Destination: Mexico

LONELY PLANET'S OFFICIAL ITINERARY INFORMATION

Itinerary: Cultured

Food for the mind? You can’t go far in Mexico without bumping into a top-class museum, vibrant arts festival or a city full of World Heritage colonial architecture. Mexico City boasts not only one of the country’s finest colonial centers but also ground-breaking modern architecture, top museums such as the Museo Nacional de Antropología and a vibrant modern-art heritage from the work of Frida Kahlo and the great muralists onwards.

North of the capital, Guanajuato is another World Heritage city, chock full of history and beautiful buildings, and home to Mexico’s biggest arts festival, the Festival Internacional Cervantino, every October. Nearby San Miguel de Allende is another vibrant artistic center. Aguascalientes’ Feria de San Marcos (April to May) is Mexico’s biggest regional fair, with many cultural events.

Still further north, World-Heritage Zacatecas boasts perhaps the country’s most spectacular cathedral and several excellent art museums. Monterrey has some of Mexico’s most daring modern architecture and a slew of top-notch museums ranging from contemporary art to science to Mexican history.

West of the center, Mexico’s second city, Guadalajara, has a buzzing cultural and entertainment scene and is earning a name as the country’s contemporary style capital.

Down south, beautiful Oaxaca, another World Heritage city, has a thriving art and culture scene and several more classy museums. And over on the Yucatán Peninsula, the historic fortified center of Campeche is a World Heritage architectural site, but Mérida is the peninsula’s most beautiful and cultured city.

Travelling to Mexico?
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