Mexico Travel Guide is created so that you can explore this fascinating country from the comfort of your computer. Mexico is a country with many fantastic sights and tourist attractions. Through this website, I hope to provide you with a comprehensive coverage of all the sights in Mexico, all the major cities, town and villages, with information for visiting them.
To prepare you for your trip to Mexico, My Mexico Travel Guide also provides useful information about the country. You can find such practical details as where to stay, where to eat, what to eat, where to shop, what to buy, and so on. You will also learn about the history of Mexico, its geography, customs, festivals, and so on.
Catedral de Puebla, the second largest cathedral in Mexico
Author: Gusvel (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
My intention in creating My Mexico Travel Guide to have have a free, online guide where my fellow travel enthusiasts can reference for the information they need. I hope that this travel guide will grow to become one of the most complete online guide on Mexico, benefiting tourists and travelers alike.
My Mexico Travel Guide is not my travelogue! It's not created to document my travels. Rather, it is a reflection of my passion to learn everything about Mexico, and to share the discovery with others who also wish to explore Mexico from the comfort of their desk.
Introducing Mexico
Mexico, officially known as the United Mexican States, is a federal constitutional republic in North America. Covering an area of 1,972,550 sq km (761,606 sq mi), it is the 14th largest country in the world. It is bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, the Gulf of Mexico to the east, and the Caribbean Sea to the southeast. Mexico shares a land border with the United States to the north, and with Guatemala and Belize to the south.
Guide to Mexico Hotels
Here's a list of hotels in Mexico that you can book online, listed by city, with full description, star rating, address, location map, evaluation, and prices as offered by different booking sites. This helps you to make your room booking with the site that offers the best price.
More on Mexico
Mexico has a population of 111 million people. It is the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world, ahead of Spain. Mexico City, the capital, is also the most populous Spanish-speaking metropolis in the world.
The land known today as Mexico has been inhabited for thousands of years. Even before the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the New World, Mesoamerican cultures have come and gone in Mexico, many developing into advanced civilizations before collapsing. Among them are the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec. The Aztec was the only major civilization to come in contact with the Spanish conquistadors, with devastating consequences.
Mexico is today an upper middle-income country. It has the 13th largest nomial GDP and the 11th largest by purchasing power parity, in the world. It is a member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The country relies heavily on tourism as one of its chief revenue earners, with Americans forming the bulk of tourists to the country. It has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the Americas, and rank 5th in the world.
Mercado Libertad market in Guadalajara
Author: Digitaldreamer (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany)
Mexico is composed of 31 states and a federal district occupied by Mexico City. Each state is subdivided into municipalities. Forming the backbone of the country are two mountain ranges, the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental. They are in fact the continuation of the Rocky Mountains of North America. Another mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, cuts across the country from east to west, roughly through the center of the country. It is also known as the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, for it has a number of stratovolcanoes along the range, of which the tallest - and also the tallest mountain in Mexico - is Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl, at 5636 meters.
Mexico, divided by the Tropic of Cancer, is located within both the temperate and tropical zones. Being such a vast country, it experiences numerous local microclimates influenced by the presence of large bodies of water and mountain ranges. The coastal plains as well as the Yucatán Peninsula experiences a constantly high temperate the whole year round. The high median temperature makes the Yucatán Peninsula a choice vacationing destination for tourists from cooler climate.
Mexico is rich is wildlife. According to scientists, it is home to 200,000 different species of flora and fauna, representing some 10% of the world's biodiversity. It has more reptile species (707) than any other country in the world, as well as the second high number of mammal species (438).
Maya art, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
Author: Wolfgang Sauber (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Planning your visit to Mexico
The Mexican economy is greatly dependent on tourism, and rightly so, for it is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. The country receives over 20 million foreign visitors every year. The majority head for the main beach resorts. Mexico is also a major port where you can find a Mexico cruise with all the amenities you are looking for. The proximity of ancient ruins in the Yucatán makes it an added attraction.
Visitors to Mexico will discover a land of great diversity. It has an exotic culture that is very much alive. Its major cities and resort towns have vibrant nightlife. Culturally inclined tourists will be delighted to find outstanding museums and well-preserved ancient monuments throughout the entire country. At the same time, visitors - especially those from more affluent societies - will find a country with a gulf between the filthy rich and the hardcore poverty. In some towns, crime rate is high and lawlessness is the rule of the streets. Having said that, as long as one exercises caution, there is certainly no reason to bypass Mexico.
Mexico has much to offer. In addition to the culture, the landscape, the arts, the music and the sights, the country is a food paradise - to some, at least. Practically every region, every state has its own variation and style of cooking, so food lovers will have much to discover.
Popocatépetl Volcano
Author: Jakub Hejtmánek (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)
Depending on where in Mexico you are heading, you will be flying to the Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX) in Mexico City or Cancún International Airport (CUN) in the Yucatán Peninsula. These are the two biggest airports in the country.
Traveling within Mexico requires you to take the plane, the bus or to drive. Most of the expressways in Mexico are toll roads, with rather high toll charges (a long journey may cost you 800 pesos in toll). The country has very limited rail roads, so exploring it on your own usually means taking the long-distance buses. There are first-class buses with air conditioning that are very comfortable and tourist-friendly. As a foreigner, you are likely to "stand out" in a crowd. The further from any metropolitan areas you venture, the more you need to be on guard against your safety.
It would be a good idea to learn some Spanish (be sure to learn the Spanish pronunciation of Hispanic America, and not the Castilan pronunciation of Spain), so that you can make yourself understood with the locals. Apart from the tourist areas, the likelihood of finding signs in English (and English speakers) diminishes.
Cancún, Yucatán Peninsula, México
Author: Keith Pomakis (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)
Preparing Money for your trip to Mexico
The currency used in Mexico is the Mexican Peso (MXN). The following are the latest rates for Mexican Peso in the last 24-hours.
Recommended Travel Guidebook
My favorite travel guidebook for further reading in preparation of your trip is the Mexico Eyewitness Guide, because it follows a format that I find useful to users, not to mention I have also contributed to some of the titles in the Eyewitness series of guidebooks.
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