Value Mexico: Highlights of Mexico City and the Yucatán

Nothing quite prepares you for the first sight of the immense temple complex of Teotihuacán, once the largest and most populated city in the New World.

As impressive as their Egyptian counterparts, the pyramids at either axis of the central Avenue of the Dead are awe-inspiring in their scale and grandeur. The larger of the two is the Temple of the Sun, a mystical construction aligned with the sunset and believed by the Toltecs to imbue all who climbed it with its sacred solar energy. You can try it for yourself by ascending the 243 steps – even if you don’t feel a charge you’ll certainly be dazed by the magnificent panorama of the ancient site unfolding before you, crowned by the corresponding Temple of the Moon.

One of the most striking aspects of the site is its sheer size, and there is a huge amount to discover along the 4-kilometre Avenue of the Dead connecting the most significant structures. Your knowledgeable guide will build a picture of life in the ancient city, describing the religious rituals and sacrifices to the sun that once took place atop Teotihuacán's majestic pyramids, and the significance of the wonderfully charismatic sculptures of serpent and jaguar gods that guard the temples.

The most accessible of Mexico's colonial towns and one of the prettiest, Taxco is just an hour's drive from the capital along a scenic country road. Protected as a national monument, this colonial delight is a living museum of baroque architecture arranged along steep twisting streets.

Enjoy a guided tour of the higgledy piggledy collection of churches and historic buildings, connected by a picturesque warren of cobbled streets, and learn about the silver mining heritage still visible in the town's large number of jewellers and silver workshops.

Rather like Swiss cheese, the Yucatán landmass is honeycombed with holes: over 3,000 cenotes, a type of sinkhole characteristic of the peninsula. Formed by underground rivers, these atmospheric limestone grottoes contain clear turquoise water and their walls are often draped with tree roots straining to reach the water below. They are also shrouded in the mysticism of the ancient Maya, who revered them as entrances to the underworld of Xibalba.

The Yucatán's cenotes make for fabulous swimming: with a snorkel you can even observe a wondrous sculptural display of stalactites and stalagmites within their cool depths. There are countless cenotes to visit across the peninsula, but one of our favourite options is to explore the dual pools of the Cenotes de Abala, where you can clamber down into contrasting chambers to swim beneath sheer walls dripping with foliage or surrounded by extraordinary rock formations.

Bookend your bathing experience with visits to haciendas dating back to the colonial era, characterised by grand colonial architecture and reflecting the prosperity engendered by the 19th century sisal boom.

A marriage of art and conservation, this unique and mesmerising underwater sculpture garden features a collection of over 400 clay statues designed to gradually attract the formation of coral, transforming the artwork as it evolves into a new marine habitat.

The unique project was developed by a British artist and almost exclusively features life-size human figures, the most haunting display being a circle of outward-facing statues holding hands. To reach the installation, you'll travel out to sea in a speedboat before snorkelling around the various exhibits.

The stunning Riviera Maya is a true Caribbean idyll of aquamarine seas washing palm-lined, white-sand shores. Turtles, rays and a dazzling variety of tropical fish all form part of a thriving underwater ecosystem centring around a colourful reef system, providing excellent snorkelling opportunities.

With the imposing Pyramid of the Magician forming a hulking, solid centrepiece to an expansive site, Uxmal is a striking and evocative Mayan site once connected to the other great cities of its era by a network of sacred roads.

With water a scarce commodity, the rain god Chac is well represented in the form of grotesque masks, most impressively displayed on the façade of the Governor's Palace. There's also an intriguing nunnery and a large ball court where the Mesoamerican ballgame was played in order to select sacrificial victims.

The immaculately preserved pyramids, courts and temples that make up this 1,500-year-old site are perhaps the most impressive collection of Mayan structures anywhere. Their bas-reliefs and sculptures reveal much of the bloody and ritualistic side of ancient Mesoamerican life, as will your knowledgeable guide who will help to decipher the mysteries of the ancient city.

The imposing pyramid of El Castillo – recently declared one of the new wonders of the world – is the most arresting feature of the site, occupying a vast central plaza where giant iguanas nonchalantly bask beneath the fierce sun. Following in the footsteps of ancient worshippers, modern-day visitors flock here on the spring equinox to watch the shape of a sacred snake appear from the shadows to ascend the stone steps of the pyramid.

Also of great interest is the large ball court where ritual sports were played: you can still see the intact stone rings through which teams had to hit the ball to ensure the rising of the sun. Bas-reliefs of decapitated players suggest the ultimate sacrifice for the losers (or winners, according to some theories).

This is far from the only gruesome tale you’ll discover on your tour, as you examine sacrificial altars, podiums etched with hundreds of realistic skulls and the sacred cenote where it’s thought human sacrifices were thrown directly into what the Mayans saw as an entrance to the underworld of Xibalba.