Mexico (Gold Guides)

DESTINATION MEXICO

It could happen while you're climbing the Pyramid of the Magician at the magnificent Maya ruins of Uxmal in the Yucatán, descending into the formidable Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), strolling through the shady plaza of a colonial Heartland town in the heat and torpor of siesta time, lolling on the beach in glittering Acapulco, snorkeling off Quintana Roo in the waters of the Caribbean, or gawking at the variety of chiles in Oaxaca's Central de Abastos market. And you won't be in Mexico too long before it does happen -- you realize that what makes this country so alluring is its diversity. Mexico is a blend -- of peoples, of cultures, of landscapes, of worlds new and old, of the legacies of the vanquished and the conqueror -- and the mix is so enchanting that you'll hardly even notice that you're falling under its spell.

Pacific Coast Resorts

People call it the Mexican Riviera and Gold Coast, but the most apt way to refer to this jungle-backed coastline might just be Tropical Paradise. Historical landmarks like the colonial church of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in the once-sleepy fishing village -- now glittering resort -- of Puerto Vallarta are few and far between. But the 900 miles of cove-scalloped white strands edging the Pacific provide more-than-ample diversion for sun worshippers and water-sports lovers, from angling in Mazatlan, to snorkeling off the white- or black-sand beaches of Manzanillo, to simply feeling sand between your toes in low-key Zihuatanejo or its glitzy neighbor, Ixtapa.

Acapulco

You may have heard the rumors, but word that this venerable resort on a spectacular bay is past its prime doesn't seem to have reached Acapulco. The sun shines as brightly as ever on beaches and golf courses nearly 365 days a year. And the city, as ever, rouses itself from its daytime torpor to a healthy nighttime glow -- whether the setting is your own candlelit pool at the Westin Las Brisas, one of the hotels that set the gold standard for resort luxury, or some of the party-heartiest discos this side of the Pacific. Among Acapulco's myriad activities, one pastime best left to well-practiced locals is diving from the 130-foot-high cliffs at La Quebrada, a perennially thrilling sight in a city that's always been known for putting on a good show.

Oaxaca

Surfers and beach lovers know Oaxaca for its more than 300 miles of lush coastline, washed by the warm Pacific. Zicatela, pounded by the so-called Mexican Pipeline, is one of the world's top surfing beaches. But the prime appeal of Oaxaca state and its eponymous colonial capital is the old and the older. Brilliantly ornamented Baroque monuments from the Spanish conquest, including the colorfully tile-domed Catedral Metropolitana de Oaxaca, pass almost for new, when magnificent remnants of civilizations long past are so near at hand. Mountaintop Monte Albán, with its still-intact ball court, temples, and observatory, was already a thriving city of 40,000 more than 2500 years ago. A full millennium of civilization passed before the original Zapotec people were surpassed by the Mixtec, who turned the site into a rich necropolis that has yielded some of North America's greatest archaeological treasures.

Veracruz and the Northeast

If you were to work your way south from the Texas border, from souvenir-choked Nuevo Laredo through the mountain city of Saltillo and low-profile coastal Tampico, you'd get a taste of Mexico as heady as the brew from the coffee beans harvested in the tropical highlands outside the raffish city of Veracruz. In the antique city itself the diverse citizenry takes to the streets for entertainment and exuberant self-expression: trios slap away at tiny guitars and portable harps, singers belt out that famed local song, La Bamba, and, most alluring of all, evening strollers pause in the Plaza des Armas for a little danzon -- the sensuous, once-scandalous dance brought to Mexico by 19th-century Cubans.

Yucatán

Beaches and ruins: Mexico's most-visited region will reward you with an embarrassment of both riches, sometimes simultaneously -- on Playa Chacmool in Cancún, the Chichén Maya rain god Chac looks as much like a beach-goer as he does like the sacrificial altar he once was.  Tulum may well be the most satisfying spot in the Yucatán (in spite of the crowds). Here, alongside the Caribbean, the local limestone of the temples has mellowed in the salt air, and you can go for a swim from the perfect slip of sand where the ancients beached their canoes. But it was the sky, not the sea, upon which the Maya builders set their sights, and in their displays of might they erected monumental temple-pyramids to soar above their now-deserted cities. The enormous Chichén Itzá, which once dominated the Yucatán, is populated with hundreds of structures. Elegant, refined Uxmal is exceptional in another way -- for the grace of its pyramids, courtyards, and relief carvings.