Product Description

Mexico's Yucatan peninsula offers a spectrum of attractions: dazzling tropical beaches in Cancun and along the Caribbean coast; luxuriant coral reefs; charming colonial cities like Merida and Campeche; the world-famous ancient Mayan cities of Uxmal, Palenque and Chicen Itza. Cadogan's guide covers these celebrated sights in full, but also goes deeper to out-of-the-way hotels with miles of empty beach, to ruins still half-buried in the forest, into the quirky way of life of sleepy country towns and Mayan villages, and on adventure trips into jungle reserves. It gives you all you need to know - whether you want to enjoy the local culture or just mellow out in a hammock by a palm-shaded beach. This guide includes practical travel advice; 400 carefully selected places to stay; over 600 restaurants, bars & cafes; details of newly excavated Mayan sites; 44 maps & site plans; stunning color photography; essential information on diving, snorkeling and watersports. (5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 540 pages, color photos, maps, illustrations)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1302885 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 540 pages

From the Back Cover
Mexico's Yucatan peninsula offers a spectrum of attractions: dazzling tropical beaches in Cancun and along the Caribbean coast; luxuriant coral reefs; charming colonial cities like Merida and Campeche; the world-famous ancient Mayan cities of Uxmal, Palenque and Chicen Itza. Cadogan's guide covers these celebrated sights in full, but also goes deeper to out-of-the-way hotels with miles of empty beach, to ruins still half-buried in the forest, into the quirky way of life of sleepy country towns and Mayan villages, and on adventure trips into jungle reserves. It gives you all you need to know - whether you want to enjoy the local culture or just mellow out in a hammock by a palm-shaded beach. This guide includes practical travel advice; 400 carefully selected places to stay; over 600 restaurants, bars & cafes; details of newly excavated Mayan sites; 44 maps & site plans; stunning color photography; essential information on diving, snorkeling and watersports. (5 1/2 x 8 1/2, 540 pages, color photos, maps, illustrations)

Customer Reviews

Best guide book on the Maya region
Nick Rider's travel guide is by far the best book for visiting Maya/Toltec sites in this region. I always use a Cadogan guide when one is available. They are the most intelligently written and informative of all the guide books currently on the market.

Although they can be a bit dry, they are normally written by people who really know their subject well. Rough Guide/Lonely Planet/Let's Go guides, for example, are heavy and filled with reams of irrelevant pages you will never look at if you have ever ventured outside the safety of your living room. Cadogan guides assume you have a brain and you want to find out as much about the local area as possible - while still providing the essential travel tips.

This one covers the Mayan region of Southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala. Where it excels is its descriptions of the amazing archaeological sites you will encounter, their history and the relationship between indigenous Maya people and those descended from the Conquistadors.

The author was a postgraduate in Mesoamerican studies and provides - what I think - is one of the best introductions to Mayan culture, architecture and its famous calendar that I have encountered. For those who are interested there's also a list of further Maya reading, a great food section and loads of stuff on towns/cities, travel timetables and dinky places to stay.

Armed with this book, you'll really feel you are being accompanied by a knowledgeable guide who isn't there solely to relieve you of your money. On many occasions I found the book more insightful than hiring a local.

Thankfully, Cadogan have revamped the cover and it looks much better.

Very informative!!!
We used your your book to travel from Merida to Chitchen Itza to Tulum and Cancun in 9 days. We would have never made it without this book. We travelled using public transportation and all the schedules on the book were quite accurate. It gave us enough details on every place we visited but left out enough to still make the trip a great adventure. Please write one on the Philippines. I can't find one like your book.

An indispensable companion for travel and sightseeing.
My boss lent me a copy of the British (Cadogan) edition, which he'd purchased in Merida, just before we left on vacation and I couldn't thank him enough when I got back. Not only are the lodging, dining, shopping, travel and sightseeing recommendations incredibly useful and on the mark, but there's a meaty and fascinating history up front to put everything in context. If you take one book with you to this region, this is the one.