Cities, Civilisations and the Caribbean Coast

This morning is all about getting your bearings, so after breakfast take your handy Dossier and go for a walk around the neighbourhood. As Mexico City is huge, we can recommend the best neighbourhood to suit your interests, whether you’re after shops, museums or parks. Be sure to be back at your hotel in time for lunch, wearing some seriously loose trousers, because this afternoon you will be taken on a gastronomic adventure through Mexico City's history. Over the course of the afternoon, your expert guide will take you through the streets of downtown Mexico City, regaling you with stories from its 700-year history, stopping at eight different eateries and shops - from the oldest sweet shop in Mexico to the best spot for contemporary Mexican cuisine. By the end, you'll know your tacos from your tostados, tlacoyos, flautas, pambazos, gorditas, huaraches and sopes. If you still have room for dinner, we'd recommend picking somewhere from your trusty Dossier and then taking a taxi back to your hotel, to prepare for a day of culture tomorrow.

If yesterday was all about culinary curiosities, then today is all about art and culture. After breakfast, you will be privately transferred to Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbian ruined city sprawled across a vast archaeological site to the northeast of Mexico City. Tour the now UNESCO-listed site with an expert guide to learn about its role as one of the most powerful cultural centres in Mesoamerica, as well as see the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.

A guided tour of the Frida Kahlo Museum is an alternative option for today. Visit the museum, the house where Leon Trotsky lived when he was in exile, and the Museo Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, where Kahlo and fellow artist Diego Rivera lived and loved during their tumultuous affair. Your expert guide will take you through the lives of two of Mexico's most enthralling and groundbreaking artists of 20th-century Mexico, and how one the political heavyweights of European politics came to be intertwined in their lives.

This afternoon, you’ll be taken on a guided tour of the National Museum of Anthropology Museum, the country’s largest and most visited museum. Devoted to the archaeology and history of Mexico’s pre-Hispanic civilisations, your guide can take you through the exhibits that most interest you and talk you through the fascinating displays. This evening is your last in Mexico City, so we'd suggest visiting Plaza Garibaldi for a pre-dinner drink and to listen to the Mariachi bands who gather there, followed by dinner at one for the restaurants recommended by our local Concierge.

This morning, after a leisurely final breakfast at your hotel, you will be privately transferred back to the airport for a one-hour flight to your next destination: Oaxaca (pronounced 'wahaca'). This region is the creative and indigenous heart of Mexico, where many of the country's religions, foods and festivals originate. When you arrive at your hotel, we recommend stretching your legs and heading to another restaurants recommended by our local Concierge. The rest of the day is yours to spend as you please. If it's a spot of culture you’re after, we can arrange for you to take a tour of the Textile Museum to learn about traditional Oaxacan crafts and handiworks.

Today, we've arranged a private walking tour of the cobbled colonial streets of Oaxaca, taking in the governmental palace, the spectacular cathedral and the best of the city’s shops, selling handmade items such as crockery and rugs. You'll finish in the main market, where you can buy an enormous tlayuda tortilla for lunch. Appetite satisfied, it's time for a visit to Monte Alban, a pre-Columbian city a short drive from Oaxaca. Here, your expert guide will show you around the ruins of the Zapotec city, which was once home to a highly sophisticated society of around 25,000 people. You will see tombs containing paintings and symbolic stone carvings, ceremonial platforms and ancient pyramids, as well as learn about the crafts made from black clay in San Bartolo Coyotepec and visit craft workshops to see how the colourful wooden alebrijes carvings are made.

Then it's back to Oaxaca for dinner and drinks tonight. We highly recommend heading to the zocalo, or town square, where the locals head to the numerous pavement cafes and you can listen to the sounds of the local bands.

After rather a full-on day yesterday, we recommend setting aside some time to relax by the pool this morning. In the afternoon, we’ve arranged a private cookery course in the heart of the city. After a private transfer to the cooking school, you will visit a colourful local market to choose your ingredients before heading to the kitchen to cook a delicious four-course meal from recipes passed down the generations. Oaxaca is often described as the culinary capital of Mexico, so learning to cook traditional dishes here is a real treat. Since you'll probably be stuffed to the gills with your delicious culinary creations, this evening we suggest that you head to a local mezcaleria bar. Mezcal (tequila's classier cousin) comes from the region and can be absolutely delicious. Then it's back to your hotel for one last night before you head to Merida in the morning.

This morning you'll need to be up bright and early for your private transfer back to the airport. Your connecting flight to Merida leaves at breakfast time and, after a brief stop in Mexico City, you'll arrive at your destination just in time for lunch. The combined flights and layover take around four hours. Merida, the state capital of the Yucatan Peninsula, was once home to the pieds-à-terre of the region's wealthy. Today, the colonial city is a buzzing city of elegant buildings, a thriving art scene, exclusive hotels and excellent cuisine; it’s no surprise that it is frequently named as one of Mexico's nicest cities. Upon arrival, you’ll be privately transferred to your hotel in time for a late lunch. Spend the rest of the day exploring, before enjoying dinner by candlelight.

After a more leisurely start than yesterday, today you will be exploring the ancient Maya city of Uxmal and swimming in cenotes. The Yucatan Peninsula is honeycombed with these collapsed sinkholes, which were formed by ancient underground rivers through the limestone bed rock. Both revered and feared by the ancient Maya, they were shrouded in mystery as the entrances to the underworld of Xibalba. Cenotes are wonderful to swim in and if you opt to snorkel as well, you can discover a wondrous sculptural display of stalactites and stalagmites within their cool depths. We can also arrange proper diving trips in the cenotes. Prior to diving into these stunning pools, you’ll have the chance to discover the nearby ruins of Uxmal, once an important Maya city which flourished between the sixth and tenth centuries CE. After a full day of exploring cenotes, it’s back to your hotel for dinner and an early night, ready for an action-packed day tomorrow. Alternative activities we can arrange include a private tour of Merida, private cookery classes or a private tour of Valladolid.

It’s an earlier start this morning, but with good reason, as en route to your next destination, you'll be visiting Chichen Itza, one of the most beautiful and archeologically impressive sites in the whole of the Americas. Explore the magnificent archaeological complex alongside an expert guide and learn about the history of the sacred site. Highlights include the Temple of Kulkulkan, the observatory, and the ball court (where games had slightly higher stakes than a Sunday five-a-side league with the losing side sacrificed at certain times of year!). After a morning of archaeology, you’ll continue on to Tulum, the final destination on your Caribbean Coast holiday. Check into your hotel, settle in and prepare yourself for the next three days of pure relaxation.

After all this adventure, a little bit of down time is undoubtedly necessary, which is where the white sandy beaches and the beautifully serene Caribbean sea of the Yucatan Peninsula come in. It would be perfectly understandable if you were to spend your time here pottering between your room, the beach and the pool, but for those looking for something a little more active on the Riviera Maya, we can arrange sailing, kayaking and snorkelling, among other activities. The offshore reef system (part of the world's second biggest reef) and cenotes also offer a perfect chance for divers to, well, dive in.