Mexico

Mexico's huge and it touches the Caribbean

Mexico's huge, way bigger than any Caribbean island, and it touches three different waters: the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. Only one corner of it is actually Caribbean, though: Quintana Roo, the state down on the eastern side of the Yucatán, where the whole coast looks out onto the Caribbean Sea. That's the part people mean by the Mexican Caribbean.

Riviera Maya, with most of the famous spots:

• Cancún,
• Cozumel,
• Playa del Carmen,
• Tulum

Tulum's the only big Maya city built right on the coast, with the ruins sitting on a cliff over the sea. Just inland you've got cenotes, these natural freshwater sinkholes the Maya treated as sacred, and they're some of the best places to swim anywhere on the coast. Go a bit deeper into the peninsula and you reach the really big Maya cities, Chichén Itzá and Uxmal — the pyramids everyone knows — and they're an easy trip from the coast.

Out in the water, Cozumel sits right on the Mesoamerican Reef, the biggest coral reef in the Americas, which is why divers love it — the water's incredibly clear. There are little islands too, like Isla Mujeres and Holbox, and further south there's Sian Ka'an, a protected reserve of lagoons, wetlands and reef that's still completely wild. So there's a lot more here than just the resorts.

Mexico isn't a Caribbean country — but this coast absolutely is. Quintana Roo is just one more edge of the same sea: Maya, blue, and Caribbean through and through.