Let’s start with the Riviera Maya. It’s the Caribbean, so the beaches and water and beautiful. The main centers are Cancun, Puerto Morelos, Playa del Carmen, and Puerto Aventuras. The range of trips and charters is mind-boggling and it’s all state-of-the art boats and equipment. Of course, every season is different, but year round you’ll catch white marlin, blue marlin, black fin tuna, amber jack, dolphin dorado, wahoo, barracuda, snapper, grouper, and sailfish. March through August, when the seas are calm, is the best time for marlin, sailfish, dolphin, and tuna. January through March can get windy and it’s generally better for marlin, wahoo, black-fin tuna, mahi-mahi, and sailfish. If you don’t catch anything you don’t pay anything, which I guess means that nobody ever catches nothing.

On the Pacific the action runs all the way down the huge coastline, from Los Cabos to the border with Guatemala. But for our purposes, the main centers are Los Cabos, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo, and Huatulco. As you probably know, Los Cabos is a prime location, but from Mazatlan you’re fishing similar seas for a lower price since it’s not a huge tourist destination. Either way you’re going to have a good shot at sailfish, blue, black or striped marlin, swordfish, dorado, rooster fish, wahoo, yellow-fin tuna, stripe, and shark.  Manzanillo is famed for its sailfish, but there are also plenty of dorado, marlin, and giant tuna out there. Puerto Vallarta specializes in sailfish, dorado, marlin, tuna, roosterfish and red snapper, while Ixtapa, of Ernest Hemingway fishing fame, has some fighting sailfish, black and blue marlin, yellow-knife tuna, roosterfish, grouper, and ,well just about everything. Huatulco is a smaller resort but offers some excellent yellow-fin tuna and big dorado fishing from late November through March. From March to May there’s nothing much happening, but July and August are good for sailfish and blue marlin. Wherever you go on the Riviera Maya or Pacific the fishing is great, you’re dealing with professionals who know what they’re doing, you can take your fish for dinner, and (though they may say they’re the only ones) everyone will do catch and release. Take a hat.

If you’re in an intrepid mood you might want to try getting around on the metro. You may be surprised to learn that the Mexico City metro has an excellent international reputation, while locals acclaim it as ‘the three B transport’, meaning ‘bueno, bonito y barato’ (good, nice, and cheap). With just three pesos you can travel around the whole city, which is amazing if you think about the size of the place. You can get the metro from the Zócalo to Bellas Artes (Fine Arts), where you will find the Palace of Fine Arts and see some wonderful exhibitions, including the permanent ones by the three great Mexican muralists Orozco, Siqueiros, and Rivera. Entrance fees are very reasonable and you can also enjoy opera and fine classical concerts by the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. On Sundays entrance is free and you can attend piano concerts. In fact all of the city’s museums are free on Sundays, and some of them on Tuesdays too. Close to the Palace of Fine Arts you will find another of the city’s most famous buildings ‘Casa de los Azulejos’ (House of Tiles), which belongs to one of the country’s top restaurant chains, ‘Sanborns’, where you can savor typical Mexican dishes. If you are looking for something more refreshing in a historical setting, try ‘La Opera’, a bar famous for hosting a meeting between Zapata and Villa during the Mexican Revolution.

If you still have time and energy, visit the National Museum of Anthropology, and after that cross the street and take a stroll in the enormous Chapultepec Park. In the evening hop across to Garibaldi Square where you will find not only restaurants and bars but also a wide variety of traditional music played by local musicians. The best areas for dining out are the Condesa, the Roma, and the Roma Sur, and are all to be found in the southern part of downtown; they are safe, fashionable, and boast a wide range of excellent restaurants. For the following day an excellent choice for a tour are the Pyramids of Teotihuacan, a huge archaeological site with the impressive remains of a city built around two thousand years ago. It’s really worth giving yourself time to stroll around the majestic ruins, to climb the pyramids, and soak up the amazing atmosphere. To finish off, why not take a tour to Xochimilco and its floating gardens? It was once the huge water and irrigation system of the Aztec empire. Today you can still take a boat ride and enjoy the flowers and the wonderful traditional food and music that you’ll find on the way. You can do all of this on your own, but maybe the best way to go is with a tour where a guide will give you some real historical background on what you are seeing, and also you won’t lose any time trying to find your destination. There is so much to see in Mexico City that maybe you should stop off for a week rather than a weekend!

Deciding whether to rent a car or not when you are traveling or on vacation can sometimes be a difficult decision. The first thing to do is to think about where you are going to be visiting and to do a bit of research on public transport options. In Mexico there are many occasions when renting a car is simply the best way to get around and will enhance your traveling experience, and there are other contexts when it is not really a good idea and can cause you unnecessary costs and headaches. For example, if you are visiting Mexico City or one of the colonial towns it may not be the best option. Traffic can be heavy and chaotic, parking can be a problem, the driving can be stressful, and it won’t necessarily get you to where you want to go any sooner. Taxis in Mexico are generally relatively inexpensive, buses are frequent and cover a lot of destinations (though your level of Spanish is important if you want to use local buses), and the metro in Mexico City is efficient and cheap.On the other hand, if you are visiting a region and want to get around quickly and easily, or if you are using a city as a base for day trips out to smaller communities or the countryside, then renting a car is the way to go. Apart from the sheer efficiency of it, the tremendous flexibility that car travel affords outside of urban centers almost always makes it worthwhile and worth the cost.

The cost of renting a car in Mexico has come down in recent years and is now about the same as in the US, with one potentially important difference – insurance. When you rent a car you will probably be covered for third-party injury or damage, but since it is wise to be fully covered you may need to buy top-up insurance, which can work out quite expensive. However, your credit card may provide this extra insurance when you use it to rent a car; you should check on this with your card issuer so that you know exactly what your situation is and don’t get any nasty surprises.  However, if your card covers insurance when renting a car in the US it probably does for renting a car in Mexico too. What do you need to rent a car? The most obvious requirement is the same as you need for just driving a car – a valid driver’s license. Secondly, you will need a credit card. Thirdly, you will almost always need to be at least twenty-five years of age, and occasionally you will be required to have held your driver’s license for a minimum period of somewhere between two and five years. Make sure you check the rental terms; this may not always be easy given the small print and the language, but you need to know your liability in the case of serious injury or total loss of vehicle. If you know your credit card insurance or your car insurance from home covers everything then you have no need to worry, but if you are not sure you may want to consider taking out some of the top-up insurance which the car rental company will undoubtedly offer.

Other optional extras may include satellite navigation, cellular phone, DVD player, child seats, roof racks, and additional driver. Some of these things are sometimes included in the rental price, but check before you rent so that you know exactly what you are getting and for how much. Also make sure that the sales tax is already included in the price you are given, because if not it can make quite a difference. If you are going to cover long distances it will also be to your advantage to get a deal with unlimited mileage. There may be a small surcharge if you rent at a hotel or airport; if it is not itemized you should ask. If you intend to drive one-way and drop off your car in a different destination there will be a drop-off charge. Check the details to see whether it is worth the extra cost. If not there is always public transport, which can sometimes be frustrating and can sometimes be fun. The cheapest way to rent a car in Mexico is usually online. Apart from better rates, it is less stressful and gives you time to shop around and to have a clearer idea of conditions before you make your final choice. Even if you are already in Mexico it’s still worth the time and effort to peruse offers and book online.

Before you drive your rental car away inspect it thoroughly for any damage, however small, and make sure it is listed, because when you return the car the rental agency will probably inspect it thoroughly. Also check under the car; Mexico’s notorious potholes and surprise speed bumps can take their toll and you want to make sure you don’t end up paying for someone else’s damage. These same potholes and surprise speed bumps also make it a good idea to avoid driving at night on smaller roads if possible. The toll roads are fine. Most importantly, check out your insurance details before you rent. Your home insurance may give you full cover in Mexico, your credit card may give you full cover in Mexico, but the rental company will probably not include it in the price (most likely the included insurance will be third-party damage and injury). If you are not fully covered by your existing insurance or by your card insurance you may want to pay that top-up to get full insurance when you rent – just to be on the safe side.

Anyway, we stopped in Puerto Morelos for lunch and to our surprise we were sorely tempted to stay. It’s a pretty place and we found out there were all sorts of things to do – cenote tours, scuba diving, snorkeling off the coral reef, botanical gardens, and even a crocodile farm. But we’d only travelled about twenty miles, we’d already booked a hotel in Playa del Carmen, and spontaneity is not one of my strong points, even on vacation. So, on we pressed, to Playa del Carmen, probably only another twenty miles down the road, and realized we’d hit Riviera Maya vacation city. It’s not Cancun, but it probably has almost as much to offer, and I imagine with a lot less hassle. We booked into the Moongate Hotel, a pretty little place right downtown, near the beach, and within our price range. We were lucky enough to be on the main pedestrian street called Quinta Avenida (Fifth Avenue) which is full of restaurants, bars, handicraft stores, fancy boutiques, stands, and just a generally nice lively atmosphere. The beach was great, just the Caribbean thing we were looking for, and the snorkeling was absolutely fantastic – I didn’t know that the coral reef off the Riviera Maya is the second biggest in the world (after the GBR in Australia); I can’t say I saw it all, but it was great diving.

Then we headed off on two day trips, which were both perfect. First we took a ferry to Cozumel, then we checked out Xcaret, which has to be seen to be believed. It’s a water-themed eco-park with a surreal mix of incredible natural beauty and elaborate shows depicting history and culture. I loved the cenotes, which are sink holes in caverns filled with warm freshwater, excellent for swimming and snorkeling. I’d never particularly wanted to swim in a ‘cave’, but it was a great experience. Our next stop was Tulum, about forty miles down the coast. I’d seen photos of the Mayan ruins perched above the sea, and it didn’t disappoint. Also, the beach is great, the vegetation is beautiful, and it’s very laid back. We stayed at a nice little eco-place on the beach just south of Tulum called Retiro Maya Tulum. And then our time ran out and we had to head back, which was frustrating because we didn’t even get to see the biosphere reserve just a couple of miles away or the Mayan archeological sites of Chichen-Itza and Coba. We’ll catch them on the next trip.

I’d never been to Puerto Vallarta, though it seemed that everyone else and his dog had. That kind of put me off, imagining hordes of tourists below the high-rises. Still, I was curious, and it was time for my next trip to Mexico. I didn’t know much about the place either. Let’s see – Night of the Iguana, gay friendly scene, biggest natural bay in Mexico, and something about whales. Still wasn’t sure though; so I googled it (doesn’t everyone?). All it took was a quick look at the photos and my mind was made up. The beaches, the landscape, the vegetation looked very appealing, it looked a manageable size, and appeared to have some nice old buildings. When I got there I found it had all this and more. Not all of it good, but most of it. The time-share hustlers can get a bit wearing after a while; you have to just ignore them and they’ll go away (unless you’re interested in a time-share, of course). And the good stuff? The scenery is truly spectacular – the mountains sweep down to the sea, giving the place a cozy, protected feel, and the lush vegetation really is lush. There are so many beautiful beaches in the area and they’re all a bit different. The beaches closest to the center are obviously the busiest with the most services, like Los Muertos beach or the Hotel Zone beach, where I decided to rent a motorbike to get around more easily and check out some quieter beaches, like Boca de Tomates which is also an ecological reserve where I got to see crocodiles, turtles and exotic birds. Some of the best beaches you can only get to by boat, but they are worth the trip. Majahuitas Beach is really quiet and the jungle comes up to the shore, and Las Animas is framed by lush mountains – they’re both gorgeous.

I had to check out Mismaloya beach, where they filmed Night of the Iguana. You can get there by road and it’s more built up than some of the other beaches. Still, it’s nestled in a small cove and is pretty. You can still see the ruins of the movie set. There’s a Barceló hotel there and also some vacation condos called La Jolla. All the beaches I visited were great for swimming and snorkeling, and they say the scuba diving is good too. I wanted to be within walking distance of downtown, so I plumped for a reasonably-priced hotel downtown called the Portonovo Plaza. It’s pleasant and comfortable and even had a pool on the roof terrace, so you could be soaking in the pool and looking at the ocean at the same time – not bad for the price. Also, the location was just right, at least for me. Just a couple of blocks away there was a boardwalk they call the Malecón where you can go for a stroll and do some sea watching and people watching at the same time. That whole area is just full of restaurants, bars, and stores. The old part of town is in the same area and has a great flea market, sidewalk cafés, and an elegant cathedral. They seem to have two names for the old town – ‘Viejo Vallarta’ and the’ Zona Romántica’. I went at the wrong time of year to see any whales, but apparently if you go between December and March you can see them frolicking in the bay. There’s a lot to do and see in and around Vallarta; I even went on a canopy tour on the Cuale River, where I got to zip line through the jungle – hadn’t done that for a while.

The beach in Cancun’s Hotel Zone is actually a thin strip of land between the Caribbean and Nichupte Lagoon. There is plenty of public access to the beaches, but occasionally you might be tempted to take a short-cut through a hotel; I did twice, the first time there was no problem and the second I was asked to find alternative access. The crystal-clear calm waters are excellent for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving, however some beaches do have currents and undertow – you need to check when you get to the beach. There are plenty of boat tours, fishing trips, dinner cruises, and booze cruises. I chose the tranquil option of a boat trip to Contoy Island; it’s unspoiled, the sand and water are Caribbean beautiful, and the snorkeling around the coral reef is excellent. They even have pirate tours on replica galleons. I don’t know what they get up to, but I imagine it must be like a pirate pantomime out on the water with food and drinks. Subsee Paradise has a glass-bottomed submarine-shaped vessel that allows you to observe the incredible marine life and coral reef while a guide throws some light on the details. That’s something I did do, it’s a great 35-minute trip, which for me was just about right.

Some people go to Cancun more for the golf than the beaches; in fact the whole of the Riviera Maya seems to be full of golf courses. Not a player myself, a friend mentioned that if you’re staying in Cancun the Hilton course is the place to play. A big draw for many is the nightlife; Cancun is famous for it, and the bars and discos can go all night long. That also puts some people off, but if you’re not really into the nightlife, then just don’t bother with it and do the other cool stuff like…er…swimming with sharks. Cancun is close to a lot of other attractions, so if you’re willing to leave town you can visit Mayan ruins, nature parks, eco-theme parks like the amazing Xcaret, and freshwater underground caverns called cenotes – excellent for swimming and diving. If you want a change of pace, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Tulum are fun day-trips. Cancun has so many accommodations that you can pick and choose. Obviously it’s got all the big luxury resort hotels and luxury villas, but there are also plenty of cheaper comfortable hotels. I stayed at a small place in the Hotel Zone called Costa Blanca Suites which was just fine and about $50 a night.

When you look at the picturesque town of La Crucecita (the hub of restaurants, nightlife, and services – near but not on the beach) it’s difficult to believe it’s that new. The charming main square and church, and the style of the buildings in general, have a more traditional feel to them. The closest beach is Chahue; very pretty and with a couple of good beach clubs, but not that good for swimming because the waves break hard on the beach. The bay of Santa Cruz is just up the road and is excellent for swimming and has a marina surrounded by shops and restaurants. This is where you can book fishing charters, bay tours, and scuba diving (try Hurricane Divers). In the winter months Santa Cruz is the port of call for those humongous cruise ships. Further along the road you will find La Entrega beach with its great snorkeling, Maguey with its palapa restaurants on the beach, and wild and untouched Cacaluta.

The main bay for hotels is undoubtedly Tangolunda. This is where you’ll find the biggies like Las Brisas, Dreams Resort, Barceló, Quinta Real, and Camino Real, all right there on the beach and next to the beautiful 18-hole golf course. There are also plenty of shops and restaurants.  A little way down the coast is the beautiful bay of Conejos, which is where a new Secrets resort hotel is opening up in…er, just about now. If you just keep on going you’ll hit the Copalita River and then about an hour and a half or so inland, you get to the gorgeous waterfalls of Llano Grande and the coffee plantation of La Gloria. There are plenty of tours that’ll take you up there.

Weather in Huatulco is excellent. You can go swimming any day of the year. However if you want bright, sunny skies every day the best time to visit is October through April. The warm tropical rains of the summer months are also very pleasant if it rains for a couple of hours every other day, but if you’re unlucky you might get more rainy days than you bargained for. There are plenty of excellent restaurants around town to keep your taste buds happy, and there’s quite a variety. In Tangolunda Café Viena serves Austrian fare, in Chahue L’Echalote does top-notch French cuisine, you can find delicious Italian food at El Rigoletto and others in La Crucecita, and of course fabulous Oaxacan fare all over town. Apart from the hotels there are plenty of rental villas in the local area, some of them with the most beautiful views of whatever bay it is that they are majestically perched above. All in all, it’s not a bad place to hang out in for a while.

When you get down to Los Cabos you really notice how luxurious it all is, what between the hotels, private villas, and golf courses. Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo are the two main towns down there, and they are joined by what they call the Los Cabos Corridor, which is made up of ritzy resorts, huge holiday villas, and enormous golf courses. It’s kind of strange to have so many golf courses in the desert, but I guess at least rain doesn’t stop play very often. I’m not much into golf myself but I heard that Cabo del Sol course was the best because it was right on the ocean, then someone mentioned the Club Campestre and the Palmilla and a whole bunch of others and I lost track, there were so many. The corridor runs along the coast and the scenery is amazing. The two Cabo towns are surprisingly different for being so close to each other. It took me a while to sort out the names, they’re so similar. I think I prefer San Jose del Cabo because it’s quieter and got more history, with plenty of colonial architecture. Also it’s got good surfing and more nature-related stuff. Cabo San Lucas is pretty cool too, just more touristy and with less history; it’s got lots of restaurants and bars and stores, and apparently it’s quite popular with spring-breakers. It’s also got a marina and is on the cruise ship run.

Everyone is crazy about fishing down there. Everywhere you look it’s fishing charter this and fishing trip that; it’s supposed to be one of the best places in the world for sport fishing. Something to do with the Pacific meeting the Sea of Cortez around that point and for some reason that means there are more kinds of fish there.  Sometimes you can see whales and dolphins, and if you go snorkeling or scuba diving you can see all sorts of fish with amazing colors. The hotel resorts are enormous, like little towns, and really pretty: Pueblo Bonito, Grand Mayan, Villa del Arco, and La Estancia are incredible places to stay, I would imagine. Also there are so many restaurants and so many different kinds of food it can be mind-boggling; for Mexican cuisine you could try the Hacienda Cocina y Cantina with its excellent views, or for seafood check out Maro’s Shrimp House, and if you fancy some classy Italian food pass by La Dolce – all in Cabo San Lucas.

Oliver Weickardt; Mexico Vacation Tips