Traveller's Guide To: Mexico 2010

Tulum Beach

Continuation from Last Submission...

Can I fly and flop?

The simplest way to do this is to go to Cancún on the Caribbean coast, whose airport is served by charters run by several tour operators. This year Cancún is celebrating its own 40th birthday, and has V C invested in a facelift for the beach hotels that were severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The first phase of an underwater sculpture park has also been completed: 400 sculptures by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor are being sunk off the coast in the Caribbean waters of the National Park West Coast of Isla Mujeres Puerta Cancú*and Puerta Nizuc, to create an artificial reef and spectacular diving opportunities. The human-scale concrete sculptures will be grouped by theme, from Mayan warriors to dream catchers (www.bit.ly/divecancun ).

As alternatives to staying in the mega resort itself, try looking further down the so-called Riviera Maya to lower rise and smaller scale hotels in Playa del Carmen (also known as Playacar). Thomson (0871 231 5595; thomson.co.uk ) offers a week at Easter, all-inclusive, at the Ríu Yucatán hotel at Playacar, from £734 per person. Recently completed on this stretch of the Riviera Maya is the upscale Mayakoba Resort (mayakoba.com ). The exclusive cluster of remote but sprawling beachfront hotels includes a Banyan Tree, Rosewood, Viceroy, Fairmont and Mandarin Oriental.

If you'd really like to chill, and stay within easy reach of Cancún airport, you could do worse than investigate Tulum, an hour's drive south, which apart from its spectacular Mayan site and unspectacular town centre, boasts a string of beachside cabins, ranging from basic with a sand floor to luxury mini-villas with air con. Prices begin at around 810 pesos (£40) a night for two people (tulum.com ).

Back to the ancients?

The Yucatán Peninsula boasts the remains of many cities built during the Mayan empire. The world-famous sites such as Chichen Itzá, Uxmal and Tulum are on the excursion agendas of the big hotels on the Riviera Maya but recent road improvements have made it possible to reach the more remote sites in an ordinary hire car. Kohunlich, with its striking Temple of the Masks (open daily 8am-5pm, admission 20 pesos/£1) is an hour's drive west of the city of Chetumal on Highway 186, which also takes you on towards Calakmul – a vast complex complete with howler monkeys – and finally to Palenque, wreathed magically in jungle. Stay overnight in the town of Palenque to enjoy the ruins when they open at 8am, as do the other sites.

Should you tire of monuments, another unique Mexican experience is to take a dip in one of the cenotes, the freshwater lagoons which dot the limestone plateau of the Yucatán Peninsula. The Cenote Azul near the town of Bacalar is particularly refreshing.

There's more to pre-Columbian Mexico than the Mayans. On a flat-topped hill just outside Oaxaca is the site of Monte Albán, built around 600BC by the Zapotecs, while 50km north of Mexico City is the monumental site of Teotihuacán. It's not known for sure who built it, but if you're going to climb just one building in Mexico, it should be the magnificent Temple of the Sun (open Tuesday-Sunday 9am to 5pm, admission 51 pesos/ £2.50).

Back to nature: Baja California

Baja California, which dangles appendix-like from the western side of Mexico's frontier with the US, is an unrivalled place to see whales, particularly the Grey Whale, which migrates here to breed between December and March. A number of operators run daily boat trips from the Marina at Cabo San Lucas with prices ranging from US$39-60 (£26-£40) per person. Alternatively Aero Calafia (00 52 624 143 4302; aerocalafia.com.mx ) will fly you from Cabo San Lucas to the shallow bays where the whales mate and give birth. A day-trip, including food, costs US$421 (£281) per person. Accommodation can be expensive but bijou Los Milagros Hotel at Matamoros 116, Cabo San Lucas (00 52 624 143 4566; losmilagros.com.mx ), has doubles from US$95 (£63), room only.

The country's most characteristic and fragile landscapes have been designated Biosphere Reserves. Visits, camping and sometimes adventure sports are possible within their boundaries. Michoacán's Monarch Butterfly Reserve in central Mexico is the most visited. From November to March, visitors can follow trails amongst oak and pine which are completely covered by the hibernating butterflies. Details from glocaltravel.net/ destinations.

Travel essentials: Mexico

Getting there

* There are three direct flights a week to Mexico City from Heathrow with BA (0844 493 0787; britishairways.com ), while Mexicana flies there four times a week from Gatwick (0808 10 17 600; mexicana.com ). The only direct flights to Cancún from the UK are by charter airline: Thomson Airways (0871 231 4787; flights. thomson.co.uk ), Thomas Cook (0871 895 0055; thomascook.com ) and Monarch Airlines (0871 940 5040; monarch.co.uk ).

* Tailor-made trips are provided by Journey Latin America (020-8622 8469; journeylatinamerica.co.uk ), which organises, for instance, a 13-day self-drive tour of "Colonial Cities and the Pacific Coast" for £1,809 per person, while Mexico Travel Plan (01273 322 046; mexicotravelplan.co.uk ) offer short modules, including travel by bus, which you can add in to your holiday or stitch together as an itinerary. Cathy Matos Mexican Tours (020-8492 0000; cathymatosmexico.co.uk ) is a long-established and reliable British operator.

Getting around

* Apart from the Chihuahua-Pacific Railway and a few other tourist lines, rail travel in Mexico has been virtually abandoned. But buses provide an efficient and economical service. Second-class buses are enjoyable for local trips, but for intercity journeys choose first class or the comfortable executive or luxury buses. Journeys can be very long: Cancú*to Palenque, for example, a distance of 870km, takes 13 hours and costs 700 pesos (£35) on a first-class bus. Mexperience.com has a comprehensive website on bus travel.

* The country is vast, so the internal airlines are an important feature of the transport infrastructure. Aeroméxico (00 52 51 33 40 00; aeromexico.com ) and Mexicana have the most extensive networks of routes. Information on the various fares and itineraries available with a Mexicana Visit Mexico multi-pass is available through the One World alliance (oneworld.com ).

* If you want to get off the beaten track it is worth hiring a car, though if you've booked it from the UK, be prepared for some hefty local charges. Holidayautos. co.uk lists rentals from £175 per week, with unlimited mileage.

* Once on the road, beware of the mountainous speed bumps at the entrance to towns and villages and avoid driving at night and any brushes with local police, whose actions can be unpredictable.

Accommodation

* There's a vast array of places to stay, ranging from mammoth resort complexes to thatched beach cabins by way of chic boutique hotels. Prices vary proportionately.

* Some of the best deals can be found by searching for a privately owned beach house to rent. Steer clear of the Riviera Maya and look for the spots that the locals would choose. In Sayulita, for example, 35km north of Puerto Vallarta, you can find a three-bed house near the beach from $520 (£347) a week (vacationhomerentals.com ) and a similar amount will rent you a house for eight right on the beach at Chuburna Puerto near the port of Progreso on the less-developed north coast of the Yucatán.

Dangers

* The Foreign Office website (fco.gov.uk ) draws travellers' attention to the hurricane season in Mexico, which runs from June to November and can affect both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. It also advises being alert when withdrawing money and "when dealing with real or purported policemen". The drug-related violence which erupted in the border regions with the US, particularly Ciudad Juárez, has also claimed victims during 2008 and 2009 in the states of Chihuahua, Sinaloa and some Pacific states. The advice is to keep abreast of local information.

More information

* Mexican Tourist Board: 020-7488 9392; visitmexico.com .
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