Considering a spring vacation in Mexico? Here’s five of our top luxury destinations and accompanying hotels in Mexico for the discerning traveler.
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Spring is a great time to travel, and Mexico is closer than you think. Although temperatures are excellent throughout the year, spring is exceptional in most destinations. Here are 5 top luxury Mexico vacations for this spring:
Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas, located in Baja California, is famous for whale watching, sea kayaking and coastal hiking. For the most luxurious accommodations, we recommend Hotel Las Ventanas, a 5-star venue in Cabo San Lucas. This upscale resort is all about pampering! Relax in front of your suite’s terra cotta fireplace, renew your soul in our world-class spa or savor the gourmet cuisine in one of the on-site eateries. The Hotel Las Ventanas is a Mexican paradise nestled between the ocean and the desert.
Riviera Maya
Located on the historic Yucatan Peninsula, you can experience the best of the old and new when you stay at the Hotel Rosewood Mayakoba on the Riviera Maya. Surrounded by the lush jungle with white Caribbean beaches at your doorstep, this luxury resort is the perfect mixture of natural beauty and sophisticated refinement. Here are a few things you can do during your stay:
- View the ancient Mayan ruins including Edzna, Chichen Itza and Coba.
- Float the peaceful waters at Celestun, an innovative eco-reserve.
- Explore Valladolid, a beautiful colonial town.
- Bask in the glory of the Mexican sun and cool off in the bright-turquoise Caribbean waters!
Mexico City
One of the largest and most industrious cities in the world, Mexico City offers the perfect mix of modern sophistication and old-world tradition. During your stay, you’ll discover some of the finest dining and shopping in the world as well a variety of cultural sites like the Catedral Metropolitana, Palacio Nacional and Teotihuacan. If you’re looking for a great place to stay, we recommend the Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico. In addition to a luxurious room and world-class service, this hotel has a spectacular view of Mexico City’s Historic Centre!
Puebla
If your mouth waters at the thought of authentic Mexican cuisine, Puebla is the perfect destination for your next trip south of the border! In addition to sampling the local fare, you can learn to make some of these dishes by taking the Mexican Cooking Course at Meson Sacristia. If you’re planning a visit to this 2012 internationally recognized destination, we recommend the Hotel La Purificadora. This boutique hotel, once a water-purification plant, was renovated by legendary Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta.
Guanajuato
Visit the heart of Mexico to learn more about this country’s past. Discover the colonial architecture, learn more about famous Mexican artists and view one of the world’s biggest silver mines. While you’re visiting Guanajuato, stay at the Quinta Las Acacias, an exclusive, four-diamond hotel with just 17 opulent rooms. The décor is a mixture of classic European styles mixed with traditional Mexican craftsmanship.
These top luxury Mexico vacations are considered safe for travel by the US Department of State, so come and enjoy!
Part of the allure of a vacation abroad is the promise of something a little more exotic than your area hotels. In fact, some travelers are a little disappointed by the cookie-cutter resorts that line the coastal areas of the more touristy parts of the world. Other than a slight accent and the local landscaping, the food and the accommodations feel so familiar that they might as well have stayed at home.
To satisfy this niche in the travel industry, two completely new boutique hotels are opening their doors in Mexico this coming year to offer their guests something a little different. Here’s a closer look at each one:
Habita’s Eco Hotel Endémico Resguardo Silvestre
Although its urban hotels are nothing short of striking, the Habita Hotel Group has taken a different approach with their newest property. The Eco Hotel Endémico Resguardo Silvestre features 20 stark, modern units situated on a rocky hillside within a 40-acre winery in Baja California.
Each unit, or room, has its own terrace and clay chimenea to warm up a chilly evening. However, this rustic, eco-friendly retreat isn’t without its luxuries. Leave your sleek, minimalistic accommodations by the primitive pathway to tour the grounds. Along the way, you’ll encounter a luxurious pool dramatically cut into the hillside and a gourmet restaurant ran by the Culinary Arts School of Tijuana.
If you’re looking for something different on your annual getaway, you can definitely find it a little more than an hour south of the border! This trip might not be for everyone, but it’s definitely different from home.
Hotel Downtown in Mexico City
Another Grupo Habita property scheduled to open in March 2012, this new hotel will be located in front of the Casino Español in charming Isabel la Católica. In an exceptional repurposing effort, this boutique hotel is a renovated palace originally built in the 17th century. Hotel Downtown will offer 17 boutique rooms and 17 hostel rooms to meet a variety of needs and budgets. Expected to be a favorite for visitors to Mexico City, make your arrangements early to guarantee a room in this historic palace.
Whether you prefer to kick back in the standard luxury of a big-name resort or soak up the local culture in a secluded, private villa or a traditional Mexican hotel, Journey Mexico can make it happen! We can tailor your accommodations and itinerary to meet your individual needs and interests if one of our established tours doesn’t appeal to your sense of adventure. Give us a call today!
Let us help you plan an exotic Mexico vacation today!
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Toll Free (from the U.S.): 1-800-513-1587
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#MexicoToday: Under the hustle and bustle of modern Mexico City lie the ruins of the pre-Hispanic Aztec capital, once known as Tenochtitlán. The center of this ancient capital was the Templo Mayor, which archeologists discovered in the mid 1900s and excavated in the seventies under the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. Still a site for active digs, archeologists have recently discovered an Aztec ceremonial platform while doing remodeling work around the Templo Mayor in the centro historico, one of downtown Mexico City’s main attractions.
This newly discovered ceremonial platform is speculated to have been built around AD 1469 and is decorated with carvings of serpent heads, important in determining what the platform was used for. A critical piece in a challenging puzzle for historians, this platform could represent a cremation site for Aztec rulers. To date, archeologists have never found any royal Aztec tombs in their excavations of the ancient capital. Researchers have been on a five-year quest to unearth remains of Aztec emperors around the Templo Mayor basing their digs on old historical accounts of cremation ceremonies written by Roman Catholic priests who accompanied the Spanish conquest in 1521. The records suggest that the Aztec rulers were cremated at the foot of the Templo Mayor and this platform may be part of the same structure. Archeologists around the world agree that the discovery of a royal tomb would be a major break through in understanding Aztec kingship, burial and the structure of the empire.
The blend of pre-Hispanic and modern cultures in Mexico City and the continual discovery of ancient history in this metropolitan capital make the city a unique destination for the savvy traveler. While this new platform will continue to be excavated until possibly May 2012, the Templo Mayor and it’s adjacent museum in the Historic Center of Mexico City (included in UNESCO’s World Heritage list), remain open to the public. If you are interested in visiting Mexico City or other archaeological sites, contact Journey Mexico.
#MexicoToday: In the beginning of the year, we reported the Government investment of 330 million pesos in the the Barrios Magicos (Magical Neighborhoods) program in Mexico City. An initiative led by the Secretary of Tourism of the Federal District, the Barriós Magico Turisticos de la Ciudad de Mexico program proposed to showcase the most culturally rich spaces of Mexico City area to increase tourism.
After months of revision of many neighborhoods, a total of 21 have met the standards and requirements to be certified as a Magical Neighborhood. The requirements were modeled after the national ‘Magic Towns’ program, having to meet the criteria of either holding some wealth of historic, architectural, cultural, gastronomic, or folkloric image to spark interest in visitors. It also mandated that access roads to these neighborhoods must adhere to standards of security and cleanliness, while also controlling any unappealing activity so the area remains attractive. The designated budget for these 21 neighborhoods would help provide in maintaining the standards
The 21 Magical Neighborhoods that made the list are: Coyoacán, Roma-Condesa, Xochimilco, San Ángel, San Agustín de las Cuevas, Santa María La Ribera, Zona Rosa, Garibaldi, Villa de Guadalupe, Mixcoac, Tacubaya, Santa María Magdalena Atlitic, Azcapotzalco, La Merced, Mixquic, Cuajimalpa, San Pedro Atocpan, Culhuacán, Tacuba, Santa Julia and Pueblo de Ixtacalco.
Though the 21 neighborhoods blend to make up the entire urban area, they each conserve a distinguishable identity and environment, creating small pockets of culture and tradition sprinkled throughout Mexico City. Particular points of history, quaint restaurants, hidden museums, flourishing plazas, and beautiful chapels add particular charm to these neighborhoods, connecting normal daily lifestyle with remembrances of the past. Some of the attractions in these neighborhoods have already been internationally recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites, such as the Luis Barragán House and Studio in Tacubaya and also the zone of Xochimilco that have canals that are a reminder of the pre-Hispanic Aztecs. Other sites of interest that are already well-known include the house of renowned artists, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, in Coyoacán and also one of the most visited churches in the world, La Basílica de Guadalupe in the neighborhood of Villa de Guadalupe. But as the program points out, the neighborhoods don’t necessarily have to have a specific point of interest to qualify as a Barrio Magico; it could simply be the ambiance and character of an area that earns it Magic Neighborhood status, as is the case in Roma-Condesa, one of the trendiest and most artsy neighborhoods in Mexico.
As interest in travel to Mexico continues to rise, Mexico hopes to designate more Magical Neighborhoods over the next three years. Government and residents plan to continue to work together to conserve these areas and offer better options of culture, recreation, hospitality, and gastronomy to their visitors.
#MexicoToday: It seems that the ancient people of Chalcatzingo, located about 60 miles south of Mexico City, fostered some serious artists. Since the 1930′s, more than 40 large stone carvings have been found in the area in which they lived. Just recently, a new five foot by three-and-a-half foot carving has been discovered, which has been deemed “spectacular” by archeologists familiar with these types of works. The carving depicts three felines, thought to be either jaguars or mountain lions, who are reported to have supernatural traits such as “flamed eyebrows,” associated with the ancient Olmec customs.
The Chalcatzingo, who flourished around 1500 to 400 B.C., were not technically Olmecs themselves, but it is believed that the Chalcatzingo traded heavily with the Olmecs and adopted many of their customs and beliefs. While several of the carvings found in the Chalcatzingo region do contain Olmec symbols, however, the Chalcatzingo carvings differ in that they were usually carved as raised figures on a flat background (as shown in the image above). The Olmec works, in contrast, were usually carved as three-dimensional sculptures.
Interestingly enough, this new-found carving, deemed the “Triad of Felines” by its finders, is believed to be just a piece in a much larger display. Scientists are theorizing that the Triad of Felines was a part of a massive frieze built into the Chalcatzingo hill, which overlooks the region. The frieze is thought to have served as sort of a “spiritual billboard” along a pilgrimage route up the countryside.
Month after month, the ancient cultures of Mexico continue to offer fresh insight into their cultures through artifacts like this Triad of Felines. Archeological travel enthusiasts have been rejoicing as this discovery comes just months after two sculptures of Mayan Warriors were discovered at Toniná and new photographs were taken inside an ancient tomb at Palenque, continually exemplifying the profound travel experiences available in Mexico today.
You can read more about the Triad of Felines at National Geographic
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