where the Aztec ruins of the Templo Mayor sit beside the Zócalo, the National Museum of Anthropology anchors Chapultepec Park, and leafy Roma and Condesa fill with cafés and taquerías. An hour north, the pyramids of Teotihuacan rise above the valley. From the capital, many travellers continue south to Oaxaca, known for its Zapotec site of Monte Albán, mezcal distilleries and weaving villages, or on to Chiapas for the jungle-wrapped temples of Palenque and the highland town of San Cristóbal de las Casas.

The Yucatán Peninsula offers a different Mexico: limestone flatlands dotted with cenotes, Maya ruins and Caribbean beaches. Chichén Itzá and Uxmal are the headline archaeological sites, while Mérida and Valladolid show off pastel colonial streets. Along the Riviera Maya, Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, with its clifftop Tulum ruins, suit beach time and diving on the Mesoamerican Reef. On the Pacific side, Baja California pairs desert scenery with whale watching in winter lagoons and the rock arch of El Arco at Cabo San Lucas.

Two weeks allows a city, a cultural region and a stretch of coast without rushing; ten days works if you focus on the Yucatán or on Mexico City and Oaxaca. The dry season from November to April brings the most reliable weather, while summer and early autumn are hotter and wetter, with hurricane risk on the Caribbean coast peaking around September. Early November coincides with Día de Muertos, celebrated vividly in Oaxaca and Michoacán. Food is reason enough to come: mole and tlayudas in Oaxaca, cochinita pibil and sopa de lima in Yucatán, tacos al pastor in the capital and fish tacos in Baja.