6 Mexico vacations that check every travel style

Mexico is blessed with thousands of miles of coastline stretching along the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of California, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Anais Martinez, a food blogger and culinary tour guide from Mexico City, narrows her recommendation down to Oaxaca state.

“There’s a different beach for every type of experience that you want,” she says. At the top of her Oaxaca beach-town list are Mazunte — one of Mexico’s designated “pueblos mágicos” (or magical towns) because of its architecture, culture and dedication to the conservation of sea turtles — and Chacahua, where you will find the 35,000-acre Lagunas de Chacahua national park.

But to disconnect entirely from the world at a resort, Martinez points to Riviera Maya on the country’s Caribbean coast and Nayarit on the west. When “you just want your room, your pool and a little bit of beach time,” Martinez says, “both of them are amazing.”

For surfers, “I’d point you towards the Pacific coast because you don’t really get surf-able waves on the Caribbean coast,” says Rabinor, a lifelong surfer. He recommends the Nayarit beach town of Sayulita as a family-friendly beginner spot and Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca, for the expert set. For something in the middle, “between Huatulco and Salina Cruz [both Oaxaca] has some amazing intermediate waves,” he says.