Need some advice on Mexico Travel

clarkyson

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to visit Mexico next March with my family, and I’m looking for some suggestions on where to go and what to see. We already have Chichen Itza and the other pyramids on our list, but we want to explore more than just the ancient ruins. What are some other places that are worth visiting in Mexico? We are open to any region and any type of destination, as long as it’s safe and family-friendly.

I appreciate your help. Thank you!

DullGreyGuy

Mexico is a vast country, it's 7x the size of the UK and so being open to "any region" could mean the vast majority of your time spent at airports unless you are going for months. 

In the Yucatan region where Chechen Itza is there are also hundreds of cenote (large caves which the roof has collapsed to the outside world with water at the bottom), beaches, food, drink, theme parks of sorts like Xcarent. Most the Yucatan peninsula has been created for the tourist market though so its a fairly plastic version of Mexico

Oaxaca is a really interesting region, home to Mezcal production with many distilleries to visit or mezcalerias, lots of artisan production too including pottery, weaving. Another big foodie region, though a bit too keen on eating insects for me. More ruins. Lots of festivals that often include processions, fairs, music, face painting etc. The city, of the same name, is a very pretty colonial centre and interesting to wander around with little shops, cafes, bars, taquerias

Mexico City is a major capital with all that brings with it, interesting museums, amazing food, shopping if thats your thing etc. 

Mexico is generally safe if you are sensible... you wouldn't want to be wandering about the back streets at night with your diamond encrusted Rolex on show irrespective if its real or fake but then I wouldn't do that in the UK either. Most issues come from scams (the classic being "Hi, I'm Jose, I work at your hotel, we met the other day...") or getting mixed up in illicit substances. 

IvanOpinion

For a whole day out you could try Xcaret (https://www.xcaret.com/en/?langRedirect=1) near Playa del Carmen.
Make sure you stay for the show in the evening - amazing!

jimi_man

Hi. We came back from Mexico (and Belize) just before Christmas. Flew into Mexico City which is worth a few days. Chichen Itsa you’re already going. Bacalar is well worth a visit and for a few days on the beach in a less touristy resort, try Mahahual. 

hugheskevi

Starting with a more off-beat and probably not too attractive to you but an amazing option that should be considered for any trip to Mexico - the Copper Canyon in the north of Mexico is amazing and truly world-class scenery. There is a train ("El Chepe") that runs from Creel to Los Mochis, with the main highlight being El Divisadero which has great scenery (many say better than Grand Canyon, and I agree with that), walks and an adventure park with one of the world's longest zip-lines. You will find hardly any Western tourists in the area, so if you want a conventional touristy trip to Mexico this wouldn't be the thing to do - with a child, I'd suggest doing something organised in advance, as whilst you can sort stuff out yourself as you go, it is a bit hard, especially if you don't speak Spanish. The end of the train line (Los Mochis) isn't far from the beach destination of Mazatlan which is a very nice place to spend time. As to whether it is safe - well, it is a drug area (there was a lot of trouble in Culiacan last year, which lies between Los Mochis and Mazatlan), but the criminals have no interest in tourists and you shouldn't have any issues on an organised trip. I was very happy to travel through the region last year, go walking/running at night (due to the heat!), etc. It is a bit difficult to get to though, probably flying via Mexico City into Chihuahua and out of Los Mochis (or maybe Mazatlan). Note that this is about as far from Chichen Itza as you can get in Mexico however.

For a more conventional trip, Chichen Itza and several cenotes are great. The whole area is tourist-central though, which you may think is a good or a bad thing. You could also look at visiting Rio Secreto, which is pleasant and enjoyable. You would probably find yourself visiting the Coba and Tulum Mayan ruins, as they are close and on the way to many places. There are lots and lots of tourist things to do along the road between Cancun and Tulum, all with very easy to book tours that provide transport (note there are lots of abusive swim with dolphin places there, consider ethically whether you want to be a part of that). Think about where you would want to base yourself - Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are the obvious places. To see other major attractions other than those above, you are going to have to travel a decent distance.

Chichen Itza is fairly close to Belize, which has several great things and you could maybe build that into a travel plan. The snorkeling off Caye Caulker is amazingly good - the best I've found in the whole of the Americas with the possible exception of the Galapagos. The Actun Tunichil Muknal cave near San Ignacio is also astonishingly good, although research it carefully as it involves things like traversing rivers to get to and going through neck-high water in the cave with very low ceilings - it is done like this to keep tourist numbers down and to avoid any infrastructure in order to preserve the cave for the future, it really isn't too hard at all though if you are up for a bit of adventure, and has amazing history which the excellent guides really bring to life. A visit to Laminai ruins is also well worth doing, not least as it involves a very pleasant boat ride there and back, and you might well see a caiman or two on the way. 

Mexico City has Aztec remains right in the heart of the city, and it is easy to access the earlier archeological site of San Juan Teotihuacan. You could consider the interesting area of Xochimilco to the south of the city, as well as many highlights in the city centre. Parque Nacional Iztaccíhuatl - Popocatépetl is a possible day trip from the city too if you want to see some volcanoes. You can fly into or out of Mexico City from Europe, so could easily pair it with a second destination in Mexico (the obvious one being Cancun, as you can also easily fly into and out of there from Europe).

clarkyson

DullGreyGuy said:

Mexico is a vast country, it's 7x the size of the UK and so being open to "any region" could mean the vast majority of your time spent at airports unless you are going for months. 

In the Yucatan region where Chechen Itza is there are also hundreds of cenote (large caves which the roof has collapsed to the outside world with water at the bottom), beaches, food, drink, theme parks of sorts like Xcarent. Most the Yucatan peninsula has been created for the tourist market though so its a fairly plastic version of Mexico

Oaxaca is a really interesting region, home to Mezcal production with many distilleries to visit or mezcalerias, lots of artisan production too including pottery, weaving. Another big foodie region, though a bit too keen on eating insects for me. More ruins. Lots of festivals that often include processions, fairs, music, face painting etc. The city, of the same name, is a very pretty colonial centre and interesting to wander around with little shops, cafes, bars, taquerias

Mexico City is a major capital with all that brings with it, interesting museums, amazing food, shopping if thats your thing etc. 

Mexico is generally safe if you are sensible... you wouldn't want to be wandering about the back streets at night with your diamond encrusted Rolex on show irrespective if its real or fake but then I wouldn't do that in the UK either. Most issues come from scams (the classic being "Hi, I'm Jose, I work at your hotel, we met the other day...") or getting mixed up in illicit substances. 

Yeah, I was checking on some cenotes too, especially Cenote Yokdzonot and Tsukan Santuario de Vida. These two looks really worth my time. 

clarkyson

jimi_man said:

Hi. We came back from Mexico (and Belize) just before Christmas. Flew into Mexico City which is worth a few days. Chichen Itsa you’re already going. Bacalar is well worth a visit and for a few days on the beach in a less touristy resort, try Mahahual. 

How was your trip? I checked out Mahahual, definitely would love to visit. I don't like that crowded place. Are you familiar with the Spanish language? I am kind of concerned, as most of them speak Spanish only. .  

clarkyson

IvanOpinion said:

For a whole day out you could try Xcaret (https://www.xcaret.com/en/?langRedirect=1) near Playa del Carmen.
Make sure you stay for the show in the evening - amazing!

I will keep that in my bucket list. 

DullGreyGuy

clarkyson said:
 I don't like that crowded place. Are you familiar with the Spanish language? I am kind of concerned, as most of them speak Spanish only. .  

Personally can only speak a few phrases, like ordering a beer, but have no idea what a reply will be if it isn't "yes" however wife is a native speaker. Obviously spent a lot of time together in our time there (went several times over Covid for months at a time) but clearly didn't spend 24/7 together and managed to get by ok. 

Mobile coverage is ok so ultimately Google Translate or Google Maps to show a taxi driver where I want to go if they don't get my pronunciation etc. 

On my own prices increase notably in taxis and other places without a published price list (still less than London). Wife can pass for a local so gets charged a lot less but surprisingly the cheapest prices are when we are together, as long as I don't open my mouth. 

jimi_man

clarkyson said:

jimi_man said:

Hi. We came back from Mexico (and Belize) just before Christmas. Flew into Mexico City which is worth a few days. Chichen Itsa you’re already going. Bacalar is well worth a visit and for a few days on the beach in a less touristy resort, try Mahahual. 

How was your trip? I checked out Mahahual, definitely would love to visit. I don't like that crowded place. Are you familiar with the Spanish language? I am kind of concerned, as most of them speak Spanish only. .  

It was great. We went with my brother and sister-in-law and she’s a fluent Spanish speaker which really helps. I can speak a bit. Mahahual was really nice. You get the occasional cruise boat stopping off with a bunch of Americans but come the evening it’s quiet again. Bacalar was also great. A big lagoon with centotes in is worth visiting. 

We also went to Caye Caulker - an island off Belize which was great too. Some of the best scuba diving I’ve done if you’re into that, with numerous turtles, reef sharks and just about everything else. Comes up as one of the best barrier reefs in the world for diving. They also do snorkelling too if you don’t dive, though they tend to be well trodden locations like ‘ray alley’ and stuff but still worth seeing. 

We got a ferry from Chetumal (Mexico) though there are other options too. 

Having done Cancun last year we prefer the less crowded Mexico. 

Definitely worth a visit. 

clarkyson

DullGreyGuy said:

clarkyson said:
 I don't like that crowded place. Are you familiar with the Spanish language? I am kind of concerned, as most of them speak Spanish only. .  

Personally can only speak a few phrases, like ordering a beer, but have no idea what a reply will be if it isn't "yes" however wife is a native speaker. Obviously spent a lot of time together in our time there (went several times over Covid for months at a time) but clearly didn't spend 24/7 together and managed to get by ok. 

Mobile coverage is ok so ultimately Google Translate or Google Maps to show a taxi driver where I want to go if they don't get my pronunciation etc. 

On my own prices increase notably in taxis and other places without a published price list (still less than London). Wife can pass for a local so gets charged a lot less but surprisingly the cheapest prices are when we are together, as long as I don't open my mouth. 

My wife is suggesting getting a local guide. I'm in a kind of dilemma about whether it's a good idea given the extra cost. What do you suggest?