Costa Maya, Mexico

Long expanses of golden sand lining crystalline waters welcome visitors to this coastal Caribbean town on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Just offshore from the pristine beaches, colorful coral teems with tropical fish at Banco Chinchorro, a biosphere reserve with a number of shipwreck sites that attract snorkelers and divers alike. Equally enticing is the abundance of ancient Mayan ruins found just inland from Costa Maya. Dating to 200 BC, Kohunlich is best known for its Temple of the Masks, a pyramid in which the staircase is lined with beautifully preserved stuccos of humanized masks. Also nestled in the nearby jungles are the excavated palaces and pyramids of the 5th-century city of Dzibanché, and even closer to Costa Maya is the popular site of Chacchoben, where the spider and howler monkeys populate the wilderness surrounding the sacred Mayan temples.