Mexican Flavors and Civilizations

Flight to Mexico City.
Arrival at Mexico City airport and welcome by your English-speaking guide and transfer to your Royal Reforma hotel for two nights.

Visit of Mexico City: the Constitution Square, the Cathedral and the National Palace. Departure for Xochimilco, ancient city of floating gardens of Tenochtitlan. Walk and traditional picnic in a boat. Visit to the National Museum of Anthropology. Walk in Garibaldi Square. Mexican evening and dinner to the sound of the Mariachis.

Visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Drive to Teotihuacan. Visit of an obsidian carving factory.
Tasting of pulque and tequila: typical drinks made from agave.
Buffet lunch with traditional music and view of the pyramids. Visit of the site of Teotihuacan, which means in Mexican mythology “place where the gods were born”. Then departure for Puebla. Visit of the historical center: the zocalo, the cathedral and the Talavera factory. For dinner, we offer a buffet with the specialties of Puebla, among these specialties you can try the beef fajitas.
Night at the hotel Posada del Pedro.

Drive to Oaxaca and have lunch at a local’s house, where you will be served “cazuelas”, small simmered dishes. Visit to the site of Monte Alban, ancient Zapotec capital.
Visit of the city of Oaxaca with the zocalo, the chocolate factory, the church of Santo
Domingo church, considered one of the most beautiful baroque churches in Mexico, and the colorful market.
Dinner at your hotel of the traditional dish of the Oaxaca Valley, the “Tlayuda”.
Night at the hotel Hacienda La Noria.

Early departure for Tehuantepec by the mountain roads through the Sierra Madre del Sur. Brief stop to admire the Tule tree whose age is estimated at more than 2000 years.  Walk to the petrified waterfalls of Hierve el Agua. Buffet lunch in a local restaurant in Mitla to taste the different “moles”, a very traditional dish of the region and very consumed by all Mexicans. The sauce is composed of more than 30 ingredients, cocoa, chili peppers (not hot) and spices.
Road to Tehuantepec.

Departure in the direction of Chiapas. Lunch of fish a la plancha. Motorboat ride (weather permitting) through the Sumidero Canyon, one of the most beautiful works of nature.
Continuation of the road to San Cristobal de las Casas. Dinner in a typical “brazier” restaurant followed by a folkloric dance show.
Check-in at the Mansion del Valle hotel for two nights.

Departure for the picturesque village of San Juan Chamula and visit of its curious church.
Continuation to the village of Zinacantan: in this village, the men are dressed in pink and wear hats with multicolored ribbons.
Visit of the village and an indigenous weaving workshop and a tasting of local alcohol. Initiation to the preparation of tacos in an Indian family. Traditional lunch in the community. Return to San Cristobal. Visit of the city and the market. All the life of this city seems to be concentrated in its prodigious market where the picturesque costumes of the Tzotziles Indians come down from their villages with donkeys and baskets.

Early departure to Palenque, breakfast on the way in a traditional coffee plantation in the middle of the forest. Stop at the Agua Azul waterfalls, where tons of dazzling white water pours into turquoise pools surrounded by jungle. Free time and possibility of swimming.
Lunch of grilled fish in a restaurant at the foot of the waterfalls.
Continuation of the road towards Palenque and visit of the ruins of Palenque lost in the middle of a luxuriant vegetation. Dinner and night at the hotel Mision Palenque.

Road to Campeche. Stop at the edge of the Gulf of Mexico in Sabancuy.
Lunch of fresh fish under a straw hut in front of the sea. You will taste the famous Ceviche. Visit of Campeche, the only walled city in Mexico. Continuation of the road towards Uxmal. Night at the Uxmal Resort Maya.

Visit of the archaeological site of Uxmal. You will notice the excellent conservation of all the buildings of the Classic Maya civilization. Drive to Merida.
Cooking class at the Chun Yaax Ché restaurant with the preparation of Pollo Pibil followed by lunch. Orientation tour of Merida. You will be able to see the cathedral, the Plaza Mayor and the Montejo Square. Continuation of the road to Chichen Itza. Stop in a Mayan cemetery and discover the colorful and decorated tombs. Dinner and night at the hotel Puerta Chichen.

Visit to the site of Chichen Itza.
Farewell lunch at the Hacienda Selva Maya with access to a Cenote in Valladolid.
Depending on the time remaining and for those who wish, possibility of bathing in the cold water of the cenote before leaving for the airport of Cancun.
Drive to Cancun. Transfer to the airport.
Assistance with check-in formalities. Flight to France.

Arrival in France.