Puebla is the fourth largest city in Mexico. — Pixabay
Ten million visitors came through Cancun in 2023, representing one in four tourists to Mexico that year. For a large country (the 14th largest in the world), rich with culture, art and nature, the figure is a perfect encapsulation of the problem with overtourism – people descending on one or two main points while dozens of splendid places remain largely under the radar.
As Mexico prepares for its high season – which spans from the winter holidays through spring next year – it’s doing what it can to disperse crowds beyond Cancun. An airport opened earlier this year in Tulum, with some flights from the United States now landing daily. Another airport, in Merida, is in the final phases of a large-scale expansion set to double its domestic and international arrivals. And the long-anticipated (but highly contested) Maya Train, which inaugurated service in December and will connect destinations around five of the country’s eastern states, has just added stations in Chetumal and Bacalar to its growing route network.
But that still leaves plenty of lesser-known destinations for those who want a crowd-free experience. Here are four spots in Mexico that still feel like a secret worth keeping – even if they’re easier to access than ever before.
Bacalar is officially one of Mexico's 'Magic Towns'. — Photos: Pexels
The seaside secret
After a decade of government spending restored and repainted many of its colonial downtown facades and imposing fortified walls, Campeche is ready for its close-up. Making access easier is the new, US$28.5bil (RM125.24bil) Maya Train, which stops right in the centre of town, depositing travellers who’ve made the 482km, six-hour trip from Cancun to Campeche.
As it stands, most of the seaside capital’s tourists are “experienced travellers from Europe”, says Sebastien Larmier, who owns and runs Narrativ, a collection of high-end rentals in town. “But more people are coming in from the US and Canada. It’s a new phenomenon.”
He concedes that the train has come with a fair share of controversies and environmental concerns. (Among other things, its construction has razed large swaths of rainforest and endangered local populations of jaguars, pumas, ocelots and armadillos.)
But as a French native, Larmier says he’s seen first-hand how a train connection between two cities can transform the local economy. “It will be life-changing for the small cities around the Yucatan Peninsula,” he predicts.
Make one of Narrativ’s luxury houses your home base for explorations around the city, including its 6.5km Malecon (boardwalk) path, which hugs the coast and offers the best sunset views in town. Or try Hacienda Puerta Campeche, a grande dame hotel recently taken over by Six Senses Resorts & Spas.
The town itself is the main attraction, with excellent restaurants including La Maria Cocina Peninsular or La Casa de los Murmullos; the latter serves seven-course French-Mayan fusion dinners.
You can also use Campeche as a launch pad for day trips to lesser-visited Mayan ruins such as Edzna, which contains 26sq m of well-preserved pyramids and palaces, or boat trips through the nearby tarpon-filled mangroves of Los Petenes.
In the Campeche city centre, tourists can check out the colonial-style buildings and fortified walls. — Pixabay
A Tulum alternative
Tiny Bacalar has been a rising star since the Mexican government listed it as one of Mexico’s Pueblos Magicos, or Magic Towns, in 2006 – a designation that recognises spectacular features such as its namesake, Lagoon Of Seven Colours. In 2021 it received its first luxury eco-resort, an adults-only outpost of Habitas that surveys the brilliantly hued Lake Bacalar from its A-frame tented cabins.
But it’s now, in 2024, that the town is becoming easier to visit, thanks to the new airport in Tulum that halves the nearly five-hour drive south from Cancun.
Get to Bacalar’s cenotes and jungles before the town becomes as popular as its northern neighbours. The local swimming holes are some of the biggest in Mexico; they’re more like small lakes than the caves you’ll find further up the riviera, with Cenote de la Bruja – the Witch’s Cenote – being a favourite for its deep midnight-blue waters.
Habitas is a destination unto itself, too. There are special dinners honouring the full moon, a DJ on weekends, temazcal (sweat lodge) ceremonies and cacao rituals that involve hot chocolate and meditation (a hard combo to argue with!) in a nod to the area’s Mayan roots.
Don’t miss dinner at Siete, the resort’s two-storey restaurant built among the treetops of the jungle. Executive chef Jonathan Navarrete – who trained at NOMA Tulum and Barcelona’s Estimar – uses local ingredients to create delicacies such as slow-cooked pork with pineapple puree.
La Paz is a coastal city but one of the best attractions here is its caves and volcanic rock formation.
Another side of Baja
The party capital of Baja California Sur has always been Los Cabos, hands down – but the actual capital, La Paz, flies under the radar. For years it’s been seen as up-and-coming, yet it’s never fully arrived in terms of tourism. Perhaps that’s by design.
While Los Cabos, on the very tip of Baja California, teems with giant resorts and cruise ships, La Paz opted not to expand its port, preventing cruise ships from docking there. But new restaurants and bars are opening: Pujol’s former chef de cuisine Alejandro Villagomez is cooking at his first solo spot, Nemi, where he’s using local produce and seafood to make beautifully composed plates. Sunrise/Sunset is a new juice bar that focuses on natural wines once the afternoon and evening roll around. And Toto Frito (the name means “everything’s fried”) has developed quite the following for its sustainably sourced oyster po’boys and fish tacos – all served in a no-plastic-allowed dining room.
The Sea Of Cortez is a marine zone that’s accessible from La Paz. — Photos: Pexels
There is also now a great place to stay, courtesy of Mexico City-based Grupo Habita, which in 2021 opened the five-storey Baja Club Hotel. Its 32 earthy rooms have access to a Miami-chic pool and rooftop bar with Sea Of Cortez views.
About the Sea Of Cortez: This pristine marine zone is ripe with adventures, be it swimming with seals, fishing for tuna or snorkelling through volcanic rock formations. And, as opposed to the rocky beaches of Cabo, some of the coves here are open for swimming, such as Playa Pichilingue and El Coromuel, which has thatched palapa umbrellas and clear, calm waters where you can spot colourful little fish right around your ankles.
The San Miguel swap
If ultramodern Mexico City is the obvious choice for an urbanite, San Miguel de Allende is its artsy, historic pairing: A colonial city just south of the capital, with character and crowds to spare. For similar charms with less notoriety, try Puebla. It’s actually closer to the capital – 131km on smooth highways. It’s also bigger (it’s the fourth-largest city in Mexico), yet it still feels less crowded with tourists and absolutely bursting with art.
Glazed Talavera tiles grace most of the buildings, including the palatial Banyan Tree hotel in the centre of town, and you can buy tableware made from the same brightly coloured red clay all over the city.
There are fresh reasons to go, including a burgeoning wine scene that benefits from wide swaths of fertile ground around the Popocatepetl volcano, some 100km west of the city limits. While many vineyards are still too new to visit, there are exceptions such as Entreerres, where you can pair pinot noir and grenache with generous cheese and charcuterie platters on a pretty terrace facing the active, smoky peak.
Chiles en nogada is one of Puebla’s most famous dishes.
That same soil is what lends poblano chiles – traditionally from Puebla – the peppery flavour that characterises the most famous local dish, chiles en nogada, says Zach Rabinor, founder of the luxury travel outfit Journey Mexico. “There is excitement and hope that the same unique soil that makes Puebla’s chiles so special will also contribute to unique and excellent wine,” he says.
Ironically, one of the city’s oldest features – a series of 500-year-old secret tunnels – is also among its newest attractions, having only been discovered in 2016. Guests of the Banyan Tree Puebla hotel have prime access, as one tunnel leads straight to its garden. – GINA HAMADEY/Bloomberg
