| | |  Travel & Outdoors | January 2009 
Mexico Travel: Client-Matching
 Dave Richardson - TTGLive.com
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From wild party resorts and luxury hotels to relaxing eco-parks and ancient civilisations, Mexico can cater for all of your clients’ needs.
Families
Lack of direct flights to resorts is a limiting factor, but there are still plenty of charters to Cancun for easy access to the self-contained resorts along the Mayan Riviera.
Most of them are all-inclusive to help budgeting, and family-oriented theme parks make a break from the beach. Xcaret is an eco-park where you can swim, snorkel and listen to live performances, while Xel-Ha (pictured) is another eco-park on a site held sacred by the Mayans.
Older children may enjoy the Mayan ruins, the most accessible being Tulum, the only Mayan site on the coast.
There’s plenty to discover along the Pacific coast too, but there are no direct charters since First Choice pulled out of Puerto Vallarta.
Sample price: First Choice offers seven nights at the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo on the Mayan Riviera from £1,079 per adult, £709 for the first child and £835 for the second child (all-inclusive), departing from Gatwick on August 27.
www.firstchoice.co.uk/mexico
Culture
Mexico was home to some of the most advanced ancient civilisations in the Americas, but they were quickly eclipsed by the Spanish invaders who arrived early in the 16th century.
Many visitors come to marvel at their ruined cities and learn about their often bloodthirsty rituals.
The Aztecs flourished around what is now Mexico City, and the capital’s archaeological museum is worth a visit with finds from all over the country. One of the most impressive sites is Monte Alban, near the southern city of Oaxaca, where the Zapotec tribe built temples, pyramids and ball courts dating from 500 BC.
The Mayan cities are in south-east Mexico, the best-known being Chichen Itza and Uxmal. Many visitors follow the Mayan Trail which leads through Guatemala and Honduras. Cancun is a convenient gateway for the main Mayan sites, with tour-and-stay holidays selling strongly.
Sample price: Bales’ Treasures of Mexico tour operates from Mexico City to Cancun via Oaxaca, costing from £1,995 for 15 days.
www.balesworldwide.com
Luxury
Mexico has had five-star resorts for many years, but more recently there has been an upsurge in small luxury properties in resorts and cities all over the country.
The colonial-style haciendas of Yucatan (convenient for visiting the Mayan sites) are well known, and the Mayan Riviera near Cancun has many top grade properties.
The four-bedroom Villa Cortez has just opened at Los Cabos, Baja California, offering a 24-hour butler service, a 12-seat cinema, private spa and infinity pool. Orient-Express Hotels’ Casa de Sierra Nevada in San Miguel de Allende has opened six suites with private patio plunge pools.
The group also operates Maroma Resort. Banyan Tree Mayakoba will open by April as the only all-pool villa resort on the Riviera. Sample price: Exsus can tailor-make a 10- night trip including several haciendas on the Yucutan Peninsula plus three nights on the beach from £2,925 per person, including all flights and transfers.
www.exsus.com
Party
Cancun and Acapulco are great party resorts, with the UK market generally choosing Cancun because of direct flights.
The resorts are particularly busy with partygoers during the US Spring Break, when thousands of American college students fly down in March and April. Cancun’s hotel zone has hundreds of bars and clubs, with Senor Frog’s, Fat Tuesdays and Xtreme among the best known.
Booze cruises head off to Isla Mujeres (Island of Women), and there are plenty of gay clubs including Bar Picante and Risky Times. Sample price: Cosmos offers seven nights all-inclusive at the Riu Caribe, Cancun from £1,019 with flights from Gatwick and Manchester.
www.cosmos.co.uk
Budget
Return fares to Mexico remain fairly high with few deals below £500, but the launch of Mexicana direct flights from Gatwick to Mexico City from Sunday (January 18) is a welcome increase in capacity.
Once you’re there it can be cheap to fly around as several low-cost airlines have been established. Aviacsa, for example, flies from Mexico City to Acapulco for $47.
Budget accommodation ranges from sleazy hang-outs to US-style motels, and there is a major network of long-distance coaches with highways between main centres. Overland adventure operators offer a mix of sightseeing and beaches, with the chance to discover the “real Mexico” of villages and markets.
Sample price: Tucan Travel’s Markets & Mayans tour operates from Cancun via Merida, Palenque and San Cristobal, ending in Guatemala. It costs £350 for 13 days plus local payment of $250.
www.tucantravel.com
Couples
Mexico ticks the boxes for a romantic break with world class resorts, boutique hotels, exotic culture and soft adventure options. Reaching the Pacific coast now requires a change of flight in Mexico City, but you can make the most of it with a stopover.
The city’s huge sprawl and traffic problems disguise chic districts such as the Pink Zone and Chapultepec, while at Xochemilco you can hire a boat to be serenaded by mariachi bands.
On the Pacific coast, glitzy Acapulco has some beautiful resorts, such as hilltop Las Brisas. Puerto Vallarta’s old town was the setting for a real life love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, during the filming of Night of the Iguana.
Sample price: Travel 2’s Essential Mexico City tour costs from £114 for three nights, including breakfast, transfers and two halfday tours. Las Brisas costs from £56 a night.
www.travel2.com
Adventure
Eco-tourism is developing in many areas offering the chance to visit nature reserves, and many lesser-known archaeological sites are deep in the jungle and partly excavated.
The north is little visited by Brits, but one of the best experiences is the Copper Canyon rail journey followed by whale watching off the coast of Baja California.
The Copper Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon in the US, and the train runs along the top. Local indigenous people still live in caves near towns such as Creel, coming up from the floor of the canyon each day to sell their handicrafts at markets.
The train runs from Chihuahua to Los Mochis and takes 15 hours. Most tourists spend at least one night at hotels en route, usually at Creel and Divisadero. A ferry operates from Los Mochis to La Paz in Baja California, known for its beach resorts, golf and eco tourism.
Sample price: Explore operates a tour called Copper Canyon and Tequila Express, from £2,595 for 13 days or from £3,195 for 16 days with Baja California included. |
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