TRAVEL + LEISURE Design Awards

Best Cultural Space
Elena Garro Cultural Center,Mexico City

Designed by Fernanda Canales + Arquitectura 911sc

Jaime Navarro 

In more ways than one, the Elena Garro Cultural Center has turned on a bright light in one of Mexico City’s oldest neighborhoods. The architects chose to preserve an early-20th-century house by encasing it in concrete and glass, thereby creating a new forecourt that frames the restored masonry façade of the older building, and glows like a lantern at night. New reading rooms and a lush exterior garden, designed by landscape architecture firm Entorno Taller de Diseño, honor the Mexican poet and author for whom the center is named—as do floor-to-ceiling walls of books, visible from the street. elenagarro.conaculta.gob.mx.

Honorable Mention: Best Resort
Hotel Escondido, Oaxaca,Mexico

Designed by Federico Rivera Río

Courtesy of Hotel Escondido 

 The newest resort from Grupo Habita elevates the cool factor of Puerto Escondido, a once-sleepy fishing village on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Sixteen secluded palapascome with contemporary built-in bedframes, sliding reclaimed-wood doors, and private saltwater dipping pools. Teal geometric floor patterns and red surfboards propped ever so casually provide pops of color. Outside, round basket-weave chairs and curvilinear chaise lounges bring added dimension to the breezy sitting areas. hotelescondido.com

Travel Channel Editors' Picks: Hot Winter Vacations

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Photography by Thinkstock

A short flight from LA, Los Cabos has become a winter playground for the rich and famous. Thirty miles of beautiful beaches, accompanied by watersports like scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as world-class resorts, golf courses and hip nightlife, are all reasons why Cabo San Lucas attracts an A-list crowd.

Living and Retiring in Mazatlan

Travel Advisor's World's Top 25 Hotels

#8 The St. Regis Punta Mita Resort

Punta de Mita, Mexico

“Amazing place to relax and rejuvenate. The staff, services, food and, most of all, the attentive hospitality of everyone that works there is beyond all expectations.”

John Scherber Visits Central Mexico

As soon as John Scherber wrote that his latest book, Into the Heart of México: Expatriates Find Themselves Off the Beaten Path, was available, I immediately bought the Kindle edition. I find it fascinating to read about expats in Mexico and how they reached their decision to move there. In Scherber’s first book, San Miguel de Allende: A Place in the Heart, he concentrated on San Miguel. This latest book spends 15 months interviewing expats in Pozos, San Luis de la Paz, Morelia, Patzcuaro, Puebla, Zacatecas and Oaxaca. Those cities are all in the Mexican highlands where the weather is mild with few extremes.

The question always comes up, when I announce I want to spend at least six months a year in Mexico, where would you live? I say I’d like to spend at least a month in each place on my list, then decide. Scherber has just encouraged me to add seven more locations to my list.

The interviews are intimate close ups of people and what they like about the country and how the pace is slower. They have learned paciencia, patience, and while it seems many interviewees tend to be left-leaning, there doesn’t seem to be any great desire to go back to the U.S. except as a short visit. These people in the highlands are independent, speak Spanish, have Mexican friends, but don’t seem to need to have other expats around them to be happy.

Once exposed to Mexico, it seems easy to start preparing one’s mind for the move. Almost as easy to buy Scherber’s next book.

TRAVEL + LEISURE Beautiful Nighttime Photos

Guanajuato, Mexico

Part of me lives in this gorgeous town forever. —@willrong

Don't Be A Pineapple

‘Pineapples’: How to Not End Up a Disappointed Expat After the Honeymoon Phase Wears Off

"This is the word that Costa Rican realtors like to use when referring to expats that come wearing their rose-colored glasses with checkbook in hand. They, like real pineapples, are regularly in these paradise locations. A percentage leave within a year or two, leaving the real estate agents with more seeds to sow. This turnover makes them easy profits from people selling themselves on the idea of living abroad thanks to the ideas that have been 'implanted.'"

TRAVEL + LEISURE Most Romantic Hotel Fireplaces

Hotel Matilda, Mexico

Courtesy of Hotel Matilda

A relative newcomer to the artsy Spanish Colonial town of San Miguel de Allende, this boutique hotel is already renowned for its avant-garde contemporary art collection and a groundbreaking spa—guests can have locally sourced ingredients blended into customized formulas for treatments. The fireplace in the tranquil relaxation area is a favored spot for guests to bliss out before or after a couples massage or soak in the hammam.

TRAVEL CHANNEL Travel's Best All-Inclusive Resorts 2014

NIZUC Resort and Spa - Cancun, Mexico

Photography by NIZUC Resort and Spa

"Nizuc Resort has been the most luxurious resort in Cancun since it opened in September 2013. There are 274 rooms, suites and villas, many of which come equipped with private infinity pools. Within the resort complex, there are 6 high-end restaurants, the gorgeous indoor/outdoor ESPA spa with a detoxifying hydrotherapy circuit, a secluded beach and plenty of privacy. The resort -- tucked within lush foliage along a stretch of mangroves and beach -- offers a terrific all-inclusive Endless Indulgence package." -- Jimmy Im, Travel Personality

ME Cancun - Cancun, Mexico

Photography by Meliá Hotels International

"ME Cancun is an adult-oriented luxury resort that only allows guests to book accommodations as a ‘complete experience’ package. This resort’s 417 rooms all have breathtaking ocean or sunset lagoon views. All-inclusive services and facilities include 2 adults-only pools, a 24/7 fitness center, an E-space with library, the Beach Club, a world-class YHI Spa and more. All food, drinks, entertainment and activities are included in the price you pay." -- Kwin Mosby, Managing Producer, Travel Channel