YUCATAN AND QUINTANA ROO STATES

This peninsula is home to the Yucatecan Maya and is littered with archaeological sites - most famously Uxmal, Chichén Itzá and Tulum. It's a flat, low-lying limestone plateau with a huge underground cave system making countless cenotes (sunlit pools that are partially underground) and is one of the hottest areas of Mexico. With its own distinctive character the villages in southern Yucatán are sparsely scattered in thick forest and enticingly remote from the rest of the country. Certainly the white palm fringed beaches with the crystal blue waters on the Caribbean coast are hard to beat.