Highlights

Relax with a cocktail on one of Playa del Carmen’s beaches, where sand as fine as powdered sugar meets glittering azure sea

, a vast complex full of crumbling temples and pyramids

, where you can slurp warm, thick mole (a rich sauce often served over rice) and sample the edible plants and flowers that the indigenous Zapotec people have eaten for centuries.

You will visit the following places:

Playa del Carmen

Playa del Carmen is a coastal resort town in Mexico, along the Yucatán Peninsula's Riviera Maya strip of Caribbean shoreline. It is a popular tourist area in eastern Mexico. Playa del Carmen boasts a wide array of tourist activities due to its geographical location in the Riviera Maya. It has also been the destination of PGA Tour golf tournaments and the set location for various television shows. Playa is a stop for several cruise ships which dock at the nearby Calica quarry docks, about six miles south of the city. The Xcaret Eco Park, a Mexican-themed "eco-archaeological park", is a popular tourist destination located just south of the town in Xcaret (pronounced "shkar-et").

Mexico City

Mexico City is the densely populated, high-altitude capital of Mexico. It is a fascinating capital that beguiles its visitors with endless options. One of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with 16 boroughs and more than 300 neighborhoods, it might seem a bit overwhelming to the first-time visitor, though it doesn’t have to be. A stroll through the buzzing downtown area reveals the capital’s storied history, from its pre-Hispanic underpinnings and colonial-era splendor to its contemporary edge. The Zócalo is just one block southwest of the Templo Mayor which, according to Aztec legend and mythology, was considered the center of the universe and is the ideal spot to begin your sightseeing in Mexico City.