21-Nights Mexico Coast-to-Coast: Puerto Vallarta to the Mayan Riviera - Classic

Merida (Progreso)

Located on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in the fascinating Mundo Maya Region, Merida provides a looking glass that reveals both colonial influence and the mystique of an ancient civilization. In fact, the city is built on the exact site of an indigenous ceremonial center.

Easily one of the best way to see Merida is by climbing into a calesa - a high-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage. The city is also easily explored by foot. As you amble past whitewashed houses, through lively marketplaces and around the flower-filled Plaza Mayor, you'll begin to feel as if you've stepped back in time. You can also visit one of Mexico's oldest cathedrals, built from the stones of a Mayan temple, explore Paseo Montejo, a Parisian-style boulevard lined with Victorian mansions, and visit the treasure-filled museums.

Wind down with the friendly locals in the welcoming bars and restaurants of the old colonial district. If you want to travel even further back in time, you'll find Merida is surrounded by one of the richest collections of Mayan ruins in Mexico. Chichen Itza, Uxmal, Dzibilchaltun, and more are just a short trip away.

San Miguel De Allende

It is the smallest of the cities and perhaps the most relaxed, but it offers such a variety of restaurants, shops, and galleries that urbanites find themselves quite at home.

Most of the buildings in the central part of the town date from the colonial era or the 19th century; the law requires newer buildings to conform to existing architecture, and the town has gone to some lengths to retain its cobblestone streets.

San Miguel has a large community of Americans: some retired, some attending art or language school, and some who have come here to live simply and follow their creative muses -- painting, writing, and sculpting. The center of this community is the public library in the former convent of Santa Ana. It is a good place to find information on San Miguel or just to sit on the patio and read.

A notable aspect of San Migueleña society is the number of festivals it celebrates. In a country that needs only the barest of excuses to hold a fiesta, it is known far and wide for them. Most of these celebrations are of a religious character and are meant to combine social activity with religious expression. People practice Catholicism with great fervor here -- going on religious pilgrimages, attending all-night vigils, ringing church bells at the oddest times throughout the night (something that some visitors admittedly might not find so amusing).

Playa del Carmen

Palenque

On the outskirts of Palenque, located near the Mexico-Guatemala border approximately 300 mi/485 km southwest of Merida, lie some of the most impressive Mayan ruins in the country. Climb the tall Temple of the Inscriptions and then descend to the site of the impressive, restored crypt of the Mayan king Pakal. The crypt itself is closed off to visitors, but there's a replica at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Investigate other ruins to look at carvings and bas-reliefs.

We consider Palenque well worth a visit, but it is extremely hot and humid in the summer. To avoid the worst of it, get an early-morning start.

If you leave the park following the Otulum River down the hill, you will discover several excavated temples and get to many pretty waterfalls cascading into natural bathing pools, a great place to cool off after wandering around the ruins. Some pleasant hotels are found in the village, if you wish to overnight in the area.

If you have time, travel 60 mi/100 km south to the Agua Azul waterfalls. These turquoise cascades are some of Mexico's natural wonders (just try to ignore the tacky food huts dotting the lower end of the falls). You can swim there, but do so with care—several people have drowned.

Oaxaca

Puebla

Puebla, Mexico, located 80 mi/130 km east of Mexico City, has played an important role in the nation's history: The only Mexican victory over foreign invaders took place there when Maximilian's French Foreign Legion was defeated on 5 May 1862 (now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo).

Puebla has more than 60 churches (including its grand 16th-century cathedral) and a "secret convent" (it remained active after convents and monasteries were outlawed in 1857). It's known for manufacturing colorful tiles (dating back to the 1600s), as well as antiques, talavera pottery and mole poblano, a rich chocolate and chili sauce that was first prepared there by the nuns and has become one of Mexico's signature dishes.

Museo Bello contains an impressive collection of colonial-era art, and Santa Rosa Convent is fascinating for its enormous tiled kitchen and museum of local crafts. Other sights include the Bazaar of Toads (known for antiquities and antiques, not frogs); the Parian, an art market; the Art District, where tourists can gape at artists at work; and Los Remedios Church with El Popo volcano in the background.

Just strolling the city's streets is a treat, too: Many buildings are covered in gorgeous tiles, and shops display an irresistible array of Puebla's famous hand-painted talavera pottery.

Mexico City

From the Alameda, a leafy center of activity since Aztec times, to the Zona Rosa, a chic shopping neighborhood, Mexico City offers endless options to urban adventurers.

Founded by the Aztecs as Tenochtitlán in 1325, Mexico City is both the oldest and the highest (7,349 ft) metropolis on the North American continent. And with nearly 24 million inhabitants, it is the most populous city in the world. It is Mexico's cultural, political, and financial core -- braving the 21st century but clinging to its deeply entrenched Aztec heritage.

You only need to stand in the center of the Plaza of Three Cultures to visually comprehend the undisputed significance of this city. Here, the remains of an Aztec pyramid, a colonial church, and a towering modern office building face one another, a testament to the city's prominence in ancient and contemporary history. Located at the heart of the Americas, Mexico City has been a center of life and commerce for more than 2,000 years. The Teotihuacán, Toltec, Aztec, and European conquistadors all contributed to the city's fascinating evolution, art, and heritage. Although residents refer to their city as simply México (meh-hee-koh), its multitude of ancient ruins, colonial masterpieces, and modern architecture has prompted others to call it "The City of Palaces."

The central downtown area resembles a European city, dominated by ornate buildings and broad boulevards, and interspersed with public art, parks, and gardens. This sprawling city is thoroughly modern and, in places, unsightly and chaotic, but it never strays far from its historical roots. In the center are the partially excavated ruins of the main Aztec temple; pyramids rise just beyond the city.

Guanajuato

If you're going to Mexico to lose yourself, you'll have no problem doing so on the streets of Guanajuato (gwah-nah-whah-toh). They seem designed for just that purpose as they curl this way and that, becoming alleys or stairways, and intersecting each other at different angles. At times it can seem like the Twilight Zone; I've heard of people hurriedly passing by a curious-looking shop intending to return later, and then never being able to locate it again. To make matters worse, the streets are filled with things that can draw your attention away from the business of getting from one place to another. The town is so photogenic; everywhere you look is postcard material. Most buildings, like the streets, are irregular in shape, creating a jumble of walls, balconies, and rooftops meeting at anything but a right angle. The churches are the exception, having regular floor plans, but even they show asymmetry -- despite the best efforts of their builders, none has two matching towers, which only adds to their considerable charm.

Founded in 1559, Guanajuato soon became a fabulously rich town, with world-famous mines (such as La Valenciana, Mineral de Cata, and Mineral de Rayas) that earned their owners titles of nobility. Along with Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato was one of Mexico's most important mining cities. From the 16th through the 18th centuries, the mines in these towns produced a third of all the silver in the world, and Guanajuato bloomed with elaborate churches and mansions. Floods plagued the city until the citizenry finally diverted the river, leaving a bed for what has become a subterranean highway with cantilevered houses jutting out high above the road. To improve traffic flow, the city has opened an impressive network of tunnels (it is, after all, a mining town).

Still, on the surface Guanajuato seems like an old Spanish city dumped into a Mexican highland valley. It's one of Mexico's hidden gems, explored by relatively few foreign tourists, but popular with Mexicans. Picturesque and laden with atmosphere, Guanajuato should be high on your list of places to visit.

Guadalajara

Puerto Vallarta