2 Weeks in Mexico: An Off-the-Beaten-Path Itinerary

Hey everyone,

I’ve been to Mexico three times now. To give you a little peek into my fascinating life, I even had the pleasure of being married to a Mexican woman for several years :)

I really need to find the time to write a few articles about those trips (I’ve already started with a few photo albums, like the one for the Palenque Pyramids). In the meantime, I’d like to share my brother’s travelogue with you; he spent a trip in May there with his partner. After a few days in the capital, Mexico City, they more or less improvised a 2-week itinerary starting in Oaxaca on the Pacific coast to the west, and finishing in Veracruz on the Atlantic coast to the east.

It was a bit of a backpacker-style trip, leaving plenty of room for spontaneity and sticking to the path less traveled rather than the usual tourist hotspots. For those interested, this story might just give you some inspiration:

We discovered the amazing country that is Mexico, and we’ll likely return one day.

1st stop: Ecotourism in the mountains of Oaxaca

Leaving Mexico City, our journey began in Oaxaca, which we reached after a few hours by bus. We did a few excursions there (Monte Albán, Hierve el Agua), which were interesting but not exactly mind-blowing. Afterward, we headed to a small mountain village that focuses on ecotourism called Benito Juárez (population 500) near Oaxaca, sitting at an altitude of 3,000 meters, where we did some hiking for 2-3 days.

Relaxation and hiking on the Pacific coast

Then we headed back down to the coast to Puerto Escondido for 2 days (we took the opportunity to go kayaking on a local lagoon and lost our Lonely Planet in the process :D). We then left that little beach town to head to a fishing and hippie village a bit further away called Mazunte. It was so great that we ended up staying 4-5 days, taking excursions where we saw sea turtles, dolphins, and even crocodiles and iguanas. Of course, we also made sure to carve out some time for just chilling on the quiet beach, which wasn't overrun by tourists.

Gulf of Mexico and Lake Catemaco to the east

After that, since we didn't have enough days left to do Tulum and Palenque in the Yucatan, we decided to take the shortest route to explore the Atlantic coast. So, we headed for the Gulf of Mexico, again by bus, specifically to the city of Veracruz. It was too urban and lacked charm, so we fled after just one day.

A bit pressed for time, we took a taxi to another small fishing village near the Tuxtla jungle on the shores of Lake Catemaco (which is also the name of the town). Expect to pay a little over €50 for a 2-hour taxi ride. It’s more expensive than the bus, but with two passengers, the price difference shrinks and you save several hours. Anyway, it was really nice there too; we stayed for one night before the big trip back to Mexico City, where our flight home to France was waiting for us!

By the way, was Hierve el Agua the place we absolutely had to see? ^^ If so, we did go, but it was a bit dried up and, to be honest, not a super exciting place to visit.

Note: I ended up getting sick on the last day of the trip...

Thanks to him for the story :) I’m going to ask him to send me a few photos to illustrate his journey a bit.

Otherwise, yes, I can confirm that Hierve el Agua, which I had highly recommended to him, remains a fantastic memory for me from a trip I took back in November. The landscape might be different in May, but I was really impressed by the views from the top of those petrified waterfalls. Above is a little photo taken during our visit. Impressive, right?