Page 112 - STRATEGY Magazine

GRAND PYRAMID AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ, CANCÚN
While beaches draw the most international travelers to Mexico, the nation has much more to offer. Adventure travel in jungles, among vol- canoes, and under the sea draws those who seek the wild. Gastro-tour- ism, fishing, shopping, history, art—Mexico is a treasure trove for every kind of tourist.
Julian Balbuena, President of Best Day Travel, attests to the coun- try’s variety of attractions, saying Mexico offers “the mountains, the valleys, the desert, the jungle, beaches on both the Caribbean and the Pacific.” In the north, he points to the state of Chihuahua and its Cop- per Canyon, larger even than the Grand Canyon. The Sea of Cortez, which lies between the Mexican mainland and Baja California, is a marine natural reserve. To experience Mexico’s fascinating history, he suggests Guanajuato or Irapuato for Colonial Mexico or the Yucatán for Maya ruins.
INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIM
Thirty-four UNESCO World Heritage Sites have been identified around the country, a recognition of Mexico’s unique confluence of the Old World and the New, as well as its incredible biodiversity and varied bio- spheres. These sites range from preserves for whales, monarch butter- flies, and an area of the mysterious Sonoran Desert to the ancient Maya city and surrounding tropical forests of the Yucatán’s Calakmul.
Among the cultural treasures designated by the United Nations, some are well known—such as the pre-Hispanic city of Chichén Itzá near Cancún—while others offer up surprises, such as the Central Uni- versity City Campus of the Autonomous National University of Mexico, which is not just an icon of Mexico’s brilliant architectural heritage but
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