How to explore Mexico’s captivating ‘magic villages’
The last battle between colonial Spain and Mexico, fighting for Independence, took place 200 years ago this year – following 15 years of bloody conflict.
Compared to some South American nations, Mexico has a strong and very distinctive identity. Anyone visiting would, despite the common language, recognise that this vast country has decoupled itself from Europe.
But the legacy of Spain is tangible, as is evident in the Pueblos Mágicos – the 177 “Magical Towns” the tourist board promotes to underline the breadth and beauty on offer to visitors across this large country – and to draw people away from the main tourism magnets: Cancún, Tulum and the Mayan Riviera; Baja California’s Cabos; and Puerto Vallarta and the Riviera Nayarit.
The Pueblos Mágicos are special. Some are large towns, others more like big villages. They are spread across 31 states and around Mexico City. They often boast old convents and churches from the Spanish era, sometimes with pre-Columbian archaeological ruins nearby.
Many have established small-scale tourism industries, providing good hotels, restaurants and amenities. There’s considerable diversity – some have a Mayan feel, others natural attractions, or beaches – and it’s easy to link up two or three in an itinerary as part of a road trip or, in the case of Izamal, Palenque and Isla Mujeres, using the recently completed (and long-awaited) Tren Maya tourist train.
Often major cities lie close at hand, making a visit to a Pueblo Mágico an ideal day trip.
This list of 10 is my personal selection and merely a taste of what lies between the Río Bravo and the two oceans. The full list is here.
Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato
The birthplace of modern Mexico is a small town 130 miles north of Mexico City. It was just plain Dolores until September 15, 1810, when a local priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo, performed the famous grito – or cry – of “¡Independencia!“.
It has been Dolores Hidalgo, the “Cradle of Independence”, ever since. A mansion is kept permanently empty, solely to accommodate the president when he arrives on the night of September 14 to re-enact the grito.
It’s a delightful town to wander around, with simple cafés and cantinas (Mexican bars) and great ice-cream on the plaza – with bizarre flavours to try, such as shrimp, nopal cactus and chicharrón (like pork scratchings), as well as mango and vanilla
A must-see is the Museo Casa Hidalgo (Wed to Sat), on the corner of Hidalgo and Morelos, a former grain store and the home of Don Miguel Hidalgo; it was here he conspired to launch the uprising against colonial rule.
Along with Guanajuato – 33 miles away – Dolores is a great stop if you are exploring Mexico’s Silver Cities.
Closest airport: León/Bajío aka Guanajuato International
Where to stay: Casa del Sole Hotel Boutique (0052 418 155 6099) has doubles from £117. Breakfast included.
Izamal, Yucatán
Known as the “yellow city” for its egg yolk-coloured buildings, Izamal is an entrancing mix of pre-Hispanic ruins and colonial buildings. Apparently, the houses were once a range of pastel hues, but when Pope John Paul II visited in 1993, the town’s grandees decided to paint everything in Vatican colours.
There are 12 Mayan pyramids as well as vestiges of other pre-Columbian buildings. The Christian centrepiece is the Convento de San Antonio de Padua – completed in 1561. Like many churches in Yucatán, it was built on top of a Mayan temple.
The handsome city of Mérida and the Mayan site of Dzibilchaltún lie just a little over an hour’s drive to the west; Izamal is also a good base for the archaeological sites of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal. The new Tren Maya tourist train stops here.
Closest airport: Mérida International
Where to stay: Otoch Ixchel (otochixchel.com) has doubles from £108. Room only.
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas
One of the best preserved old cities in Latin America, San Cristóbal owes much of its allure and identity to its mestizos culture. Once used as a stopover between Mayan ruins and nature reserves, it has become a popular hub for backpackers and tour groups.
Founded in 1528, it’s named for Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas, the famous defender of indigenous rights. Low-slung, convivial and full of churches, San Cristóbal has a lively central plaza. Nearby are the bishop’s mansion, cathedral and church of San Nicolas, built for African slaves. The food market has hundreds of stalls selling chocolate, tropical fruits, maize of every shade, fried ants, cheeses and chillis of every size and potency. Another market, run by co-operatives, sells textiles and lace for serious dollar prices.
Seven miles away, in the village of San Juan Chamula, is the church of San Juan Bautista, an important community hub where Mayan and Christian traditions mix in the forms of worship.
Closest airport: Tuxtla Gutiérrez International
Where to stay: Diego de Mazariegos (0052 967 678 0833, diegodemazariegos.com) has doubles from £70. Room only.
Loreto, Baja California Sur
This likeable coastal town was founded by the Milan-born Jesuit padre Juan María Salvatierra in 1679, who established the Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto. The pediment of the original church reminds us Loreto was once the “Head and mother of the Mission of Lower and Higher California”; the town was the capital of the Californias till 1777. Its historic centre is full of character, lined with topiary and paved with huge cobblestones.
Loreto lies on the Carretera Numero One, or Route No. 1, the north-south highway that runs the length of Baja California. South lie the beach resorts of Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. The latter is lovely, but there are many alluring towns along the road, including Santa Rosalia, with its Eiffel designed church; Mulejé, known for sheltered beaches; and Guerrero Negro, famous for its grey whales.
Closest airport: Loreto International
Where to stay: Posada de las Flores (00 52 613 135 1162, posadadelasfloresloreto.com) has doubles from £199. Breakfast included.
Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí
Reached via a lonely road that cuts through cactus-strewn desert is this truly magical little township, which enjoys legendary status in Mexico as a “ghost town”. Real de Catorce (Royal Fourteen) is named for 14 Spanish soldiers killed here in an ambush by Chichimeca warriors. It boomed as a silver town and was known for its great wealth in the 19th century.
After the silver price bombed at the end of that period, Real de Catorce stood empty for decades. Even today, the only solid-looking building in town is the church. Many of the stone buildings are bereft of windows and roofs, and the back streets resemble a film set. Director Gore Verbinski chose it as a location for his 2001 film The Mexican, starring Gene Hackman, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt.
On Sundays, a market sets up around the church, selling everything from kitsch clocks decorated with saints to native handicrafts and maize snacks. The old cowboys sit round the small plaza, the young guns shoot pool in a dusty saloon.
A “pueblo fantasma”, a bona fide “ghost village”, lies to the east of the town. Along the route lie stone vats where silver ore was washed and wagons used in the mine. The village is an evocative ruin, left to a few goats and skinny vultures.
Closest airport: San Luis Potosí
Where to stay: Mina Real (0052 488 887 5162, hotelminareal.com) has doubles from £95. Room only.
Cholula, Puebla
When conquistador Hernán Cortés stopped in Cholula on his overland expedition, he wanted to send a message to Montezuma – so he killed thousands of people, looted the houses and burned down the temples. Often combined with state capital Puebla – just a few miles to the east – it’s a very laidback town, with a good range of smart restaurants close to the huge zócalo (plaza).
Cholula’s chief attraction is the Great Pyramid, larger in volume than Giza’s Great Pyramid. Built with adobe bricks, it echoes the style of architectural Teotihuacan near Mexico City and is dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent central to Aztec culture and theology.
Closest airport: Puebla
Where to stay: Casa Eva (00 52 222 375 4567, casaeva.travel) has doubles from £141. Breakfast included.
Zihuatanejo, Guerrero
Most Mexican beach resort towns are just too big and bustling to be magical, but Zihuatanejo, or Zihua as it’s nicknamed, is special. Multihued properties tumble down the slopes of the Sierra Madre del Sur mountain range and down to the beaches, which have warm, calm waters. Until the 1970s it was a fairly sleepy fishing village, but with the construction of Ixtapa next door, the local tourism industry took off.
Early on, Zihua was an in-crowd secret, drawing the likes of Andy Warhol, John Wayne, Liz Taylor and Mick Jagger. Today, it pulls in those who think Tulum and southern Baja too Americanised. They come to do nothing or seaside stuff: stroll along the Paseo del Pescador boardwalk, hire a bike, surf, snorkel, hit the coffee shops or tour the beaches.
Closest airport: Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo International
Where to stay: Aura del Mar 00 52 755 554 2142, hotelauradelmar.com) has doubles from £132. Room only.
Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo
Isla Mujeres is named after the clay female idols found on the island in the 16th century, pertaining to the Mayan female deity, Ixchel, goddess of the moon and fertility. With its low-rise houses, white sandy beaches and turquoise sea, it is popular with Riviera Maya daytrippers, but isn’t anything like as developed as nearby Cancun.
Hotels tend to be of the boutique variety. It’s easy to explore by bicycle, golf cart, moped or using the public bus. Swimming and snorkelling are superb in the calm waters. Sunsets at Playa Norte are sublime. Birders will enjoy an excursion to the bird sanctuary of Isla Contoy, home to pelicans, peregrine falcons and cormorants.
Closest airport: Cancun
Where to stay: Hotel Secreto (hotelsecreto.com) has doubles from £449, for two nights (minimum). Room only.
Palenque, Chiapas
Founded in 1567 by a Dominican friar, Palenque is small and welcoming, with a textile museum on the plaza and some decent restaurants and amenities. But the real magic is to be found at the extraordinary eponymous archaeological site.
It’s the jungle setting that makes Palenque’s Mayan ruins special. The main burial pyramids and ceremonial buildings are constructed from limestone slabs. Dappled with lichen and mosses, they glow against a backdrop of dense vegetation that bursts out of the steep hills all around.
Another major Mayan site, Bonampak, lies to the south east - just under 100 miles or three hours by car.
Closest airport: Palenque International
Where to stay: Villas Adriana (00 52 916 129 3577, villasadriana.com) has doubles from £97. Breakfast included.
Tequila, Jalisco
Tequila can only be produced in five states: all of Jalisco and specific bordering areas of the surrounding states of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Tamaulipas and Nayarit. More than a boozy getaway, the town of Tequila and its environs were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006 because of the ancient techniques and agave landscape; several craft distilleries are open to visitors.
Jalisco is also known as the birthplace of mariachi music, so visitors can expect swooning and crooning while they sip or slam the famous firewater. Here and in the state capital Guadalajara – just 40 miles away – the regional gastronomy is revered.
Closest airport: Guadalajara
Where to stay: Matices Hotel de Barricas (00 52 374 6800, maticeshotelbarricas.com.mx) has doubles from £163. Room only.
FCDO advice on travel to Mexico
The Foreign Office’s travel advice on Mexico produces a patchwork of green (i.e. good to go) regions and orange (all but essential travel not advised). Several states known for drug-related violence and crime – including Zacatecas, Sinaloa and Chihuahua, are completely or almost completely orange, and some Pueblos Mágicos fall in the best-avoided section (though not the ones included above).
Two details to bear in mind is that the FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Guerrero, except the town of Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa accessed by air; and against all but essential travel on Federal Highway 199 between Rancho Nuevo (just outside San Cristobal de las Casas) and the Chancalá junction just outside Palenque.
Nowhere in Mexico is marked as red – that is, the FCDO advises against all travel – as is the case with parts of Venezuela and all of Haiti.
More info at: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico
