🇲🇽Mexico

Turquoise Caribbean water, an 18-mile strip of all-inclusive resorts, and a real Mexican downtown twenty minutes inland — the easiest, most air-conditioned gateway to the Riviera Maya.

Mexico's second city and the birthplace of mariachi and tequila — grand colonial cathedrals, a booming tech scene, and a more everyday, less touristy version of Mexican life than the capital or the coast.

Where the Baja California desert meets the Sea of Cortés — the twin towns of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo, sportfishing marinas, El Arco's rock formations, and Mexico's most American-tourist-heavy, priciest resort stretch.

The Yucatán's colonial capital — mansion-lined Paseo de Montejo, one of the Americas' oldest cathedrals, and a claim to being Mexico's safest big city. Hot, unhurried, and the best base for Chichén Itzá and the cenote belt.

A 22-million-person capital of murals, mercados, and arguably the best street food on Earth — sitting a mile and a half up in the sky. Far safer and far more cosmopolitan than its reputation.

Mexico's culinary capital and a UNESCO colonial jewel — mole simmered for days, mezcal poured by the people who made it, and Zapotec ruins on a hilltop just outside town.

The walkable, developed heart of the Riviera Maya — Quinta Avenida's shop-and-restaurant strip, a ferry to Cozumel's reefs, and some of the world's best cenotes just outside town. Livelier and more convenient than Tulum, less raw.

A Pacific Coast resort town where jungle-covered mountains drop straight into Banderas Bay — a mile of oceanfront Malecón sculpture walk, cobblestone Zona Romántica, and one of Latin America's most established LGBTQ+-friendly scenes.

A UNESCO-listed colonial hill town of pink-stone spires, cobblestone lanes, and courtyard galleries that's become one of Mexico's biggest expat and arts hubs — pricier and more polished than a typical Mexican town, but genuinely, jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Maya ruins perched on a clifftop over the Caribbean, cenotes for diving, and a boho-chic beach scene that's grown from backpacker secret into one of Mexico's most expensive small towns.