The Ultimate Travel Guide to Mexico: History & Attractions

Ancient Mayan ruins, technicolor colonial cities, turquoise Caribbean beaches, fiery cuisine and Day of the Dead festivities — Mexico is endlessly exciting.

A Glimpse into History

Mexico's history is one of the longest and most complex in the Americas, stretching from the first human inhabitants crossing from Asia 15,000 years ago to a modern nation of 130 million navigating democracy and cartel violence simultaneously. The Olmec — Mesoamerica's 'mother culture' — flourished from 1500 BC, while the Maya built one of the ancient world's most sophisticated civilisations, with advanced mathematics, astronomy, and writing systems, in the Yucatán and southern highlands from 2000 BC to the Spanish conquest. Teotihuacan near modern Mexico City was, at its peak in 500 AD, the sixth largest city in the world, its Avenue of the Dead lined with the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. The Aztec (Mexica) empire, with its capital Tenochtitlán on an island in Lake Texcoco (now Mexico City), was the most powerful state in Mesoamerica when Hernán Cortés arrived in 1519. The Spanish conquest (1519–1521) was one of history's most consequential — European disease killed up to 90% of the indigenous population, and three centuries of colonial rule fused Spanish and indigenous cultures into something entirely new. Independence came in 1821 after an eleven-year struggle, and the 19th century brought further upheaval — war with the USA (losing Texas, California, and New Mexico), French invasion, and the liberal reform of Benito Juárez. The Revolution of 1910–1920 — Zapata, Villa, and Madero — produced the world's first social revolutionary constitution. Today Mexico's ancient ruins, colonial cities, beaches, and cuisine (a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage) make it Latin America's most visited country.

Top Attractions in Mexico

Chichén Itzá

The Maya city of Chichén Itzá, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, reached its peak between 750 and 1200 AD and is dominated by the 30-metre El Castillo pyramid — a precise astronomical calendar where on the spring and autumn equinoxes, light creates the illusion of a serpent descending the staircase. The Great Ball Court, Sacred Cenote, and Temple of Warriors complete one of Mexico's most remarkable archaeological sites.

Mexico City Historic Centre

Mexico City's UNESCO-listed historic centre is one of the largest in the Americas — built directly atop the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, whose ruins are still being excavated under the Zócalo. The Metropolitan Cathedral (the largest in the Americas, sinking slowly into the ancient lakebed), the National Palace with Diego Rivera's sweeping murals of Mexican history, and the Templo Mayor archaeological site make the centro an extraordinary layering of civilisations.

Teotihuacan

Just 50 km from Mexico City, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, housing 200,000 people at its peak in 500 AD before its mysterious collapse around 650 AD. The Avenue of the Dead runs 4 km between the 65-metre Pyramid of the Sun (the world's third largest pyramid) and the Pyramid of the Moon, offering one of archaeology's most dramatic vistas.

Riviera Maya & Cenotes

The Yucatán Peninsula's Caribbean coast stretches 120 km of turquoise water and white-sand beaches from Cancún to Tulum — but the real wonders lie inland, where thousands of cenotes (sacred sinkholes in the limestone karst, interconnected by underground rivers) offer swimming and diving in gin-clear fresh water surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites in cathedral-like caverns.

Oaxaca City & Monte Albán

Oaxaca is Mexico's cultural capital — a colonial city of pastel-painted buildings, world-class food (mole negro, tlayudas, mezcal), and living indigenous traditions centred on the Zapotec and Mixtec civilisations. Just 10 km away, the UNESCO site of Monte Albán was the first major urban centre in Mesoamerica, established in 500 BC on a levelled mountaintop with views across four valleys.