12 of the coolest places to visit in Mexico
21.07.2023 - 07:43
/ roughguides.com
Mexico is a headline-grabbing country – and not always for the right reasons. But while Mexico has faced challenges in its time, most of the country remains safe for visitors. Away from the major sights in Mexico City and the resorts of Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and Cancun lies a land crammed with tantalizing but lesser-visited destinations – here's our guide to the best places to visit in Mexico.
Mexico is blessed with an abundance of gorgeous beaches, but there’s something special about the otherworldly scenery of Bahía Concepción. A pristine bay off the Sea of Cortez, halfway down the Baja California peninsula, spell-binding white-sand beaches line its shores for over 30 km (20 miles), hemmed in by forests of cacti and desert-fringed mountains. As far as kayaking goes, few places in the world can match it.
Bahia Concepción is a kayaker's dream © Stella the Giant/Shutterstock
Mexico’s most extraordinary “ghost town”, Real de Catorce is tucked away in a remote corner of the Bajío, a region once littered with booming silver mines. Since the mid-1990s, an influx of artists, artesanía vendors, wealthy Mexicans and a few foreigners have re-built the virtually abandoned colonial centre, with its narrow cobbled streets and elegantly faded mansions. Huichol pilgrims visit the city on their way to harvest fresh peyote in the nearby desert.
The «ghost town» of Real de Catorce © Eleni Mavrandoni/Shutterstock
Most famous for its Day of the Dead celebrations (Nov 1–2), this enchanting lake is a worthy destination year-round. There’s the gorgeous waterside town of Pátzcuaro itself, plus the tranquil island of Janitzio and its indigenous fishermen, throwing their traditional butterfly nets from tiny dug-out canoes. Each of the small villages that surround the lake specializes in different arts and crafts.
Known for its gravity-defying mountain railway, the isolated, beautiful region dubbed the Copper Canyon is best experienced on foot. The village of Creel high in the Sierra Tarahumara acts as a base for expeditions to remote valleys, waterfalls and Rarámuri villages, while the four-hour drive from Cerocahui to the bottom of the Barranca de Urique is mesmerizing. Here the town of Urique marks the start (or end) of the popular two-night, three-day trek to Batopilas, a sleepy village home to a ruined Jesuit mission.
Urique, Copper Canyon © Staceyarturogi/Shutterstock
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English eccentric Edward James discovered the picturesque small town of Xilitla in the 1940s and was inspired to create his own version of the Garden of Eden in the rainforest outside the town. He spent much of the 1960s and 1970s creating the jungle fantasy garden of Las Pozas, full of outlandish statues and structures. James was a patron of the