Attraction
Museo Maya de Cancún
INAH's Maya museum in the Hotel Zone, opened in 2012, with Quintana Roo's key archaeological finds and the San Miguelito ruins in its grounds.
Mexico is one of the most visited countries in the world, drawing tens of millions of international travellers a year to its beaches, colonial cities and ancient sites. Mexico City, the capital and largest city, is the natural starting point, with major museums, a celebrated food scene and the pyramids of Teotihuacan within reach for a day trip. Beyond the capital, Oaxaca is known for its Indigenous cultures and craft towns, Guadalajara for mariachi and tequila, Guanajuato for its colonial silver-mining heritage and San Miguel de Allende for its artists' colony. On the Caribbean coast, Cancún and the Riviera Maya offer beaches and access to Maya sites such as Tulum and Chichén Itzá, while Mérida is known for its colonial mansions and Maya traditions. Mexico also leads the Americas for UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Attraction
INAH's Maya museum in the Hotel Zone, opened in 2012, with Quintana Roo's key archaeological finds and the San Miguelito ruins in its grounds.
Attraction
Mexico's national museum of archaeology and anthropology, a 1964 building in Chapultepec whose 23 halls hold the Sun Stone and treasures from every Mesoamerican culture.
Attraction
More than 500 life-size underwater sculptures on the seabed off Cancún and Isla Mujeres, seen by snorkelling, diving or from a glass-bottom boat.
Attraction
The excavated remains of the Aztecs' great twin temple in Tenochtitlan, beside the Zócalo, with a site museum built around the giant Coyolxauhqui stone found in…
Attraction
Mexico City's great palace of the arts, begun in 1904 and opened in 1934, with murals by Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros and a Tiffany glass stage…
Attraction
A small Maya settlement in Cancún's Hotel Zone, run by INAH, where house platforms, altars and traces of murals line an ancient north-south avenue.
Café
The original El Moro churrería on Eje Central, frying churros to a 1935 recipe brought from Spain and serving them with hot chocolate made from Tabasco…
Café
A homely vegetarian Mexican restaurant in Donceles 28, listed in the 2026 Michelin Guide, best known for breakfasts with handmade tortillas.
Café
A downtown café and bakery on Avenida Nader where sweet bread comes out of the oven every half hour, serving Mexican breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Café
Elena Reygadas's bakery on Calle Colima in Roma Norte, opened in 2012 and famous for its guava roll, with a small bar and a few street-side…
Café
A family-run downtown coffee house in a converted home near Mercado 28, roasting Chiapas arabica every week and serving frappés, paninis and homemade bread.
Café
An old-school coffee house on Avenida Morelos, open since the early 1950s, linked by legend with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and known for coffee roasted…
Hotel
A hacienda-style luxury hotel on Paseo de la Reforma built around a garden courtyard, with the Fifty Mils cocktail bar, a ten-seat omakase counter and a…
Hotel
A secluded 274-room resort on the mangrove-fringed point of Punta Nizuc, with private pool villas, two beaches, six restaurants and an ESPA spa.
Hotel
An adults-only, all-inclusive beachfront resort at kilometre 10 of the Hotel Zone, with butler service in every suite, the Aura spa and Lumiere fine dining.
Hotel
A luxury hotel on Paseo de la Reforma beside the Diana fountain, with 24-hour butler service, an indoor pool with skyline views and ten restaurants and…
Hotel
The former Ritz-Carlton Cancún, now run by Kempinski, a classic beachfront hotel of just over 360 ocean-facing rooms with a Club Lounge and KAYANTÁ spa.
Hotel
A five-star boutique hotel of 35 rooms on Avenida Presidente Masaryk in Polanco, with interiors by Yabu Pushelberg, the Anatol restaurant and the Aurora Spa.
Bar
Cancún's famous show nightclub in Punta Cancún, mixing an open bar with acrobats, tribute acts and Broadway-style productions until the early hours.
Bar
A two-storey cocktail bar on Avenida Álvaro Obregón, open in Roma since 2011 and a regular on The World's 50 Best Bars list since 2014.
Bar
A 1920s-style speakeasy behind a secret door on Calle Amberes, ranked number one by The World's 50 Best Bars, with complex cocktails developed in its own…
Bar
A Punta Cancún beach club with pools, a jacuzzi and live DJs by day, and a Wednesday night pool party with house music and contests.
Bar
Grupo Anderson's rooftop nightclub above Harry's on the lagoon side of the Hotel Zone, open on Friday and Saturday nights with live DJs.
Bar
The historic mariachi cantina on Plaza Garibaldi, at the centre of the square's celebrations since 1925 and immortalised in José Alfredo Jiménez's song Mi Tenampa.
Restaurant
Downtown Cancún's long-running garden restaurant, open since 1977, serving Yucatecan and Caribbean dishes among Maya-style stelae and statues.
Restaurant
Enrique Olvera's two-Michelin-star restaurant in a 1950s Polanco house, known for its seasonal tasting menu, taco omakase counter and years-aged mole madre.
Restaurant
A family-run seafood restaurant on the road to Puerto Juárez, listed in the 2026 Michelin Guide Mexico, known for grilled octopus and lobster empanadas.
Restaurant
Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores's two-Michelin-star restaurant in Polanco, ranked third in The World's 50 Best, serving a single Mexican tasting menu.
Restaurant
A lively seafood restaurant in Roma Norte, open for long lunches until early evening and best known for its tuna tostadas and pescado a la talla.
Restaurant
The Hotel Zone's long-established live lobster house, open for more than 35 years, with a menu built around lobster caught by Mexican fishermen.
Thing to do
A short ferry hop from Cancún to a narrow seven-kilometre island of beaches, golf carts and Maya history, sacred in the past to the goddess Ixchel.
Thing to do
A ride in a painted trajinera through the UNESCO-listed canals and chinampas of Xochimilco, leaving from one of the largest boat landings in the south of…
Thing to do
The great Maya city in neighbouring Yucatán state, a UNESCO site since 1988, and the classic full-day excursion from Cancún's hotels.
Thing to do
Masked wrestlers, rowdy chants and family crowds at the Arena México in Doctores, the home of CMLL and known as the cathedral of lucha libre.
Thing to do
Downtown Cancún's best-known market, with more than 200 craft shops and restaurants on Avenida Xel-Há, where visitors shop for souvenirs and eat Yucatecan food.
Thing to do
The 44th-floor observation deck of the 1956 Torre Latinoamericana, a pioneering earthquake-resistant skyscraper with views over Bellas Artes and the historic centre.
Tour operator
A women-owned food tour company founded in 2010, running small-group street food walks, market tours and cooking classes across Mexico City and Puebla.
Tour operator
A family-run PADI 5 Star dive centre at kilometre 5 of the Hotel Zone, founded by the first scuba instructor to teach in Cancún.
Tour operator
Small-group culinary walks in the Centro Histórico, Azcapotzalco, Tacubaya and Xochimilco, tasting carnitas, birria, pulque and mezcal with local guides.
Tour operator
Grupo Xcaret's evening fiesta on colourful trajinera boats, with mariachi, an open bar and a tasting dinner of Mexican dishes, south of Cancún.
Tour operator
Weekend boat trips to a working chinampa in Xochimilco with a regenerative farming network, including sunrise visits, brunches and farm meals on the canals.
Tour operator
Open-top sightseeing buses covering the Hotel Zone and downtown circuits, plus combined catamaran trips and coach tours to Chichén Itzá.
Domestic flights from airlines such as Aeroméxico, Volaris and Viva connect the main cities, and long-distance buses and toll motorways cover the rest of the country.
Mexico's temperate climate makes it a year-round destination; December, the mid-summer months and the weeks before Easter are the peak seasons, so book ahead for those periods.
Oaxaca, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and Mérida are rewarding cities, while Cancún, the Riviera Maya, Tulum and Chichén Itzá are the classic draws on the Yucatán Peninsula.