From Cenotes to the Sea of Cortez

Day 1 — Riviera Maya, Arrival and Caribbean Light
Arrive on the turquoise fringe of the Caribbean and settle into a quiet hideaway shaded by palms and freshwater mangroves. After a leisurely swim and a rinse of travel from your shoulders, a sunset walk along powdery sand introduces the Riviera’s palette—limestone white, reef blue, jungle green. Dinner is unhurried and coastal, with lime, herbs and just-caught flavors setting a graceful first note.

Day 2 — Tulum Seafront Ruins and a Private Cenote
This morning’s light falls clean and bright on clifftop temples that once watched the trade canoes come and go. Your guide threads you through carvings and viewpoints before the day grows warm. A short drive inland leads to a secure cenote where the water is glass-clear and cool as stone; swim beneath caverns of stalactites while birds stitch the canopy above. Return to the coast for an easy afternoon and a candlelit dinner under the palms.

Day 3 — Sian Ka’an, Where Jungle Meets Sea
Enter a biosphere of lagoons, channels and restless sandbars. A slender boat glides along jade-green water as herons and ospreys patrol the air and the surf booms beyond the dunes. Drift with the current through ancient canals cut by the Maya, float in warm shallows, and picnic where the horizon is nothing but water and sky. Back on land, hammocks, a shower and a quiet evening restore the senses.

Day 4 — Yucatán Heartland: Stones and Story
Turn inland to the Yucatán’s honey-colored towns and legendary sites. Stroll a colonial square beneath arcades, then explore a great ceremonial city where observatories, ball courts and stepped pyramids speak in limestone. Your guide animates myths and astronomy while you trace shadow and symmetry across the platforms. Return to the coast in golden hour for a seafood supper and the hush of surf outside your room.

Day 5 — Reef Day on the Mesoamerican Barrier
Set out along the reef in an elegant day boat. Coral heads bloom in shallow water where parrotfish graze and rays lift from the sand like silk. Between swims, lounge on deck with fresh fruit and tropical breezes; over the side, the sea lies perfectly, impossibly blue. Come ashore sun-drowsy and salt-skinned, with time for a massage and a final Riviera Maya dinner beneath a scatter of stars.

Day 6 — Across the Republic to Baja California
A morning flight carries you west across the country to Baja California Sur, where ocher desert slides into the Sea of Cortez in a meeting of opposites. Your base is a discreet retreat framed by cacti and luminous water. As afternoon cools, wander the shoreline watching pelicans arrow into the sea, then dine alfresco to the percussion of waves and the scent of desert herbs on the air.

Day 7 — Isla Espíritu Santo, Coves and Sea Lions
Today the Sea of Cortez reveals why it is called the world’s aquarium. Skim over indigo water to a labyrinth of volcanic islets, luminous coves and beaches as pale as sifted flour. Snorkel along rocky walls where schools of fish turn as one; when conditions allow, observe playful sea lions at a respectful distance. A picnic on a crescent of sand and a drift in warm, clear shallows complete the day before a rosy sail back to port.

Day 8 — Sierra de la Laguna, Canyons and Cold Springs
Trade sea for mountains on a winding route into a granite spine flecked with oases. Walk among cardón giants to pools where spring water gathers beneath fig and palm, and climb to viewpoints that lay desert and sea in the same glance. A ranch kitchen offers handmade tortillas and garden-bright salsas. Return to the coast for a lazy late afternoon and a night sky so dense with stars it feels almost solid.

Day 9 — Pacific Side, Artists and Ocean Drama
Cross to the Pacific for a day of wide beaches and beautiful light. In a small artists’ town, galleries open behind weathered doors and cafes spill onto cobbles perfumed with basil and coffee. On the shore the ocean arrives with long Pacific muscle; in peak months, whales thread the line of the horizon and breach against the afternoon sun. Toast the last Baja sunset as pelicans fly home in arrow-straight formation.

Day 10 — Baja Farewell and Departure
Your final morning is left open for an unhurried swim, a shoreline jog or simple beach-chair contemplation. The transfer unfolds without fuss. You leave Mexico with two landscapes still playing against each other in your mind: jungle and reef in a hundred shades of green and blue; desert and gulf in ochres and indigo—one journey, two coasts, stitched together by light and ease.