MEXICO

Expect sensory overload in this exhilarating country, from Frida Kahlo’s royal-blue house in Mexico City to the rainbow-coloured costumes and ribboned hats of the modern Maya in Zinacantán, and the indigo waters of the Sea of Cortez on the Pacific coast, alive with sea lions, whales and leaping devil rays. On the Caribbean coast, the golden beaches of the Riviera Maya south of Cancun beckon, with a chance to explore lively Playa del Carmen and the clifftop Maya ruins of Tulum.

Inland are more pre-Columbian treasures, plus rainforests, waterfalls, cenotes (natural sinkholes) and the snow-capped Popocatépetl volcano. In Oaxaca, learn to cook spicy mole sauces and, in Mexico City, brush up on art and history at world-class galleries and museums. Most educational of all is Chichén Itzá, the best-preserved Maya site on the Yucatán Peninsula, where a ceremonial ball court, an observatory and a sacred cenote reveal the priorities of this ancient civilisation.