The Regions of Mexico

by Bob Brooke

From the pastel-colored caves, striking desert landscapes, and reddish-orange mountains of Baja California to the lush green jungles and turquoise waters of the Yucatán Peninsula, from the magnificent series of gorges of Copper Canyon to miles of sun-drenched white sandy beaches and clear azure waters of the Pacific Coast, nature has created Mexico from her rich palette of colors. It's unfortunate that most other North Americans don't know much about the country's geographic diversity and what it has to offer.

Essentially, Mexico can be divided into eight regions:

• Northern Mexico
• Baja California
• Pacific Coast
• Valley of Mexico
• Colonial Mexico
• Southern Mexico
• Gulf Coast
• Yucatán Peninsula

You'll find countless ways to experience Mexico. Whether you choose to explore small villages or sophisticated cities, or lounge by a sparkling pool in one of the country's hundreds of resort hotels, or rough it on a jungle safari, you'll make new friends and cherish your time in this colorful land.

Northern Mexico

Mexico's geographically northern region, comprising the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and most of Tamaulipas, offers you a chance to experience some of the country's most spectacular landscapes, set in an area of semidesert and pine-forested highlands known as El Norte.

The most spectacular natural wonder here is the Barranca de Cobre, or Copper Canyon. The Canyon itself — actually a maze of more than twenty smaller canyons that form a series of five interconnecting canyons or barrancas covering 900 square miles — offers you an outdoor experience so pure and majestic that you'll feel as if you've entered an undiscovered civilization. Located in the state of Chihuahua, the Copper Canyon is four times larger and 280 feet deeper than the Grand Canyon.

TRAVEL TIP

If natural wonders aren't your thing, you might want to follow in the steps of one of Mexico's most famous revolutionaries, Pancho Villa. His haunts are clustered around the city of Chihuahua and the nearby town of Parral.

The next biggest attraction in the North is Monterrey, often called “The Pittsburgh of Mexico.” Here, mighty steel mills, now silent, forged the steel that built many of Mexico's buildings. Today, Monterrey offers a modern city with some of the best museums in the country.

The state of Sinaloa is home to Mazatlán, Mexico's northernmost beach resort on the Pacific. Originally game fishing brought visitors here, but the leisurely sport of sun-worshipping has taken hold. A young, lively resort, Mazatlán boasts the least expensive section of beach in Mexico with the most variety.

If you like to “hang ten,” then you'll love Mazatlán, Mexico's surfing capital. But you'll enjoy parasailing — being towed high in a parachute behind a motorboat — from its wide beaches just as much. You can also try Jet-skiing and boogie-boarding or play tennis at one of eighty courts or golf on three eighteen-hole courses. And shopping is a pastime only exceeded by partying.

The states of Sonora, Durango, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, catering more to sportsmen, don't offer much for family vacationers.

Baja California

Running 876 miles from Mexico's border with Southern California to its tip at Los Cabos, the Baja Peninsula presents a land of desert and semidesert separating the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Cortés. Until 1973, only the most adventurous risked the severity of its terrain for the pleasure of hunting, fishing, rock hunting, fossil collecting, bird watching, and surfing in an almost pure natural environment. In 1973, the 1,050-mile Transpeninsular Highway, officially called the Benito Juárez Highway, opened.

With an 800-plus-mile coast on the Pacific and the Sea of Cortés, Baja, as it's affectionately known, offers a paradise for anglers, swimmers, and surfers. Huge clams and oysters wash up on its miles of beaches, and the emerald-green waters of the gulf and the deep-blue waters of the Pacific support an incredible variety of big-game fish. As the highway traverses Baja, the dry landscape breaks into sudden oases, while fishing villages dot the coast.

FAST FACT

Whale watching has become a favorite activity as California gray whales mate and calve every winter along Baja's west coast.

Despite the land's wild nature and seeming remoteness, Baja California has experienced a tremendous surge in tourism growth, especially in Los Cabos. In the 1980s, Los Cabos became a government-sponsored and planned resort. Here, you'll find luxurious resorts catering to golfers, but most visitors come for the pleasant dry, desert climate and the sparkling blue sea.

If you like to dive, Los Cabos features dives on its North and South Walls and the Shipwreck. There's good snorkeling among the tidal pools and reefs just offshore, in Cabo San Lucas. If you're lucky, you may get to enjoy an exhilarating encounter with a forty-ton whale. Divers tell how these gentle giants lift their heads to look in curiosity at them and their tanks and then swim away.

PACIFIC COAST

All of Mexico's Pacific beach resorts offer a variety of sun and fun pleasures, including a smorgasbord of sports, from golf and tennis to fishing and sailing. Perhaps you'd like the exhilarating feeling of parasailing, an activity not for the faint of heart. At the beaches in Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta, all you need do is wait your turn and pay the man.

In Manzanillo, Puerto Vallarta, and San Jose del Cabo, you can feel the thrill of excitement as you ride side by side on horseback through the surf, horses' manes flying in the wind. Stop for a cool drink and some tasty grilled shrimp at an oceanside restaurant, and then jump into the surf for a refreshing dip.

If you're a deep-sea fishing enthusiast, you'll find all you can handle at Mexico's Pacific Coast resorts. Sailfish are quite prevalent, as are marlin, wahoo, yellowtail, dorado, mackerel, and bonito. Manzanillo claims to be the sailfish capital of the world, but Mazatlán offers a similar claim. January through April is marlin season.

In Los Cabos, fishing is numero uno. For years, the Sea of Cortés has held a special place in the hearts of fishermen. With more than 650 varieties of game fish in its teeming waters, it's a veritable paradise if you're a deep-sea fishing enthusiast.

The Valley of Mexico

The majority of visitors who come to Mexico never get to see its greatest wonder, Mexico City. Unfortunately, most of the hype goes to the country's beach resorts, leaving many to miss the superb museums, history, culture, and excitement of one of the world's largest cities. Here, you can stroll the broad Avenida de Reforma leading down to the city's Centro Historico, or historic district, filled with newly restored seventeenth-and eighteenth-century buildings.

Mexico City sits on the foundations of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán. It's the cultural center of the country, offering a bountiful number of sites to explore. The city's three most popular attractions are the Ballet Folklorico, the bullfights, and the floating gardens of Xochimilco.

You might also want to visit Coyoacan, the former suburb that is now a district of the capital, where artist Frida Kahlo lived and painted. Casa Azul, or Blue House, now houses the Frida Kahlo Museum, established in the artist's home and studio. Nearby, you'll find the Leon Trotsky Museum, where Leon Trotsky lived after fleeing to Mexico from the Soviet Union.

Teotihuacán, easily seen in half a day, lies twenty-five miles northeast of Mexico City. This archaeological site is so majestic that the Aztecs named it the City of the Gods. Covering nine square miles, this magnificent ceremonial center and some of the outlying palaces and priestly dwellings have been restored.

Known for its year-round spring-like temperatures, Cuernavaca has also become one of Mexico's prime commercial cities. Long a favorite getaway for residents of Mexico City, including Cortés and Maxmilian and Carlotta, Cuernavaca also offers interesting sites in and around town, including the Museum of Cauhnahuac in the former Palace of Cortés on thezócalo, the town's main square.

Colonial Mexico

Mexico's colonial cities are virtual living museums to a vanished way of life. The charm of secluded courtyards, white walls accented by wrought iron balconies, red tile roofs gleaming in the sun, and recessed windows guarded by ornate metal filigrees make visits to Mexico's colonial cities a must. These cities, built during the vicere-gal period, are monuments to a gracious yet unsettling age––an age when greed drove men to search out riches, not for themselves but for the glory of Spain.

Guanajuato, a city built on the riches from silver mines, is made for walking. Its narrow, cobbled streets, lined with balconied houses and winding up the hillsides, will draw you in. Like Venice, you'll find yourself diverted into unexpected squares that seem almost like stage settings in an opera. In fact, the entire city becomes a great outdoor stage during the International Cervantino Festival held in October and November.

Much of Querétaro's charm lies in its history. Part of the Aztec empire and later overcome by the Spaniards, it became a hotbed of revolutionary sentiment for independence from Spain. Colonial Querétaro offers some intriguing buildings surrounded by colorful parks and plazas. At the heart of town is the Plaza Obregon, dominated by the Church of San Francisco and convent of the same name, housing the state regional museum.

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For a taste of the real Mexico, visit Tequisquiapan, a spa town located two hours north of Mexico City in the dairy region of Mexico. Be sure to visit the local market and taste the varieties of cheese and nuts that are available.

About an hour northwest of Querétaro lies San Miguel de Allende, the consummate Mexican colonial town. The city's narrow cobblestone streets climb the slopes in gradual stages. Plaques mounted on the walls of fine old colonial houses tell what famous figure lived inside or what important event took place there. The centerpiece of San Miguel is its el jardin, or zócalo, with its unusual parish church built to look like a French Gothic cathedral. Other buildings provide a potpourri of photogenic domes, steeples, niches, and scalloped roofs. Here, your family can sign up for art or language classes at the Instituto Allende, housed in the former estate of the Counts of Canal. Now a division of the University of Guadalajara, it's the perfect place to learn or improve your Spanish.

The heart of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city, boasts grand pedestrian malls ideal for strolling and shopping. Plaza Tapatia, the largest, is a good place to begin exploring the old city. A visit to the cathedral and the Government Palace, to see the dramatic murals, is a must.

There's also plenty to see nearby. Guadalajara has sprawled east to merge with San Pedro Tlaquepaque. Though the town is best known for its ceramics and glassblowing, more than 300 shops now sell everything from fine silver jewelry to antiques and leather. A former colonial villa now houses the Ceramic Museum, displaying works from around the state of Jalisco.

Southern Mexico

The Sierra Madre del Sur encircles the state of Oaxaca and, together with its neighboring state of Chiapas, contains the largest diversity of indigenous cultures and peoples in Mexico. This explains Oaxaca's richness and variety in handicrafts, folklore, culture, and cuisine. With its mix of indigenous cultures, plus its colonial grandeur and numerous archaeological sites, Oaxaca is a unique educational family destination.

The southernmost state of Mexico, Chiapas, is probably its most complex. Since thick rainforests cover a large part of its highlands, the state and its people, descendants of the Maya and other tribes, remained fairly isolated until recent years. Indigenous uprisings in the mid-1990s caused much concern, but even though peace has returned, there are many other places in Mexico with more to interest families.

The Gulf Coast

An attractive state capital little known by tourists, Villahermosa in the state of Tabasco is noted for its La Venta Museum, a vast outdoor archaeological display located east of the city. This unique tropical park reproduces the original site of La Venta using massive stone Olmec Indian heads, stone altars, and sculpted animals. There's even a zoo for children, featuring local animals.

But most visitors head southeast to the ruins of Palenque in the Chiapas jungle. Considered by many to be the most beautiful pre-Hispanic site in Mexico, Palenque was a Mayan center, inhabited from A.D. 100 to 900. The mummy of Lord Pacal, who died in A.D. 683, still lies in its original resting place.

The state of Veracruz, with more ecotourism companies than any other region, has become the adventure capital of Mexico. You can go river rafting, mountain climbing, hiking, and camping in the tropical forests throughout the state. You'll enjoy the joie de vivre (or joy of life) of Veracruz, Mexico's hot and sultry principal port city and the nation's oldest. The atmosphere here is relaxed and unhurried. Perhaps you'll want to stroll the malecón to watch the activity of the harbor, then take a harbor cruise, after which you can step into one of Veracruz's many cafés. At night, the main square comes alive with marimba bands playing to the crowds who come to listen and eat freshly caught seafood.

The Yucatán Peninsula

The Yucatán Peninsula, comprising the states of Yucatán, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, offers ancient history, as well as coral-lined shores, sparkling powdery sands, and azure-blue seas.

If you're into history, then you'll want to explore the Mayan sites of Uxmal, Chichén Itzá, Coba, and Tulum. But if you like to explore underwater, the Mexico's Caribbean offers world-class conditions for both scuba-diving and snorkeling. Like a bejeweled necklace, the world's second-longest reef system, with visibility ranging up to 200 feet, stretches about 250 miles south from Cancún to Belize.

Diving is the sport on the island of Cozumel, just offshore in the turquoise-blue Caribbean, and diving experts agree that there's nowhere else like it for submarine scenery. If you're not into diving, then perhaps snorkeling at Chankanaab Reef, where giant lobsters dwell under rocky ledges, will be more to your liking.

If you like to sun, swim, and party, then Cancún should be your choice. The most popular of Mexico's Caribbean resorts, it's a family resort where water sports from windsurfing to boogie-boarding to snorkeling top the list. You can also tee off at several fine golf courses or play tennis at smooth courts at all the larger hotels.

If you get weary of the sun and sand, you can take an excursion to one of the ancient Mayan ruins on the mainland. Tulum — a time-softened ceremonial center towering above the Caribbean — is the most beautiful. Nearby, the ancient city of Coba rises from the tropical jungle to look more like something out of Indiana Jones, while the most spectacular site, Chichén Itzá, a two-hour drive overland, is the most famous.

Or maybe you'd prefer to boat over to the sleepy island of Isla Mujeres, where you can eat lunch at a small seaside restaurant then snorkel off the south end of the island.

Mérida, capital of Yucatán state, makes an excellent base for exploring the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. Mérida, itself, a charming blend of large, white colonial buildings downtown and modern homes on the outskirts, developed a more European atmosphere. Before going out to explore the Mayan ruins, you'll want to visit the Museum of Archaeology and History housed in a former mansion.