Mexico - Highlights
Dotted with majestic cities, palaces and temples and diverse natural beauty, Mexico is rightly proud of its endlessly varied cultural heritage.
Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes is the centre of the nation's performing arts scene, including an outstanding puppet theatre. The capital is also packed with art galleries and museums of international stature. Mazatlan's Teatro Ángela Peralta hosts the annual cultural festival, while folk art is on display throughout the country, from the pottery of Oaxaca to Tonala's animal figurines.
Mexico's pre-Columbian icons include Palenque, Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, while Spain's baroque influence continues to dazzle in colonial-era cities such as Puebla, Veracruz and Guanajuato, with its splendid cathedral. Natural landmarks include Copper Canyon, volcanoes such as Iztaccihuatl, the rainforests and waterfalls of Chiapas and a long coastline of sandy beaches.
Kids love Acapulco as much for water sports park CICI as for its sparkling blue waters. Isla Mujeres' Dolphin Discovery will have parents as enthralled as their children. Mexico City's Chapultepec Zoo is said to be the world's oldest, and nearby is the Museo Papalote, or Kite Museum.
Time a trip to Mexico to coincide with Semana Santa (Holy Week) or the Day of the Dead, when Mexican religious exuberance is most spectacularly on show.
Hit the beaches of Acapulco to the tune of Los Lobos' La Bamba and cruise the desert highways of northern Mexico to the sounds of Linda Ronstadt's Canciones de mi Padre.
