How long to spend in Mexico?

[qc]

We’re about to book a trip to MEX and will travel to Oaxaca, San Miguel de Allende and the west coast to have some beach time before flying home. How long do we need in each place? Would a total of 28 days be enough?

I remember that there was tread where @JDB gave advice but I can’t find it now.

[JDB]

@qc – if you put in a keyword and search on Google you will find quite a few posts.

e.g. site:headforpoints.com/forums oaxaca

28 days will be fine and enable you take things at a leisurely pace; it’s exhausting just reading some of the whistle stop trips people do.

How long to spend in each place depends a bit on your interests and how in depth you want to go in each place, but assuming you might want to spend 10-14 days on the beach (where there should be plenty of other activities as well), and there are some transit days, maybe you end up with something like 5/6 nights in CDMX, then splitting the time between Oaxaca and San Miguel de Allende.

[qc]

Thanks – as this will be our first visit to Mexico is there anywhere else we should consider?

And beach – we prefer smaller towns where we can stay centrally and walk out to restaurants in the evening.

[Blindman67]

qc wrote:

Thanks – as this will be our first visit to Mexico is there anywhere else we should consider?

And beach – we prefer smaller towns where we can stay centrally and walk out to restaurants in the evening.

How about the whole of the Yukatan Peninsula?

Merida
Bacalar
Campeche

And then the various Mayan sites
Uxmal
Palenque
Calacmul
Chichen Itza

[JDB]

@qc I had the impression you had settled on your itinerary! Where you go really depends on what you like – if you are interested in visiting the archaeological sites, the Yucatán peninsula is a must and a base around Mérida or Campeche works well. I wouldn’t necessarily rush to San Miguel de Allende – while it is very postcard beautiful, the population is now probably 30% + American …

Oaxaca is great for the city and surroundings in themselves, but also does have the smaller beach resorts. For us, the Pacific coast is far nice, sea is wilder but lots of sheltered bays, more rugged landscape, lots of wildlife just inland and in the ocean. There are now various FCDO limitations, but Oaxaca is OK, as is Zihuatanejo (as long as you fly). These are resorts that averagely well off Mexicans visit, not hordes of foreigners so they are far from flash or built up, don’t have fancy resorts, but there is everything you need, very comfortable, moderate prices and real Mexican food. The fresh fish is incredible, literally arriving off a boat while you are in the restaurant so great for all the raw fish/shellfish dishes. Great wildlife in the lagoons. See this thread for a bit more detail https://www.headforpoints.com/forums/topic/mexico-advice-suggestions/

and it may lead you to a few other shortish threads with lots of detail.

The other place to consider on the Pacific coast is the Riviera or Costa Nayarit which is a relatively new tourist area north of Puerto Vallarta – it’s a really beautiful stretch of coastline. There coast around Manzanillo, including Cuixmala, a pretty magical but not cheap place, is wonderful but may not in FCDO limits??