Mexico travel tips

Following are regularly updated travel tips for Mexico.

The text below is from the comprehensive holiday travel tips to be found at
Cheap World Travel Tips.

June 28 2009 Mexico travel tips

Note: In April/May 2009, Mexico was the epicentre of a global outbreak of a potentially deadly swine flu virus (H1N1) that has killed well over a hundred people and infected almost 9,000 in Mexico. Most schools have re-opened but several major hotels in the country have closed their doors due to tourist cancellations and thousands of eateries, most in the capital, have closed due to lack of trade. However, the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention in the US has lifted its recommendation that citizens avoid travel to Mexico and cruise ships have resumed services. In May, cities and tourist centres such as Cancun were compared to ghost towns, with millions staying at home rather than risking exposure. In mid to late May, various resorts were promoting "flu-free" travel packages with tourists offered a free future vacation if they contract the virus. Mexican health authorities say there are signs the swine flu is waning in that country. The World Health Organisation has declared swine flu a global influenza pandemic. People travelling to Mexico should monitor the media and government travel advisories, and should expect airport medical screening. However, swine flu has spread to about 113 different countries, killing 263 people, and Mexico is now considered as dangerous as elsewhere. For example, more than a million people are now believed to have been infected in America - about 50 times the number reported to health authorities (June 28).

Mexico City is littered with pre-Hispanic ruins. In October 2006, archeologists unearthed a 15th century Aztec altar and a 12 tonne idol just metres from traffic in central Zocalo square, and in June 2007 they found what are believed to be the ruins of an Aztec pyramid destroyed by Spanish conquerors in the Iztapalapa district.

Iztapalapa itself is a very poor district in the Mexican capital, infamous for violent crime and drug dealing. Tourists should be alert while in the district.

In 2006, about 3 million tourists visited the massive Teotihuacan archeological complex about 48 kilometres north-east of Mexico City. Teotihuacan was built in the 4th Century, abandoned in the 8th Century and in the 14th Century was rediscovered by the Aztecs, who renamed it the City of the Gods. A central feature at Teotihuacan is the imposing Pyramid of the Sun, the third highest pyramid in the world.

Holiday travel adventures you can enjoy in Mexico include exploration of the archaelogical ruins to be found throughout the country. For example, in the jungles of Quintana Roo, inland from the popular beach resort of Cancun, you can see the remanants of Mayan culture dating back 3000 years in places such as Coba and Tulum.

About 20,000 structures once stood in Coba, which is the largest archaelogical site in the Yucatan Peninsula, and many have not been excavated.

Tulum is about 30 minutes south-east of Coba and is more accessible. Bird and animal wildlife is verdant at both archaelogical ruins and mosquitoes are a problem. Cancun itself also has some small archaelogical sites.

Mexico Travel Tips 1

Top of page