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Thousands of years ago, the entire Yucatán Peninsula was under water, as evidenced by its massive network of rivers that flow beneath the region’s limestone surface. No place better presents the area’s captivating caverns and underground water systems than majestic Río Secreto, a nature park just south of Playa del Carmen that offers adventurous travelers wide-ranging cave tours. Extending for miles, its river system wasn’t discovered until 2006, when a local man accidentally stumbled across an entrance while chasing an iguana through the jungle. When you go, guides lead you through a maze of stalactites and stalagmites that ends with a swim in subterranean waterways that vary based on the path you choose.

This shop, down a tiny sunny alley off a sidestreet in Colonia Roma (Córdoba 67 interior 7), is like many other Mexico City’s shops that support women’s crafts collective, but it’s slightly different in that it carefully curates its inventory—made using the local traditional crafts of weaving, embroidery, jewelry-making—choosing only those pieces that complement a more modern lifestyle. Yes, that’s a traditional huipil, or pullover tunic, from Guerrero, but while this simple embroidered piece would work for your abuela, it would also look cool at your graphic design gig in LA. The shop has outlets at Hotel Condesa DF and its products are carried by stores in Puebla and Tulum.

La Fonda del Recuerdo is one of those places (though not uncommon in Mexico City) where the servers are still called waiters and they dress like it: white button-down shirts topped with black vests, matched with black trousers. Everything here is traditional—from the food, which is Mexican with a special emphasis on the gastronomy from Veracruz—to the entertainment served up during your meal. Mariachis roam among the tables, serenading patrons with a full complement of instruments. Maybe it all sounds gimmicky and touristy, but that’s not the vibe here at all, as the tables full of Mexican businessmen and businesswomen enjoying leisurely late lunches attest. Try the tacos sudados. Though the translation (“sweaty tacos”) may not sound appetizing, these delicious tacos are so-named because they are “sweated” during cooking in clay pots.

On any given Sunday, a multitude of Mexico City parks find themselves playing host to groups of dance aficionados, who gather together to practice their steps in a jovial, non-judgmental atmosphere. But perhaps no park has a better Sunday scene than Plaza La Ciudadela, right in front of La Ciudadela craft market, where live music typically accompanies dancers of all ages, each of them dressed to the nines in their Sunday dancing best. Women wear flowers in their hair and men sport feathers in their hats. Shoes—and hair—are polished to a brilliant sheen, and the most courteous of exchanges are shared as people ask one another for a dance. If you’re without your own dancing shoes, a group of vendors who line the plaza’s edge can supply you on the spot. Don’t be afraid to join in; you won’t find a friendlier bunch of folks to dance with.

More than 10 years in the making, the Museo de la Memoria y Tolerancia (Museum of Memory and Tolerance) may seem somewhat out of place if you don’t know much about Mexico City‘s immigrant population and the capital’s role in Jewish history... and that’s one reason the museum is worth a visit. In addition to explaining how the city’s Jewish population burgeoned during the mid-20th-century, and, of course, memorializing the Holocaust, the museum features permanent exhibits documenting genocides that have occurred elsewhere, including Latin America and Africa. Themes are somber, of course, but the aim is to prevent future episodes from occurring by educating visitors about the importance of memory and tolerance.

You have a few different options when it comes to stopping for a coffee at The Shops at Downtown, the retail complex inside Hotel Downtown in Mexico City‘s Centro Histórico. There’s the hotel’s own restaurant, which offers comfortable chairs and couches; the chocolate purveyor Que Bo!, which also serves espresso drinks; or one of the several restaurants and cafés in the complex, among them Padrinos, Azul Histórico, and Café Punta del Cielo. Take your pick–no matter where you end up in the center, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a 17th-century building with volcanic walls and lots of history.

This property will reopen from renovations in spring 2019.

The brainchild of miner James Thorpe, who bought the property in 1918 and also gave the property its name, Bishop’s Lodge lays claim to being New Mexico’s very first resort. And its history dates back even further, to the 1850s, when Jean Baptiste Lamy, a French missionary priest, became the bishop of the desert diocese—and made his home on a hill with views of the Jemez Mountains.

The property has changed significantly since Lamy built his tiny Villa Pintoresca and adjoining chapel: It now spans 450 acres, has a spa and stables, tennis courts and an outdoor pool. And its newest owners, HRV Hotel Partners, who purchased the resort in August 2014, have plans for further expansion.

Still, despite upgrades, this is definitely a Western-style ranch where you can hike, ride, and shoot—and cowboy boots are de rigueur.

This tiny café serves up some of Mexico City’s tastiest breakfasts alongside impeccable coffee. A year and a half out from its opening, it was the first place in town to offer Japanese-siphon-extracted brews. They’re also into methods like dipper and French press; choose from Veracruz, Oaxaca or Chiapas varieties, and even take home some beans. Naturally, with the joe at this level, there’s got to be breakfast of equal caliber; the beet hummus (with poached egg) and the berry French toast are current faves. That said, the menu never, ever bores.

This has to be the most colorful thing I’ve ever seen in a cemetery. In the town of Dolores Hidalgo in central Mexico, singer José Alfredo Jiménez (1926-1973), “El Rey,” is memorialized by this sombrero-and-serape tomb. The names of some of his many hit songs are inlaid in the mosaic bands. Death be not proud...

One traveler discovers a tradition even richer than the cuisine.

Housed in a mansion built in 1911, Casa Lamm is a cultural center, art school, and gallery. The permanent collection includes works by such notable Mexican artists as landscape painter Abelardo López and sculptor Jorge Marín. Sign up for a same-day lecture or enroll in one of the semester-long classes, which run the gamut from pre-Hispanic art theory to salsa dancing. —Joy Hepp Avenida Álvaro Obregón 99, 52/55-5511-0899, casalamm.com.mx. This appeared in the May/June 2011 issue.

They’ve been popularized and commercialized in movies and may even seem to be a cultural stereotype of sorts, but visit Mexico City‘s Plaza Garibaldi on any given evening and you’ll soon see that the tradition of mariachis is alive and well and very much a part of modern culture. Mariachis gather at Plaza Garibaldi nightly, waiting to be hired for an off-site event or an impromptu in-the-plaza serenade. You can even negotiate for a few songs yourself, or, if you prefer, sit in the plaza and watch the action as mariachis in a variety of outfits wait for work. Although Plaza Garibaldi has spiffed up a bit in recent years (particularly with the opening of the Museum of Tequila and Mezcal a few years ago), it does have a seedy underbelly. It’s best not to bring your valuables, and if you enter one of the bars on the plaza’s periphery, stay sober enough to keep your wits about you. A popular Garibaldi scam is to invite unsuspecting tourists to several rounds of drinks and then stick them with an astronomical bill.

Tucked amongst the galleries in downtown Scottsdale’s art district, Frank & Lupe’s is a charming hacienda with delectable, down-home Mexican food. Its shaded back patio is one of the best places to sip ice-cold Tecate or margaritas on a nice day. No doubt one of the restaurant’s shining stars is the carne adobada burrito plate, a warm tortilla wrapped around pork marinated in red chili sauce, vinegar and oregano. It’s on the spicier side, but a nice dollop of sour cream balances it out nicely.

The ocean churns as a 36-ton mammal swims up to the boat. With your arm plunged into the cool water, you await the touch of a California gray whale. Like a house cat craving a scratch on the head, the whale pushes its rubbery skin, rough with barnacles and battle scars from boats and orcas, against your palm. From January through March, hundreds of gray whales settle in Magdalena Bay, on the southwest coast of Mexico’s Baja peninsula. From their feeding grounds off the coast of Alaska, they’ve made one of the longest animal migrations—more than 5,000 miles—to mate, give birth, and raise their young here. Visitors who join local fishermen and outfitters in the bay are practically guaranteed to see whales, and the luckiest will encounter “friendlies,” including proud mothers who nudge their wrinkly black calves toward the surface. Sea Kayak Adventures offers a new trip that combines gray whale sightings in Magdalena Bay with blue and fin whale watching in the Sea of Cortez. From $1,495. (800) 616-1943, This appeared in the January/February 2013 issue.

Chef Jorge Vallejo spent time in the kitchen at Pujol before he and wife Alejandra Flores opened Quintonil, giving the former boss a run for his money. Their place, too, has become a fixture on best-restaurants lists, and is changing how people understand Mexican food. Taking its name from a weed that not long ago “decent” Mexicans wouldn’t dream of eating, Quintonil seeks to rescue and preserve discarded Mexican ingredients—particularly heirloom vegetable and herbal varieties—as part of the progressive and sustainable eating program it so elegantly advocates. Menus change seasonally, but a recent bill of fare included an avocado tartare with ant eggs and quelite-herb chips; chilacayote squash in mole with basil; and a rich chocolate-and-pinole-flour parfait. A tasting menu of Neronian proportions is also available.