Mexico
CAPITAL CITY
Mexico City
BEST TIME TO GO
Caribbean Coast May – September
Whale watching January – March
Turtle nesting June – January
TIME ZONE
GMT -5hrs
GETTING THERE
Direct flights from London Heathrow to Mexico City, 11hrs 20mins
Not only can you pass away lazy days along Mexico’s Caribbean or Pacific coastline you can also explore Mexico’s natural wonders such as the Copper Canyon or the coral reefs off the Yucatan.
Mexico City, the oldest city in the Americas was originally built on an island of Lake Texcoco by the Aztecs in 1325 as Tenochtitlan. Following a seige, which almost destroyed Tenochtitlan, the Spanish founded Mexico City, the modern day capital, in 1521. Today it is not for the faint hearted, being both the oldest, continuously inhabited, city in the Western Hemisphere and also in the top ten largest cities in the world. It has some of the world’s finest museums, situated around the Cathedral and Zocalo, the main square area, so set aside some time to dedicate to these.
Just outside Mexico City is the ancient Aztec city of Teotihuacan, once the centre of the Aztec Empire and perhaps the most awe-inspiring historical site in the whole of Mexico. At 34 square km, the ‘City of the Gods’ was the most urban centre of its time. Its principal structures include the massive Pyramid of the Sun, the smaller but equally impressive, Pyramid of the Moon, the Grand Avenue of the Dead and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, with its enormous ornamental snakeheads.
The Yucatan Peninsula, on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, is rich in Mayan heritage, colonial haciendas and, ignoring the monstrous and over touristy Cancun, some of the country’s finest beaches. The Yucatan capital, Merida, standing on the Mayan ruins of Tihoo, combines colonial architecture with colourful Indian heritage, and provides easy access to the peninsula’s Mayan treasures of Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Small hacienda style properties, created from original colonial buildings, provide a charming off-the-beaten-track Mexican experience away from any crowds.