Mexico Bucket List: 7 Destinations Beyond the Resorts

A proper Mexico bucket list looks nothing like the all-inclusive brochure. This is a country of 35 UNESCO World Heritage sites, seven distinct culinary regions, pine forests and deserts and cloud forests, and ancient cities that were bigger than anything in Europe when they were built. The resorts are lovely, but they're a rounding error. Here are seven destinations that show you what Mexico actually is - with practical notes on when to go and what not to miss.

Mexico City: The Capital That Has Everything

Mexico City is one of the great cities of the world, and a few days here will reset whatever you thought Mexico was. Start at the Zócalo and the Templo Mayor ruins sitting right beside the cathedral, then spend an afternoon at the Museo Nacional de Antropología - genuinely one of the best museums anywhere, with the Aztec Sun Stone as its centrepiece. Eat your way through Roma and Condesa, take the trajinera boats through the canals of Xochimilco on a Sunday, and don't skip Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul in Coyoacán (book online, weeks ahead). The best time to visit is March to May or October to November, when the rain eases off and the jacarandas or Día de Muertos altars take over the streets.

Oaxaca: Mexico's Culinary Heartland

If you only travel to Mexico for one reason, make it Oaxaca. This is the home of mole - seven regional varieties of it - plus tlayudas the size of a steering wheel, chapulines (toasted grasshoppers, genuinely good), and mezcal distilled in village palenques you can visit on a day trip. Wander the Mercado 20 de Noviembre for the smoke-filled meat hall, then head out to Monte Albán, the Zapotec city carved into a flattened mountaintop above the valley. Time your visit for late October and you'll catch Día de Muertos, which Oaxaca does with more sincerity and less spectacle than anywhere else in the country.

Chichén Itzá: A Wonder of the Modern World

The step pyramid of El Castillo is the image everyone has of Mexico, and standing beneath it is still a must-see moment. What most visitors miss is everything around it: the Great Ball Court with acoustics so precise a whisper carries 140 metres, the Temple of the Warriors, and the sacred cenote where offerings were thrown. Go at opening time, 8am sharp - by 10:30 the tour buses from Cancún arrive and the site fills up fast. Twice a year, at the spring and autumn equinoxes, the afternoon sun casts a serpent-shaped shadow down the pyramid's staircase, which is worth planning a trip around.

The Yucatán Cenotes: Swimming in the Underworld

The Yucatán Peninsula has no rivers - instead, rainwater collects in thousands of limestone sinkholes called cenotes, which the Maya considered gateways to the underworld. Some are open pools ringed by jungle, others are cathedral-like caverns where shafts of light hit water so clear you seem to be floating in air. Cenote Suytun near Valladolid has the famous stone platform under a single beam of light; Dos Ojos near Tulum is the one for cave diving; Cenote Ik Kil is the easy add-on after Chichén Itzá. Rinse off all sunscreen before you get in - the ecosystems are fragile and most sites require it.

San Miguel de Allende: The Prettiest Town in Mexico

San Miguel de Allende is a hilltop colonial town of pink stone, bougainvillea and cobblestones, and it's been voted the world's best small city more times than seems fair. The pink neo-Gothic Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel dominates the main square, and the whole historic centre is a UNESCO site you can walk end to end in an hour. It's become a hub for artists and expats, which means excellent rooftop bars and galleries alongside the traditional markets. Visit in spring or autumn, and try to catch one of the town's near-constant festivals - La Alborada in late September involves fireworks at 4am.

Copper Canyon: Bigger Than the Grand Canyon

Barrancas del Cobre in Chihuahua is a network of six canyons, deeper and four times larger than the Grand Canyon, and almost nobody outside Mexico has heard of it. The way to see it is El Chepe, the Ferrocarril Chihuahua al Pacífico - a spectacular 350-mile railway that crosses 37 bridges and 86 tunnels between Los Mochis and Creel. Break the journey at Divisadero for the viewpoints and the world's longest zipline circuit, and at Urique or Batopilas down on the canyon floor, where the climate turns subtropical. This is Rarámuri territory, home to the legendary long-distance runners; October to November gives you the clearest skies.

Baja California Sur: Desert Meets Sea

The southern half of the Baja peninsula is where cactus-covered desert drops straight into the Sea of Cortez, which Jacques Cousteau called "the world's aquarium". From La Paz you can snorkel with whale sharks between October and April, or take a boat to Isla Espíritu Santo to swim with a colony of sea lion pups that will tug at your fins. On the Pacific side, the lagoons at Magdalena Bay and San Ignacio host grey whales from January to March - mothers famously bring their calves right up to the boats. Finish in Todos Santos, a mango-farming surf town with a serious food scene, an easy hour north of Cabo.

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