Food
The places where eating is the itinerary. Market comals, street stands, and the regional dishes you should not leave without trying — priced in pesos, dated.
Colonial Highlands
Aguascalientes
Calm rail-town capital built around one giant April fair
Skip unless…CityGuanajuato City
Silver-mine city of tunnels, alleys and estudiantina nights
Must-seeCityMorelia
Grand pink-stone capital with serious michoacano food
Worth itPuebloPatzcuaro
Purepecha lake town and the home of Day of the Dead
Worth itCityQueretaro
Safe, walkable capital at the edge of Mexico's wine country
Worth itCitySan Luis Potosi
Low-key mining capital, good food, few crowds
If nearbyCitySan Miguel de Allende
UNESCO colonial looks, a big expat scene and dollar prices
Worth itPuebloTequisquiapan
Cobblestone wine-and-cheese town for a Queretaro weekend
If nearbyCityZacatecas
Dramatic silver downtown high in the northern sierra
Worth itCentral Mexico
Atlixco
Flower nurseries, volcano views, and a big Christmas glow
If nearbyPuebloCholula
A church on the world's largest pyramid, and beer after
Worth itCityCuernavaca
The faded 'city of eternal spring' south of the smog
Skip unless…CityMexico City
Where nearly every central-Mexico trip begins and half of them end
Must-seeCityPuebla
UNESCO streets and the region's most serious kitchen
Must-seePuebloReal del Monte
Cornish miners left the pasties; the fog stayed
Worth itPacific Coast
Barra de Navidad
Sandy-street lagoon town on the Costalegre, big on seafood and slow days
Worth itPuebloComala
The whitewashed 'white village' of free botanas, coffee and volcano views
Worth itCityGuadalajara
Mariachi, tortas ahogadas and Mexico's second city without the polish
Worth itBeachManzanillo
Mexico's busiest cargo port that moonlights as a sportfishing and beach town
If nearbyCityPuerto Vallarta
Old-town charm, a lively malecon and the gateway to Banderas Bay
Worth itBeachSayulita
Nayarit's beginner-surf party town -- charming and crowded in equal measure
Worth itPuebloTequila
The town behind the bottle -- agave fields, distillery tours and day-tripper crowds
Worth itBeachZihuatanejo
A working fishing town that kept its soul next door to the resort zone
Worth itYucatán Peninsula
Northern Mexico
Chihuahua
Pancho Villa's capital and the eastern end of the El Chepe line
If nearbyCityDurango
Walkable colonial center and the backlot of Mexico's Western films
Worth itBeachMazatlán
A revived colonial Centro grafted onto a working Pacific beach city
Worth itCityMonterrey
Glass towers wedged between jagged sierra, built on cabrito and hustle
Worth itGulf Coast
Coatepec
The coffee town everyone means when they say Veracruz coffee.
Worth itRuinsComalcalco
Maya ruins built from brick, surrounded by cacao farms.
If nearbyCityVeracruz
A working port that eats and dances better than it swims.
Worth itCityXalapa
Coffee, cloud forest, and Mexico's second-best archaeology museum.
Worth itSouthern Mexico
Comitán de Domínguez
Unhurried highland town and the base for Montebello and El Chiflón
If nearbyCityOaxaca City
Colonial capital where the food alone justifies the flight
Must-seeBeachPuerto Escondido
Real surf town with a working port — not a resort in disguise
Must-seeCitySan Cristóbal de las Casas
Highland colonial hub, Chiapas' cultural anchor and best base
Must-seeCityTuxtla Gutiérrez
Chiapas' hot lowland capital — mostly an arrival gateway
Skip unless…Baja
Ensenada
Cruise-port fish-taco capital and the gateway to the wine valley
Worth itCityLa Paz
An unhurried state capital that's the launch pad for the Sea of Cortez
Must-seePuebloLoreto
The peninsula's oldest mission town on a protected marine park
Worth itPuebloTodos Santos
A desert-meets-Pacific arts town gone semi-gentrified but still worth it
Worth itNatureValle de Guadalupe
Mexico's main wine region: real bottles, design-forward tables, dusty roads
Must-see