Mexico is a great place to slow down and enjoy travel because, beyond its great beaches, it also has many cities with rich culture. Seeing and experiencing all that culture can take time. Even the most laid-back of coastal towns are better with a longer stay. And then there are regions where you can experience food, architecture, art, and daily life in full splendor. These regions are best experienced in slow motion, so you can fully take in all there is to see and experience.
If you have the time and means to travel for extended periods, the true luxury of slow travel can be yours.
A Longer Stay Changes the Way You Travel
As you settle into a place to call home for the duration of your travels, your days naturally begin to develop into a special sort of routine. Rather than rushing off from meal to meal, to sight after sight of interest, you find yourself returning to your favorite restaurants for additional servings of that which drew you back there in the first place; spending hours wandering through local neighborhoods, repeatedly, getting to know them all better with each subsequent sojourn; and then simply relaxing and recharging, locally, in between time spent exploring further afield. The days pass comfortably, seamlessly, and without undue stress or anxiety.
When considering a longer-term luxury property rental, you have many destinations to choose from, each offering a varied selection of activities, cultural attractions, restaurants, shops, hotels, and places of interest to explore. Visitors can spend several days exploring a single destination, such as the colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, the cultural and economic hub of Mexico City, the laid-back tropical destination of the Riviera Maya, the active resort of Los Cabos, or the luxury of Punta Mita.
Since we recommend our clients to stay longer in any destination, they can appreciate even more their stay in a luxury villa, since it has a lot of space for everyone, it is fully equipped with all sorts of amenities to make our guests feel at home, including a fully equipped kitchen where you can prepare your own meals, living rooms and outdoor spaces to relax in, and so on. Staying in a luxury villa is perfect for families with kids and groups of friends traveling together, since everyone has their own space and plenty of room to relax and have fun.
For a longer stay in Mexico, it helps to think through how you’ll handle larger or less routine expenses before you arrive. Villa deposits, private services, transportation, or shared costs with other travelers may require you to transfer money to Mexico rather than rely on a credit card. Comparing exchange rates, fees, and transfer times in advance can make those payments easier to manage and help you avoid unnecessary delays once your trip is underway.
Luxury Becomes More Personal
Experiences no longer need to be packaged to be part of a traveler’s luxury vacation.
For example, having a private chef come to the house to prepare dinner after a day of beach activities can be more memorable than another dinner at a fine restaurant. And instead of having a quick tour of a neighborhood with a guide, having that guide spend several hours with you in that neighborhood will give you a much deeper understanding of that location. Simple activities, such as going to a local market to buy produce for the day’s activities or returning to the same café for breakfast each morning, can also become highlights of your trip.
Regions within Mexico have their own personalities, typically found in local cuisine, architecture, and art in towns and villages. Longer stays within Mexico will afford visitors enough time to discover the unique regional personalities that make up this beautiful country.
I also need to have the flexibility to change plans when a local recommends a site. I wouldn’t want to have already paid for other sites and activities for the rest of my vacation.
The Appeal of Having Fewer Plans
Instead of being frantic with things to do and see, you can have the best of times just by doing nothing at all. You can be lounging by the pool or walking around a local neighborhood to see and discover new things. And on occasion, you can even treat yourself to a wonderful spa day or afternoon of relaxation and pampering.
This way, instead of every meal being extraordinary or every excursion becoming the highlight of the day, each day can mix planned activities with spontaneous detours to hidden treasures.
In addition to having the best parts of your vacation saved for the end of the day, or the end of the week, each day will have plenty of time for you to recover from the events of the previous day(s), allowing for the ultimate in slow travel and having the best of both worlds, all of the best parts of your vacation saved for the end of each day, or the end of each week, and the time to recover from all of the events that took place during your vacation.
Choosing a Destination That Rewards Time
Not every destination is equally suited for a slow-traveler’s extended stay. So, when you choose where to go, pick a destination with enough depth and interest to last longer than the first few days of your vacation.
Some places to visit offer far more than they first appear. For example, Mexico City would take several weeks to explore all its different museums, restaurants, galleries, parks, and neighborhoods. San Miguel de Allende offers a completely different type of experience, of course. With its narrow streets, San Miguel is easy to explore on foot, and within a day or so, visitors get to know all the local shops, restaurants, and galleries. This town offers plenty to do, yet nothing in particular. Instead, it offers a wonderful, laid-back, creative experience, with something always going on and never any pressure. Just as there, in Los Cabos, the various towns offer very different experiences, such as staying in a lovely beachside villa that allows for slow travel too, where instead of just rushing from one tourist attraction to the next, travelers can soak up and appreciate the full depth and beauty of each place that they visit.
But areas further down the coast also lend themselves perfectly to slow travel. Many resorts line the Riviera Maya and Los Cabos, but they are surrounded by restaurants, outdoor activities, and local towns and villages that let you spend hours exploring.
Above all, you need the right destination to spend time in.
A Different Definition of Luxury
Slow travel is not necessarily cheap travel. It can be a more luxurious form of travel.
Travel, which is the main reason for traveling and, in our case, is so beautiful and interesting, becomes more engaging and offers richer emotional experiences the longer we stay at our destination.
So instead of feeling like you have been on a well-organized holiday, visitors to this wonderful country will feel they have been somewhere for a while, and that will make for a wonderful holiday.
All in all, Mexico is a fantastic destination, not only offering the most extraordinary hotels, landscapes, gastronomy, and hospitality, but also the chance to really experience everything that lies in between the main attractions when you spend enough time in the country. For slow travelers, it’s a haven of luxury of the highest order.
