New Tours Offer a Zesty Taste of The Real Estate Mexico

New tours offer a zesty taste of the real Mexico

Story and photos by Bob Schulman

You'll still see ads showing picture-postcard views of Mexico's famous beach resorts, but don't be surprised if the powdery sands share the page with pyramids and colonial churches. It's all part of a campaign recently introduced by Mexico's new tourism minister to boost travel to the country's historic and cultural sites.
Using the slogan, “Mexico: The place you thought you knew,” the campaign spotlights 10 new tour routes – mostly winding through inland cities – designed to give vacationers a taste of the country beyond sand, surf and sun. In unveiling the promotion at the annual Tianguis trade show, tourism chief Gloria Guevara noted Mexico has more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in Latin America.
One route, billed as “The birthplace of history and romanticism,” starts in Mexico City and heads north through places prominent in the country's fight for independence. Along the way you'll stop at cities such as Queretaro (where the Emperor Maximilian faced a firing squad atop the “Hill of the Bells”), San Miguel de Allende (the first city to be liberated from Spanish rule, now famous as an art colony), Guanajuato (a rich mining town and the scene of the first big battle for independence in 1810) and Guadalajara (another hotbed of independence, today better known for its cultural, art and shopping attractions).
Attention gastronomical adventurers: Are you ready for “The 1,000 flavors of mole?” Highlights of the tour include a stop at Puebla, the home of mole (moh-lay), Mexico's national dish. Here, you'll sample red, green, black, yellow and other variations of the sizzling sauce. The tour then goes south to the gorgeous colonial city of Oaxaca (try huevos oaxaquenos, eggs poached in a chile-tomato soup) and then on to the government-backed beach resort at Huatulco and the nearby eco-chic town of Mazunte.
Still another route offers a 10-day sampling of the Maya culture, starting at the so-called “white city” of Merida on the Yucatan Peninsula. Besides stops at archaeological sites such as Chichen Itza and Tulum, the tour allows time to play at the resort areas of Cancun, the Riviera Maya and the island of Cozumel before a flight down to the country's southernmost state of Chiapas. Among showstoppers there is a river cruise through a Grand Canyon-like gorge, a visit to the shopping mecca of San Cristobal de las Casas and pyramid-climbing at the ruins of Palenque.

The other seven routes typically feature inland cities elsewhere in the country. Among their themes are “Wine country and the aquarium of the world,” “The art of tequila and music under the sun” and “The magic of traditions and nature.”
Collectively, the routes wind through some 90 cities around Mexico including a number of smaller towns designated as “magic cities” in addition to the UNESCO sites.
More info: See the Mexico Tourism Board's site at www.visitmexico.com.

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