Mexico, Central America & Southwest USA Travel
Morelia is the capital of Michoacan and one of the best-preserved colonial cities in Mexico. UNESCO-listed, built entirely in pink cantera stone, with an aqueduct, a towering cathedral and a university that has been operating since 1540. It is also the base for one of the great natural spectacles in the Americas — the monarch … Read more
San Luis Potosi gets overlooked on the gringo trail between Mexico City and the northern border, which is a shame. The colonial center is handsome — pink sandstone buildings, wide plazas, a cathedral that glows at night — and the city works as a base for the surreal landscape of the Huasteca Potosina to the … Read more
Zacatecas is a colonial silver city built in a narrow canyon in the mountains of central Mexico. Pink stone buildings climb the hillsides, a cable car crosses the canyon to the Cerro de la Bufa, and the El Eden mine beneath the city has been converted into a nightclub inside the tunnels. It is one … Read more
Guadalajara is Mexico’s second city and it does not try to be Mexico City. It has its own identity — tequila country, mariachi birthplace, a colonial core that sprawls across several plazas connected by pedestrian streets. The food scene is excellent, the Tlaquepaque craft district is one of the best shopping experiences in the country, … Read more
Patzcuaro sits on the shores of a highland lake in Michoacan and is one of the most atmospheric small towns in Mexico. The Tarascan (Purepecha) civilization built their capital here, and the archaeological site of Tzintzuntzan nearby has the distinctive yacatas — circular step pyramids found nowhere else in Mexico. Tzintzuntzan Ruins The yacatas at … Read more
Tikal is across the border in Guatemala, but it connects to the Mexico travel circuit and plenty of travelers visit it from Palenque. The journey from Palenque to Tikal — through Frontera Corozal or Tenosique, across the border, through Flores — is a classic overland route in its own right. Getting There From Mexico The … Read more
Yagul sits on a rocky outcrop in the Oaxaca valley, about 35km from the city on the road to Mitla. It was a Zapotec city that became important after Monte Alban declined, flourishing from around 750-1521 AD. The fortress on the hilltop above the main plaza has commanding views of the entire valley. The Site … Read more
Dainzu is a Zapotec site in the Oaxaca valley, about 20km southeast of Oaxaca city on the road to Mitla. It is small, rarely visited, and has some of the most interesting ball player carvings in Mesoamerica. If you are visiting Mitla or Hierve el Agua and pass the turnoff, stop for an hour. The … Read more
Bonampak is a small Maya site deep in the Lacandon jungle of Chiapas, but its murals make it one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Mexico. Three rooms of vivid paintings from around 790 AD show scenes of war, sacrifice, celebration and political ritual in detail that survives nowhere else in the Maya world. … Read more
Paquime (Casas Grandes) is the most important archaeological site in northern Mexico, and it does not look like anything else in the country. Adobe walls, T-shaped doorways, and multi-story apartment buildings that feel more like the Southwest US pueblos than anything Aztec or Maya. That is because Paquime was a crossroads — connecting Mesoamerica with … Read more