Yucatan - Mexico

The three states that comprise the Yucatán peninsula - Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo - are among the hottest and most tropical-feeling parts of Mexico, though they in fact lie further north than you might imagine: the sweeping curve of southern Mexico means that the Yucatán state capital, Mérida , is actually north of Mexico City. Until the 1960s, when proper road and train links were completed, the Yucatán lived out of step with the rest of the country - it had almost as much contact with Europe and the USA as with central Mexico. Tourism has since made major inroads, especially in the north around the great Maya sites and on the route from Mérida to the Quintana Roo coast, where development has centred on the "super-resort" of Cancún , the islands of Isla Mujeres, Cozumel , and, in more recent years, the once sleepy fishing village of Playa del Carmen . But away from the big centres, especially in the south, where townships are sparsely scattered in thick jungly forest, there's still a distinct pioneering feel.

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