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Mexico is home to 5 of Travel & Leisure's 25 top cities to visit [1]
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Date: 2023-07-21
Oaxaca, a Mexican city steeped in indigenous culture and located in a tropical mountain valley with an eternal-spring climate, was voted by Travel & Leisure readers as the top 2023 destination in the world.
Image of pre-Spanish-conquest Mexico City, the Mexica (Aztec) people’s capitol then called Tenochtitlan. It was laid out in a grid pattern, had large structures and was reached from the mainland by a system of causeways.
Oaxaca was among five Mexican cities that were selected among the top 25 cities to visit in 2023. Along with Oaxaca, Mexico had two more cities in T&L’s top 6: charming San Miguel de Allende at no. 5 and next on the list, Mexico City, a city that dates back centuries pre-Spanish conquest under Mexica (aka Aztec) rule in a high-altitude valley that was home to 1.5 million people before the Spanish arrived. Mexico City now is a modern, bustling city with highly developed gastronomy.
Mérida, a Yucatan Peninsula city with charming colonial architecture, and Guadalajara, which T&L describes as “under the radar” and with “vibrant food and design scenes,” are the two other Mexican cities that made the top 25.
Yes, Mexican tourist destinations are safe to visit
It’s truly amazing that any location in Mexico is included in these rankings — not because the nation’s colorful and vibrant cities do not belong on a list of must-see destinations, but because the nation is subject to a nonstop drumbeat of media negativity and fear-mongering in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, which relentlessly push the message that Mexico is “dangerous,” a place where tourists routinely are kidnapped or worse.
As one frequent visitor responds: “bullshit.”
Photo by author in Guadalajara, a city located about a mile above sea level in northwestern Mexico at about the latitude of Honolulu, and that much of the year enjoys comfortably warm days and cool nights, ideal for tourist activities.
Mexico certainly contends with organized crime and violence, but it is a large country, and there are plenty of places far from whatever violence is occurring. For example, the Mexican city of Mérida is statistically safer than every city in North America except one, the Canadian city of Quebec City, and is the safest city in Latin America. Baja California Sur, the Mexican state that includes the beach-and-party destination Los Cabos, has a “quite low” risk of organized-crime violence, according to Forbes, and reportedly has a lower homicide rate than Canada. Travel and Leisure reports that Los Cabos is “one of the safest” cities in Mexico.”
Guns are essentially unavailable in Mexico, and average citizens have no interest in them. Pretty much the only ones with guns are cartels and cops (the former acquiring them via illegal shipments from the United States), and they’re generally shooting at each other with them. Yes, a risk exists of getting caught in crossfire, but in the U.S., a country with more guns than people, everyone faces that sort of risk in any public place at any time. Fans of irony should note that Texas warned its citizens against enjoying Spring Break in Mexico, even while that state remains a hotbed of mass shootings, with more than four times the national average, and is statistically two to three times more dangerous than Mexico is to U.S. tourists.
Happily for Mexico, many people simply ignore the “Mexico-is-dangerous” noise. The North American nation logged 107 million tourist visits in 2022, surpassing pre-pandemic figures. Travel & Leisure has this to say about its readers’ No. 1 city, Mexico’s Oaxaca:
Boasting an endless supply of mezcal and mole, Oaxaca de Juárez is undoubtedly one of the ultimate food and drink destinations on the planet. … This dynamic city in southwestern Mexico is home to vibrant culture, beautiful weather, and some of the country's most iconic architecture.
Mexico even has its own Grand Canyon-type attraction, known as Copper Canyon or Barranca de Cobre in Spanish. Though not on Travel & Leisure’s list, the canyon can be seen via a multi-day ride on the el “Chepe Express” train and offers what is claimed to be the world’s longest zipline at more than 2.5 km (more than 1.5 miles), on which riders are said to reach freeway-like speeds.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/21/2182532/-Mexico-is-home-to-5-of-Travel-amp-Leisure-s-25-top-cities-to-visit
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