Self-Drive Mexico: Highlights of the Yucatan

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula and Caribbean Coast, with its Mayan ruins, pretty colonial towns, and sandy beaches, is ideal for independent exploration by self-drive hire car. Not only is it economical; it gives you the freedom to travel at your own pace, stopping whenever you want, but with the security of a pre-planned itinerary and hotel reservations. The region has a network of well-signed roads, distances between attractions are relatively short, there are service stations to fill up your car and a huge range of fantastic eateries to fuel yourselves on.

You’ll set off from Cancún airport to discover the peninsula. There, you’ll find vestiges of the once supreme Mayan civilisation. Sites replete with temples and pyramids festooned with sacred carvings were, once abandoned, swallowed up by a rapacious jungle but are now gradually being revealed. They’re all rather Indiana Jones. You’ll visit the best-known sites, Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, both easily accessible.

You will also be based near the beautiful colonial town of Mérida, a friendly place to see a different side of Mexico with street markets, restaurants of all types and lively entertainment, should you wish to do so. Alternatively, the sleepy fishing village of Celestún is just a short drive away – famous for its Biosphere Reserve and large flocks of flamingos. Finally, you will drive up to the Gulf coast and take a ferry to laid-back and peaceful Isla Holbox.