Yes, Mexico is one of the easiest countries in Latin America to backpack on your own, thanks to a dense long-distance bus network and a well-worn hostel circuit.
The classic loop runs from
Mexico City through
Oaxaca and
San Cristóbal de las Casas to
Mérida and
Tulum, and every stop has dorms at roughly MX$150 to 500 (US$8 to 28) a night. Buses can be booked online, street food costs MX$15 to 30 a taco, and a daily budget of MX$650 to 1,300 (US$35 to 70) covers most travelers. Basic Spanish makes markets and colectivos much smoother, though tourist hubs manage in English.
Two weeks is a good length for a first trip to Mexico, enough for two regions without rushing; three to four weeks lets you link the center, the south and the Yucatán.
With 7 days, stick to one area, such as the
Yucatán Peninsula (Isla Mujeres, Mérida, Chichen Itza, Tulum). Fourteen days covers
Mexico City (4 nights),
Puebla,
Oaxaca (3 to 4 nights) and the Oaxaca coast. Twenty-one days adds Guanajuato, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Palenque. Plan at least one rest day per week, since buses between regions often take 5 to 11 hours.
You can travel all of Mexico without a car, and most backpackers do, using comfortable first-class buses, colectivo vans and cheap domestic flights.
Typical bus legs:
Mexico City to
Oaxaca in 6.5 to 7 hours for about MX$700 to 1,100 (US$40 to 60), Mexico City to
Guanajuato in about 5 hours, and
Mérida to
Tulum in 4 to 5 hours. Budget airlines connect the capital with Oaxaca, Mérida and Cancún in 1 to 2.5 hours, often for MX$800 to 2,000 (US$45 to 110) if booked early. The only areas where a car really helps are Baja California and remote parts of the Yucatán.
The places in Mexico most worth building a trip around are Mexico City, Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula, with Chiapas and the colonial highlands close behind.
Give
Mexico City 3 to 4 days for the National Museum of Anthropology and a day trip to Teotihuacan, about an hour away.
Oaxaca needs 3 days for its food, mezcal and Monte Albán. In the Yucatán, base in
Mérida for Chichen Itza and Uxmal, then finish in
Tulum. With more time, add
San Cristóbal de las Casas and Palenque in Chiapas, plus
Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, about 1.5 hours apart by bus.
If time is short in Mexico, skip the big resort strips and the northern border cities; they eat days without adding much you cannot find elsewhere.
The
Cancún hotel zone works as an airport stop, but Isla Mujeres is a 15 to 20 minute ferry ride away and far more relaxed.
Tijuana,
Ciudad Juárez and other border cities sit far from the main circuit. The
Copper Canyon and the Baja California Peninsula are superb but need 4 to 7 days of their own, so save them for a second trip. Puebla can also be cut if Oaxaca is on your route, since the food overlaps.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Mexico in seconds. Try it out!
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