Mexico: Our route and favourite bits

Okay here we go! Let’s kick off with an overview of where we went, and what our favourite bits are.

The two pictures below sum up our route.

We kicked things off in Mexico City for six days, before moving on to the city of Puebla for another four (extending by one day due to illness).

We then headed east into hilly Veracruz, enjoying the coffee in Coatepec and adventuring in Jalcomulco, before our first overnight bus journey to Oaxaca (via Veracruz).

After Oaxaca we cycled to Puerto Escondido – I didn’t manage to put the exact route onto Google Maps, but I described it in my blog post. We extended our time on the beautiful Pacific coast, staying five days in hippy Mazunte (I was ill, again!).

From Mazunte, another overnight bus from Pochutla took us through to the beautiful, relaxed mountain town of San Cristobal, home of street art and Zapatistas.

We spent a while in San Cristobal, where I was ill one final time, and where we spent a while trying to organise a trip into the Chiapas rainforest. Our four day tour took us into the Lacandon jungle and allowed us to visit the rainforest ruins of Yaxchilan, before ending in Palenque.

From there, our final overnight bus took us north into Yucatan’s capital, Merida, where we were hosted by a quirky yet wonderful grumpy Swiss chef.

From Merida we drove over to Valladolid, from where we visited the enormous ruins at Chichen Itza. Finally, we made our way to Isla Mujeres for some sun, beach and relaxation before heading home.

Highlights

There were so many beautiful, fun and exciting things we were lucky enough to do!

Having now been back for a few days, and asked the inevitable “how was it?” question too many times, I think we’ve settled on a few firm favourites.

One highlight was getting to surf in Puerto Escondido, as well as our morning birdwatching in the lagoon, and then spending days doing loads of yoga and watching amazing sunsets in Mazunte. So, the Pacific coast gets a special mention, for sure.

Oaxaca city had a wonderful mix of a lovely vibe, lots of cool culture (nature, street art, ruins and more), great food and drink, and just a very pleasant place to spend some time. (I also loved our mountain biking afterward Oaxaca, but Charlotte was less amused by the jaunt, and I keep forgetting about my hundreds of mosquito bites…)

Finally, the second day of our jungle tour was simply unforgettable, kayaking along the Lacantún river, where we were the only people in sight, and seeing a Puma barely ten metres away. Beautiful.