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Mexico is nothing like I expected because before I did my research, I thought like many others that all there is in Mexico are beaches and great sunny weather. But Mexico’s rich cultural heritage, as well as its unique geography and climate makes it a major tourist destination. Mexico is seventh in the world for the number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and the sixth most visited country in the world. The earliest artifacts found here date back 10,000 years ago with the hunter-gatherers and through the formative era of the Mesoamericans and later with the Olmecs, Aztecs, Zapotecs, Mayans, and as recently as 500 years ago with the Spanish invasions, Mexico’s history is rich and undeniably significant.
We spent almost 2 months here and visited most of the country except for the northwest region, which we figured we could just drive down from California sometime in the future. Besides, that region mostly had beaches and although the central valley has some beautiful sights, it was not the safest. So we decided to cover the historical side of this wonderful country and booked our one-way flight to Mexico City with a return 2 months later from Cancun.
So without further ado, let me open up my Mexico diary and lay out our journey.
Mexico Itinerary
- Day 1 – Arrived in Mexico City
- 10 days in Mexico City
- 3 days in Guanajuato
- 7 days in Veracruz
- 6 days in Oaxaca
- 4 days in San Cristóbal de las Casas
- 3 days in Palenque
- 6 days in Merida
- 3 days in Chetumal
- 2 days in Xpujil/Calakmul
- 6 days in Tulum
- 5 days in Playa Del Carmen
- Day 57: Fly back to LA
- Mexico City – 10 days
Mexico City has a lot to offer but if you are coming as a tourist, 10 days is more than enough, although we would have liked to stay a little longer just to enjoy the city. If you are just exploring a new place on your own, I would highly recommend you check out the free walking tours that are available.
Also, check out my blog post on Mexico City (link here) where I have detailed all the places to visit here. The following was my itinerary and I hope this gives you a rough guide to plan your visit:
- Day 2: Places to see here are mainly concentrated in the downtown area called Centro Historico or Zócalo. So after taking the free walking tour, we gave ourselves a couple more days to go back and visit all the places we saw (from outside) on our walking tour.
- Day 3: We toured the Palacio Nacional and The Historic center of Mexico
- Day 4: Day of rest and did some research on our next destination
- Day 5: Dia Del Muerto parade that is held on the Saturday before Nov 1st. (check out my post)
- Day 6: Xochimilco, called “the Venice of Mexico”, is such a unique and fun way to spend a day.
- Day 7: Teotihuacan ruins. This is a must-see place and it is very easy to get there (check out my post). This is one of my favorite ruins in Mexico and I rate this even higher than Chichen Itza.
- Day 8: Visit the Zocalo again and tour the Cathedral Metropolitan and Templo Mayor museum.
- Day 9: Visit Reforma – The Museo Nacional de Antropología and Angel de la Independencia both are located on the main thoroughfare of Paseo de la Reforma. Biblioteca Vasconcelos in the Buenavista neighborhood.
- Day 10: Tour of the Palacio de Bella Artes and the adjacent flea market.
- Day 11: Travel to Guanajuato by bus.
PS: We had originally booked a car, but as it was a holiday weekend, they did not have any cars available for us despite having a confirmed reservation!! After several hours of arguing with someone at the rental car company, who did not speak a word of English, we gave up and eventually (with our AirBnB host’s help) booked a bus. We planned for 3 nights in Guanajuato. - Day 12: GUANAJUATO – 1 day is generally enough to see Guanajuato unless you want to really experience this beautiful city. We visited the Jardin de la Unión, Teatro Juarez (only the outside as it was closed), Basílica de Nuestra Señora, Callejón del Beso, Templo de la Compañía and The Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato (mummy museum).
- Day 13: SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE –
This city was voted as the best city in the world for 2017 by travel + leisure magazine. The beautiful colonial architecture, cobblestoned alleyways, beautiful churches, gardens, restaurants and cafes make this a tourist’s ideal vacation spot and also a popular place for expats to move to. We visited La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, El Jardín de Allende, Museo Histórico Casa de Allende, Templo del Oratorio de San Felipe Neri, Templo de Nuestra Señora de la Salud Plaza Cívica, Templo de San Francisco, and The Mercado de Artesanías. - Day 14 & 15: Travel from Guanajuato to Veracruz.
Day 14 was a day of travelling, first by bus from Guanajuato to Mexico City (6 hours), then taxi from bus station to the airport, and after some delay, a flight from Mexico City to Veracruz, we reached Veracruz around 10 pm and couldn’t wait to get into bed.
But I would like to tell you about an incident here that could have easily been a disaster. While waiting at the airport gate in Mexico city, Govi forgot our backpack which contained both our laptops in the waiting area. We realized it was missing when we were on the shuttle from the gate to the aircraft. We tried to tell the airport crew about it in vain as he did not know English. Eventually one of the passengers came to our rescue and he was able to get the crew member to call the staff at the gate to look for the backpack. After some effort, they located the bag but said that it would be sent to Veracruz the next day. So the next day, instead of visiting the beautiful city of Veracruz, we had to make a trip back to the airport and spend the entire day there. We spoke to the airline staff, had her communicate with Mexico City staff, and have them send the backpack on the next flight. We waited at the airport for 4 hours for the next flight to arrive and retrieve our bag. It was a big relief to have found it, otherwise making further travel arrangements without a laptop would have been impossible, not to mention losing both our computers and all the data in it.
- Day 16: VERACRUZ – also known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city located along the coast. Today we visited the Baluarte de Santiago (Santiago Bulwark), Plaza de Armas commonly called the Zocalo, flanked by the Municipal Palace and the Cathedral of Veracruz named Catedral de la Virgen de la Asunción, the Naval Museum and Museo de la Ciudad. In the evening, we went to the airport to pick up the rental car.
- Day 17: Visited El Tajin located about 240 km north of Veracruz. Toured the ruins and the museum and also witnessed the Danza de Los Voladores (Dance of the flyers) performed at the ruins.
- Day 18: We visited the Cascada de Texolo waterfalls located 126 km from Veracruz. On the way back, we visited the Museo de Antropologia in Xalapa, and the Cempoala ruins.
- Day 19: Tlacotalpan is a beautiful, colorful town about 100 km from the city of Veracruz, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1998 primarily for its architecture and colonial-era layout.
In the evening, we walked over to the Malecón (boardwalk) which is popular at night for locals to stroll, exercise, and enjoy the ocean breezes. It is also a good place to pick up some knick-knacks and souvenirs. - Day 20: We visited the Quiahuiztlan ruins and Fort San Juan de Ulúa located on an island just on the outskirts of Veracruz.
- Day 17: Visited El Tajin located about 240 km north of Veracruz. Toured the ruins and the museum and also witnessed the Danza de Los Voladores (Dance of the flyers) performed at the ruins.
- Day 21: Traveled by ADO bus from Veracruz to Oaxaca for a 6-night stay.
- Day 22: OAXACA – We started our visit with a free walking tour of Oaxaca and visited the Cathedral de Oaxaca, the heavily gilded Templo de Santo Domingo, Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, the University named after President Benito Juarez, the Aqueduct and other sights of this historic city.
- Day 23: Today we visited the Monte Alban ruins. Several tour companies in and around the Zocalo offer tours to Monte Alban. But you can easily do this on your own and I’ll tell you how. On Francisco Javier Mina street near Hotel Rivera del Angel, you can find shops with signs saying transport to Monte Alban. We found one that offered a round trip service for 50 pesos. It was a minibus and took around 30 minutes to reach.
- Day 24: Today we took a rest from sightseeing and spent the time booking a day tour for the next day and also making arrangements for our next destination after Oaxaca.
- Day 25: Day tour to Arbol de Tule – An almost 3000-year-old Moctezuma cypress tree which is said to be the widest tree in the world, Hierve el Agua – the beautiful frozen waterfall, Mitla – the Zapotec ruin known for its elaborate and intricate mosaic designs, and Mezcal El Rey de Mazatlán – a Mezcal factory.
- Day 26: Depart via ADO bus to San Cristóbal de las Casas in the night
- Day 27: AM arrival into San Cristóbal de las Casas for a 4 night stay. Today we visited Zona Centro and spent the day talking to tour operators and booked 2 day tours.
- Day 28: Free walking tour of San Cristóbal de las Casas
- Day 29: Day tour to Sumidero Canyon – deep natural canyon caused by the Grijalva river erosion, and Chiapas de Corzo – a sleepy little town with a large Zocalo housing the beautiful moorish La Pila fountain and clock tower.
- Day 30: Day tour to Laguna Montebello – a set of lakes around 150 km from San Cristóbal de las Casas, and El Chiflón – a cascade of waterfalls that drops into several little turquoise pools.
- Day 31: Travel by bus (ADO) from San Cristobal de las Casas to Palenque. We planned to stay here for 3 nights. Right outside the bus station, we were approached by a tour operator from Tulum Touristico with whom we later booked 2 day tours for the following days.
- Day 32: Day tour of the Archeological zone of Palenque, Misol-Ha and Agua Azul waterfalls – 350 pesos/person ($18 approx).
- Day 33: Day tour of Yaxchilan & Bonampak (875 pesos/person ($45) included buffet breakfast and lunch). Located at the Mexican border on the banks of Usumacinta River which separates Mexico from Guatemala, we had to travel to Frontera Corozal and take a 1-hour boat ride to reach Yaxchilan, which is located deep in the jungle. After lunch, we visited Bonampak ruins before returning to Palenque.
- Day 34: Travel by ADO bus from Palenque to Merida
- Day 35: Today we visited the Centro and went on a free walking tour. Afterwards, we booked 2 day tours before returning to our apartment.
- Day 36: Day tour of Izamal, Yokdzonot Cenote, Chichen Itza, Valladolid
- Day 37: Day to relax
- Day 38: Day tour of Las Coloradas and Rio Lagartos
- Day 39: Relax and pack
- Day 40: Travel by Clase Europea bus (4 hours) from Merida to Chetumal. Located in the southeast corner of Mexico in the state of Quintana Roo, we had planned today to find a good land route to cross over to Guatemala. But after much research we dropped that idea and tabled it for another time when we could visit Guatemala leisurely.
- Day 41: Today we visited Laguna Bacalar known for the beautiful lagoon of 7 colors located around 40 km from Chetumal.
- Day 42: Spent the day researching and booking a tour with Calakmul Adventures from Xpujil for the day after next. In the evening we just walked around downtown Chetumal and the pier and tried some street food. There isn’t much to see in Chetumal and it is not a very touristy place to visit.
- Day 45: Today we travelled via ADO bus to Tulum located around 3.5 hours north of Chetumal and reached in the late afternoon.
- Day 46: Our AirBnB apartment was located just 50 yards from the heart of Tulum’s bustling main street with all restaurants, tour companies, and souvenir shops. So today we spent the day just exploring all that was available here; we did some souvenir shopping, talked to various tour operators (but they were mainly offering diving tours to the cenotes which we weren’t interested in), and had lunch in one of the restaurants just a few steps from our apartment.
- Day 47: We visited the ruins of Coba located around 44 kms northwest of Tulum by ADO bus that departs hourly from the bus terminal in Tulum. After touring the ruins, we had lunch at a streetside restaurant in Coba while we waited for the bus and returned to Tulum by late afternoon.
- Day 48: Today we travelled by taxi to the Gran Cenote located just a few kms away from Tulum
- Day 49: A short taxi (collectivo) ride from Tulum towards Playa Del Carmen brought us to the gates of the other popular Cenote Dos Ojos. But here we visited Cenote Misterio Maya instead. Check out my post on cenotes here for details.
- Day 50: We visited the Tulum Ruins and the adjoining Paradise Beach today.
- Day 51: A short 1 hour bus ride from Tulum brought us to Playa Del Carmen where we stayed for 5 nights. This was our last stop in our 2 month tour of Mexico.
- Day 52: Today we explored the beautiful beach town of Playa Del Carmen. We visited the Parque Fundadores and Portal Maya – the large bronze sculpture in the park and the small church Nuestra Senora Del Carmen located in one of the corners of the park.
- Day 53 & 54: Today we walked along Fifth avenue or Quinta Avenida, enquired and booked a tour to Cozumel for the next day and just relaxed the rest of the day.
- Day 55: The weather today was not favourable for diving or snorkeling in Cozumel, so the tour operator postponed our visit there. So today we just took the bus to Cancún and checked out Mercado 28 and did some souvenir shopping.
- Day 56: Weather did not improve any today, but as it was our last day here, we decided to visit Cozumel anyway while foregoing any water activities. So the tour guy suggested we take the ferry to the Island and hire a scooter and drive around the small island. So although disappointed, we did as he suggested and actually had a very nice time visiting the beautiful island.
- Day 57: Concluding our 2 month vacation, we returned home today looking forward to spending the holidays with our kids.
Things that surprised me about Mexico:
- Toilets are available everywhere and although they charge 5-6 pesos, they are very clean. Even in small towns where you might not find public toilets, small shops or restaurants provide toilet facilities and are very clean.
- Street vendors are everywhere and they will approach you even inside restaurants
- Buses are very comfortable and cheap and sometimes are the only means of transport to certain parts of Mexico. But for certain destinations, the timings and routes are not ideal. For example, from San Cristóbal de las Casas to Palenque, the actual distance of 225 km which can be covered by car in 5.5 hours, ADO buses which are the only company that goes this route takes 9-10 hours and they go a very roundabout way. Or from Palenque to Campeche, although it runs 5 times a day, there are no daytime departures, which is inconvenient and can be a problem with hotel check-in and check-out times.
- I feel that Mexico looks a lot like India, except of course the roads are much nicer here. There are so many similarities in the residential architectural style and clothing. Especially the embroidered blouses they sell everywhere here. Also the striped bedspread and the sarapes that are available here are very commonly seen in Indian households.
