Mexico Travel Guide: Best Places To Travel in Mexico 2026 4K

In this best places to visit in Mexico travel guide, we show you everything from crystal clear lagoons, old colonial towns like San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, while eating tacos at midnight. First up, we're headed down to southern Baja. This here is Cabo San Lucas. Nearby is San Jose del Cabo. In this region known as Baja del Sur, you'll see there's many different cities and villages around here that are very beautiful. It's a desert subtropical type climate, lots of mountains, very arid, but it does get some moisture. And here in Cabo San Lucas, they have a marina. It's very famous for whale watching. All of the Baja is really known for whale watching, especially from about December until late March, early April. Cabo San Lucas is known as the party place, whereas San Jose del Cabo is known for more all-inclusive resorts and also being a little bit more laid back. They have a nice village that you can walk around in the city center of San Jose del Cabo for those of you who want a little slower pace. The beaches are about the same, but I would say out here along San Jose, you're going to get a little bit more white sand flat, whereas it's a bit more rocky and mountainous around Cabo San Lucas. If you're coming down here, I would say split up your trip between three days in Cabo and three days in San Jose. Consider visiting places like Toto Santos or La Paz. And if you go across the Sea of Cortez to the Mexican mainland, you end up in Puerto Vallarta. Now Puerto Vallarta is a more tropical type climate, beautiful beaches at Nayarit. They also have the all-inclusive resorts. Visit the Malecon, which is a seaside boardwalk with art, street performers, plenty of restaurants to get ceviche and mariscos. Also has some nightlife. They have whale watching here as well. And then you also get gorgeous mountain views as you go up into the mountains into Jalisco a little bit further. Four to seven days in PV, also known as Puerto Vallarta, would be perfect. Next up, we're headed to Cancun. This here is in the area of Riviera Maya in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. In this area, you're going to get beautiful Gatorade colored blue waters. Cancun is known for its white sand beach with many different resorts, skyrises along the hotel zone. This area was actually first built up around the 1970s. Before that, it was just a white sand beach on an island. But nowadays, it's known as a gateway to snorkeling, diving, going out to the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, which is the second largest reef system in the world. Nearby is Mayan ruins like Chichen Itza. You can also go down to Tulum, which we'll be showing you a little bit later on in the video. And it's very famous for its nightlife, places like Coco Bongo. And then during spring break, a lot of people from the United States come down here to celebrate. And it's considered a family friendly luxury escape. Although as with anywhere in Mexico, you should always exercise caution and do your own due diligence and pay attention to the U.S. State Department's official website. About an hour and 20 minutes south of Cancun is Playa del Carmen. This is another one of the popular tourist destinations in Quintana Roo along Riviera Maya, known for its resorts, clear turquoise waters. Also, there's a road here called Quinta Avenida, which is Fifth Avenue right in the city's heart. It's for pedestrian traffic only, packed with cafes, bars, great tacos, good food, street performers. This area here is also known for cenotes. For those of you who want to get out there and explore some of the many different cenotes out there around the Yucatan or even the Quintana Roo area. And going about another hour and a half south of Playa del Carmen, we're in Tulum, famous for its cliff top Mayan ruins overlooking the sea at a beautiful beach area where they have powdery white sand. All across Tulum, they have the Tulum town and then they have Tulum beach area. In my opinion, Tulum beach area is all you need, but it's a bit expensive. I mean, prices seem to be two to three times higher over here. Taking taxes is expensive, but once you're down here and if you can afford to be here, you'll see at night time in the morning, this is where the vibes are. And if you check the description below, you'll see we've made individual things to do travel guides about each one of these places. You can watch those travel guides after this video, but if you wanted to pick a place and see it more in detail, definitely check the description below. Next up, here we are at Cozumel. About a 45 to 60 minute ferry ride from Playa del Carmen. This island here is also in Quintana Roo, but it's famous for snorkeling, scuba diving, nearby the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef. They've got clear water out here, but be careful, they do have strong currents. And it's one of the busiest cruise ship ports in the Caribbean, known for sandy white sand beaches, rocky shorelines. I actually did a Circle Island tour around Cozumel. It took about a half a day, and one of those little buggies that you can rent there. You can also get a bicycle and do cycling around the Circle Island loop road. They have Punta Sur Eco Beach Park, which has lagoons, some crocodiles. They have an international airport here, but I would suggest coming over on a ferry from Playa del Carmen at least for one day. And now we're going a little bit further south in Quintana Roo, nearby Belize. This here is Bacalar. Bacalar is known for its lagoon of seven colors because of its incredible shades of blue created by the varying depths of the limestone sand around here. The lagoon is freshwater, and it's not sea ocean water. The stretch is about 25 miles. It's popular for kayaking, paddle boarding, sailing, swimming. People go around it like it's a natural lazy river. Along here is the Fort San Felipe, which was built in the 18th century to defend the town from Caribbean pirates. There aren't really beaches around here, but there are docks and hammocks, swim platforms, and other ways to enjoy the water. Now we're in the state of Yucatan. This here is Merida, nicknamed the White City because of its colonial architecture. It's considered one of the safest and cleanest, most orderly cities in all of Mexico, built on the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Tijo, giving Merida a deep indigenous background. There's Plaza Grande, the Merida Cathedral, which is one of the oldest in the Americas. Nearby here in the Yucatan is actually where Herdinan Cortez and the Conquistadors actually docked their ships nearby in Veracruz. So Merida is one of the oldest cities in the Americas. The whole area around the Yucatan is known for having a unique style of Mexican food. You can get dishes like the cochinita pibol or panuchos or salbutes, which are different types of foods than you'll find in places around, say, the Central Park. But it is a major food destination, popular with families, retirees, digital nomads. The city itself is not on the waterfront. It's about 30 to 40 minutes away from the Gulf of Mexico. And from Merida in the Yucatan, we're going to head out to the capital. This here is Mexico City, also known as Ciudad de Mexico. This is the largest city in North America. It's a mega city with landmarks like the Angel of Independence along Reforma. Then you have Chapultepec Castle, which is the only royal castle in the Americas. Nearby here is Teotihuacan, which is where the sun and moon pyramids are, about an hour and a half outside of the city. The city itself was actually built on Lake Texcoco, which was nearby the ruins of the old Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. So the city itself was built on a lake that had been backfilled, and they say it's sinking. Every time they get an earthquake, Mexico City sinks just a little bit more. And as I mentioned previously, we did some full travel guides. The one I would highly recommend is watching our Mexico City travel guide in detail if you're really interested in visiting here. That one's down in the description. But you can see here we have the Zócalo and Cathedral. Now we're going to go up north. About three hours from Mexico City is Guanajuato. Guanajuato actually means the hill of the frogs. Now I went all across Mexico in my life, and this one was probably the most interesting place I've been. It was an old silver mining town, one of the biggest in the Americas, so they got a lot of silver out of here. The Spanish did. And nowadays you walk around here and it really feels like you're going back in time. There's almost no modernity in Guanajuato, and that's what people really love about it. It's basically a city built in a ravine here in this beautiful mountainous region. And because it's an old mining city, there's like this underground tunnel system with roads and intersections, pedestrian passageways. It was originally built 18th to 19th centuries, but now it's used as a flood control channel for the Guanajuato River. Down the road a bit from Guanajuato, but in the same state, is San Miguel de Allende. Now this one here is another one of those quaint Mexican towns. And just like Guanajuato, there's no real hint of modernity, especially not in the city center here. Again, built in the actual mountain ravine of the valley here. And it's quite the amazing city. You know, you really feel like you're back in time. It's like being in Europe, but here in the Americas. And lots of digital nomads and expats retire here. Now we're headed down to Oaxaca. This is in southern Mexico, surrounded by mountains and valleys. It's got an old historic center right in Oaxaca, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, known for its colonial buildings. This here is on the Pacific Coast side actually, so that's what's interesting about it. But it's the birthplace of mezcal. If you know what mezcal is, then you know. If not, you can look it up, but they've got the distilleries here known as Palenques. But it's deeply rooted in its indigenous culture, especially the Zapotec or the Mixtec. Another historical place is going to be Puebla. This is two hours southeast of Mexico City, known for the historic city center in Puebla, here with the UNESCO World Heritage Site, famous for its colonial architecture and colorful tiled buildings. That's why it's called the City of Tiles, because of a televera pottery, and it's used on the buildings here, churches and kitchens. It's unique to Puebla actually, and one of the most famous dishes from Mexico is mole poblano, which is one of Mexico's most famous dishes made with chili peppers, spices, nuts, and chocolate. Now we've arrived at Mexico's surf capital here. This is Puerto Escondido. It's actually just north of the city of Oaxaca. I believe it's still in Oaxaca, but this attracts professional surfers. I also saw a lot of backpackers just kind of living here. They've got lots of beaches. It's on the Pacific Ocean side, but it's got a laid-back bohemian vibe for sure, mixed with some Mexican culture, good food, lots of tacos here. They do have a small airport for getting in and out. Now we have Acapulco here on the Pacific coast in the state of Guerrero. It's actually built on a horseshoe-shaped bay. It's one of Mexico's original beach destinations. Way before Cancun existed, it was Acapulco, but it went through a period where it's had a lot of cartel activity, and it became unsafe for tourists, but it's kind of making a comeback, hopefully sooner than later, but this place is absolutely beautiful. You can see why this was chosen as one of the original destinations. Famous for the legendary La Cubrada cliff divers who leap from over 100 feet up, and then you have beaches like Caleta and Calatilla Beach. They're considered family-friendly. And staying in Guerrero, we're going north a bit by three hours. This here is Zihuatanejo. Some of you may remember this from a movie. You guys can guess in the comments what movie that was, but Zihuatanejo, I actually went here, and I guess it's considered a bit safer than Acapulco. I actually consider this a hidden gem of the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Now we're actually headed to Guadalajara here in Jalisco. Guadalajara is interesting because there's a few towns around here that you may want to go out to, like Lake Chapala, or maybe even Ajaic, but Guadalajara is considered one of the best cities in all of Mexico for living. After all, it is the birthplace of mariachi music and tequila. Maybe consider going out to Tlaquepaque or Chapultepec neighborhood. This area we're exploring now is Chiapas, located in the southern part of Mexico, bordering with Guatemala. It's considered Mexico's richest biodiversity, with jungles, canyons, waterfalls, mountains, and it's one of Mexico's most scenic regions, home to Palenque, which is an ancient Mayan city in the jungle. Also they have San Cristobal de las Casas, and really an amazing place down here. Those waterfalls are spectacular. They've got howler monkeys, toucans, jaguars. This is really cool. It's not the easiest place to get to because it's way down south and there's not much infrastructure for tourism, but if you can, you'll see why. Now here we are in Monterrey, Mexico, here in the northeastern part of the country in Nuevo Leon, and it's considered the industrial and business capital of Mexico, really close to Texas, home to major corporations, but it's also a beautiful city because it's got these dramatic mountain backdrop views, and you can see it's one of Mexico's wealthiest and most modern cities, the home to Macroplaza, one of the largest public squares in the world. You got the Santa Lucia Riverwalk, and there is a special island I wanted to point out here off the coast of Yucatan. It's called and it's in the Caribbean, but no cars here. It's got shallow turquoise water, sandbars, walkable beaches. It's famous for its flamingos that can be seen in the lagoons, especially during the warmer months. It's one of the best places in the world to swim if you like whale sharks, so that's kind of cool. They also have the bioluminescent plankton. Epic sunsets can be found here, and this area here is kind of close to Cancun, probably about an hour to an hour and a half away by driving, and then you have to actually get out to the island. You have the Yambalon Nature Reserve protecting the mangroves and the wildlife and marine ecosystems in the area. You also have streets often very colorful with a bohemian kind of island vibe. I want to give some practical travel tips about visiting Mexico. You will fill out an immigration form called an FMM. Upon arrival, you will look for airport taxis, but you want to make sure they are officially marked airport taxis and or trusted ride hailing apps where it's permitted. You can confirm this by checking the license plate plus the driver's name before getting in. If you are going to rent a car or do road trips, it is recommended to stick to toll roads when going long distance and also preferring to drive during the daytime. Evening times are not recommended for tourists on the roads, especially off of the toll roads. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed this one and we will see you on the next one. You can watch Mexico City next. Click the link right here.