Mexico Tourism Places offer a rich tapestry of experiences for every type of traveler. Are you dreaming of a vibrant getaway filled with ancient history, stunning beaches, and delicious cuisine? SIXT.VN is here to guide you through the most captivating destinations. Discover the wonders of Mexican culture and create unforgettable memories with our expert travel advice, seamless airport transfer services, and curated hotel booking options.
1. Mexico City
Best for Vibrant Art and World-Class Culture
Mexico City pulsates with the vibrant heart of Mexican arts and culture. Everywhere you look, layers of storied history shimmer, as centuries-old performing arts like pre-Hispanic dances and mariachi music fill public plazas. Vivacious parades, especially during Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), celebrate life and attract large crowds. Mexico City is a hub for tourism, with many attractions for visitors to see.
Art is deeply woven into the fabric of this city, home to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. World-class museums cover every era of Mexico’s cultural history. The street art adorning public buildings tells a vivid story of the people’s past, from Aztec times to colonial struggles, alongside modern graffiti art. While steeped in history, Mexico City embraces the future, radiating creative energy on every street.
Planning Tip: Don’t miss the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán, a must-visit tribute to the artist. Located in her birthplace, workplace, and residence, the museum is extremely popular, so book tickets well in advance.
People line up in front of a one-story building painted blue on a city street shaded by trees.
Alt text: Visitors queue outside the vibrant blue Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán, Mexico City, surrounded by lush trees.
2. Veracruz
Best for Off-the-Beaten-Path Nature Encounters
Veracruz, often overlooked, boasts a lush, tropical climate and a languid, unhurried atmosphere. This underrated state is best explored at a leisurely pace, allowing you to discover remote sandy bays, rewarding ruins, and laid-back, cultured towns. With over 447 miles (720km) of coastline, towering mountains, jungle rivers, and wildlife-rich lagoons, Veracruz offers incredible natural diversity, making it an ideal choice for tourism.
Historic, bustling Veracruz City, the country’s busiest port, is alive with traditional dance. Every weekend, couples fill the main plaza with their captivating performances. Inland, Mexico’s highest mountain, the snowcapped Pico de Orizaba, beckons near the appealing town of Orizaba. Coffee plantations and cobbled villages like Xico and Coatepec surround the city of Xalapa. In the south, the sultry Laguna Catemaco and the Biosphere Reserve of Los Tuxtlas lure visitors with lush vegetation and dreamy waterfalls.
People hike across a snow-dusted field toward the snowy peak of a mountain at dawn.
Alt text: Hikers trek across a snowy field towards the majestic, snow-covered peak of Pico de Orizaba at dawn in Veracruz.
3. Yucatán Peninsula
Best for Caribbean Beaches and Ancient Ruins
The Yucatán Peninsula is the only Mexican region that can dazzle you with ancient Maya ruins, azure Caribbean waters, and picturesque colonial cities, all within an easy drive of each other. This southeastern corner of Mexico boasts a staggering array of natural and human-made wonders, offering a rich experience for tourism.
Here, you can snorkel with sea turtles, bask in cenotes (natural pools), or kayak through biosphere reserves, followed by evening drinks by the beach. Beyond the Caribbean coast, the forested interior holds fabled archaeological treasures. The towering pyramids of Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, and Calakmul are just a few of the dozens of impressive ancient Maya sites dotting the peninsula. The Spanish also left their mark in cobblestone-lined, pastel-hued city centers, such as in Mérida, first laid out over 400 years ago.
Planning Tip: Navigating the peninsula is now easier, thanks to the Maya Train, which connects seaside cities, colonial towns, and archaeological ruins along its 965-mile-long (1554km-long) circuit.
People climb the steeps steps of an ancient pyramid at an archeological site.
Alt text: Tourists ascend the steep steps of the Great Pyramid at Uxmal, a significant archaeological site on the Yucatán Peninsula.
4. Central Pacific Coast
Best for Beachfront Towns
Gigantic aquamarine breakers serve as the backdrop for any visit to the central Pacific coast. As the hissing waves retreat, they reveal some of the country’s most beautiful beaches. The coastline is dotted with resorts, making it a perfect spot for tourism.
The former Hollywood haunt of Acapulco, though its star has somewhat faded, still excites with its diving spectacles. In characterful Zihuatanejo, villas peek out from greenery-laden hillsides overlooking a magnificent bay. In buzzy Puerto Vallarta – Mexico’s LGBTIQ+ beach capital – clubs pulse until dawn, and cobbled streets are lined with galleries brimming with psychedelic Huichol artwork. Old-school Mazatlán delivers German banda music and tropical neoclassical architecture.
Whether you seek a carefree beach holiday, surfable waves, seafood-heavy cuisine and creative cocktails, the chance to spot humpback whales, or an ancient city, you’ll find it all here.
Planning Tip: The best time of year for whale-watching is from December to March.
A high-angle view of the sun setting over a bay, shining light on the roofs of a seaside city. A double-masted boat is moored in the bay.
Alt text: A stunning sunset over the Bay of Banderas in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, casting a golden light on the city’s rooftops and a moored double-masted boat.
5. Chiapas
Best for Learning About Indigenous Culture
Mexico’s southernmost state, rural Chiapas, feels remote and uncrowded. Yet for millennia, settled communities have called its forest-clad mountains, valleys, and plains home. The tropical rainforests in the south and east of Chiapas conceal some of Mexico’s most beguiling and best-preserved Maya ruins, most notably Palenque.
The state receives a trickle of visitors, but intrepid travelers are often rewarded with authentic cultural interactions around charming traditional towns and highland villages. The Chiapas highlands retain one of the richest veins of Indigenous culture in Mexico. Around rustic Comitán and San Cristóbal de las Casas, with its lively handicrafts markets, you’ll likely overhear Maya languages like Tzeltal, Tzotzil, or Chuj being spoken as frequently as Spanish. While political tensions occasionally flare up, it is generally safe to travel around the region.
Planning Tip: Visit San Juan Chamula on a Sunday to catch one of the region’s most colorful markets right in front of the main church.
Men in tunics made of animal skins wait at a city plaza, while others in traditional dress sit on a bench in the share.
Alt text: Men in traditional Indigenous dress wait at a city plaza in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, showcasing the region’s rich cultural heritage.
6. Baja Peninsula
Best for Road Trips
There are plenty of ways to get active on a peninsula known for sportfishing, diving, surfing, desert-fringed beaches, and unforgettable nature encounters with whale sharks and massive gray whales. Then there’s the unforgettable culinary scene: beer-battered fish tacos and Baja Med cuisine with aromatic local wines, best enjoyed while watching the sun sink into the Pacific, enhancing the appeal of tourism in the region.
In all its immense, mystical beauty, Baja stretches from gritty Tijuana to Los Cabos, some 1039 miles (1670km) away via the scenic Transpeninsular Highway. In between lie rolling vineyards, snowcapped mountains, untamed deserts, and turquoise seas that take your breath away. The region hosts an astounding number of plants, animals, and birds, as well as people: everyone from sun-dazed surfers and RV nomads to big-city folks and outdoor enthusiasts can find something to enjoy here. It’s not just for tourists, either: the locals take great pride in their traditional cattle ranches, eco-conscious organic farms, and wildlife-rich marine parks and protected nature reserves.
Bright red flowers are in the foreground with perfect rows of grape vines stretching towards a golden sunset.
Alt text: A vineyard at sunset in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California, with rows of grape vines stretching towards the horizon beneath a golden sky.
7. Oaxaca City
Best for Traditional Celebrations
Oaxaca City looms large in history and culture, with its time-honored folk art, deep-rooted Indigenous traditions, and an innovative culinary scene that draws on age-old recipes. Energetic and yet surprisingly easygoing for such a populated place, the city always has something festive going on, especially in July and late October to early November, when hordes of visitors flock to the city for Guelaguetza and Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), both exuding energy as brass bands and traditional dancers parade through the city’s narrow streets, making it a hub for tourism.
Given the capital’s extensive sleeping, eating, and nightlife options, travelers often use Oaxaca City as a base to explore nearby ancient ruins and outlying Zapotec towns, many of which are endowed with captivating artisan workshops. Culture lovers come for the first-rate museums and galleries, while provocative street art and atmospheric mezcal joints offer glimpses of the city’s gritty side.
Planning Tip: If you come for Día de Muertos, don’t miss the candlelit vigils in Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán’s cemeteries, which have colorful altars and spirited serenades.
People walk on stilts and dance in papier-mâché masks on a plaza in front of a baroque church.
Alt text: People in papier-mâché masks dance on stilts during a traditional procession in front of Templo de Santo Domingo, Oaxaca City.
8. San Miguel de Allende
Best for Small-City Charm
Step into a real-life painting, with vibrantly painted colonial buildings accented by creeping bougainvillea, cobblestone streets, and some of the finest art and design studios in Mexico. Even with the growing number of expats putting down roots in San Miguel de Allende, this UNESCO- and Mexican heritage–protected city maintains its local culture, present with seemingly never-ending religious festivals (audible through constant fireworks), Indigenous artisanship, and a population of young Mexicans cashing in on the modern-day silver rush. It’s a cross-cultural exchange that works, thanks in large part to strict preservation rules, enhancing the city’s appeal for tourism.
Eat at the numerous restaurants doing international fare well, and taste specialty coffee (cafe de olla latte made with cinnamon and clove, anyone?) along with local natural wine. Then shop for extraordinary artwork to bring a bit of San Miguel home with you.
A church is seen below from a terrace, with bougainvillea and an orange wall that is illuminated by the setting sun.
Alt text: A picturesque view of Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel de Allende, framed by bougainvillea and an orange wall illuminated by the setting sun.
9. Puebla
Best for Architecture and Cuisine
Any Mexican can tell you about Puebla’s stunningly preserved baroque center, with more than 1000 colonial-era buildings and 70 churches adorned with blue-and-white Talavera tiles. Yet the city has undergone a stunning transformation, offering a wealth of enticing experiences in addition to all the architectural beauty. A dynamic cultural life, thriving art and nightlife scenes driven by younger poblanos (as Pueblans are known), a bohemian artists’ quarter, and cutting-edge modern museums are essential to today’s Puebla, solidifying its importance in Mexico tourism.
Still, tradition and history remain present in Cinco de Mayo celebrations and through the preservation and reverence of an ancient pyramid just next door in Cholula. Puebla is also one of the country’s culinary heartlands. Names long synonymous with Mexico are actually from Puebla – dishes such as chiles en nogada and mole poblano were developed here. Altogether, Puebla offers visitors both the fine and the fun.
The ornate, gold-leaf-covered interior of a church.
Alt text: The ornate, gold-leaf-covered interior of Capilla del Rosario, Templo de Santo Domingo, Puebla, showcasing the city’s rich architectural heritage.
Understanding the Allure of Mexico Tourism Places
Mexico’s appeal as a top tourism destination stems from its unique blend of history, culture, and natural beauty. From ancient ruins to bustling city life, Mexico offers a diverse range of experiences that cater to different interests. According to research from the [Mexican Ministry of Tourism](https://www.datatur.sectur.gob.mx/
