Mexico’s World Heritage Highlights Travel Tips - Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

Mexico’s charms are nowhere more evident than among its World Heritage sites, designated by UNESCO as those places of significant cultural and natural heritage—sure to lure and enhance any Mexico trip.

Should your travel sights be set on the Baja Peninsula, Sierra de San Francisco in the El Vizcaíno reserve is home to a spectacular assemblage of rock art paintings. Some dating back 5,000 years, the depictions of animal and human figures embellish hundreds of locations.

Heading to Puerto Vallarta? A side trip to Guadalajara offers the imposing Hospicio Cabañas. Built in the early 1800s as an orphanage, the cabañas are now a wonderful music and art center adorned with the murals of Mexican master Orozco.

Built atop the site of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, populous Mexico City claims temple ruins, the continent’s largest cathedral and superb 19th and 20th-century architecture. South of the capital, Xochimilco is known for its 16th-century structures and chinimpas, or floating gardens.

Near the city of Oaxaca, Monte Albán is a complex of stone pyramids, platforms and mounds. Take care climbing the structures’ steep steps! The Historic Center of Oaxaca boasts five-hundred-year-old edifices that include the baroque-style Cathedral of Oaxaca. A day trip here is a “must” for guests on holiday in coastal Huatulco.

On the slopes of Popocatepetl, the famous snow-capped volcano, the country’s earliest monasteries stand. All fourteen structures, built along the Convents Route and once occupied by Franciscan, Dominican and Augustinian missionaries, are excellently preserved.

Complement your Cancun nights with a tour of pre-hispanic Chichén-Itzá in the Yucatán. The stone carvings that decorate the Temple of the Jaguars, the Platform of Venus and more are fascinating examples of Mayan-Toltec artistry. South of Cancun, Sian Ka'an is a splendid bio-reserve of tropical rainforests, wetlands and the world’s second largest barrier reef.

In historic Puebla, southeast of Mexico City, see dozens of 16th and 17th-century churches and the eccentric Alfeñique House, whose plaster work resembles meringue candy—then shop for armloads of brightly colored Talavera tile and dishware.