Something like 2 weeks should be enough to cover as many whs at a slightly slower pace

Yeah with two weeks we covered the above plus, has time to really enjoy Mexico City, a place I put at the top of places I visited. Comfortably alongside Rome in WHS cities I've awarded 10 to (or five stars now I guess!!)

We seem to have acquired a second "Mexico" topic on the Forum - probably because the earlier one was never grouped under "Countries".
A number of us "regulars" provided our experiences and other info there from 2011. It is here
https://www.worldheritagesite.org/forums/index.php?phrase=mexico&action=search&search Go=1

Another "missing" source of info is the newsletter in which I provided my route and experiences from a fly-drive trip to Central Mexico in 2008. It is referred to in Els's "A 17 year Journey" history of this Web site blog of Oct 2014 ( https://www.worldheritagesite.org/blog/id/1 ) but the link is broken - can you "resurrect" it Els???

As a reminder, it was titled "17 WHS in 17 Days" and described a reasonably "hard", albeit rewarding, trip around Central Mexico by rent-a-car which took in 17 WHS and 9 TWHS. Since then 2 of the TWHS which we visited have been inscribed (Monarch Butterflies and San Miguel) as has Camino Real which we didn't "count" as a TWHS for some reason - so it actually took in 20 of today's WHS. Another inscription since then (Tembleque Aqueduct) could probably also have been taken in if I had "known" about it (it wasn't then even on Mexico's T List!). We also included visits to multiple Missions for both Serra Gorda and Popocatepetl as well as even (!) to non-T List sites such as Tula, Cholula (A "former" T List site) together with Rivera's Museo Huanacalli and Kahlo's "Blue House" in Mexico City - we weren't totally "WHS blinkered".

The pace of travel, whilst relentless, never reached the frenetic levels described by Kintante above and should provide a useful guide for Clyde (and others) if and when he/they want(s) to plan a similar trip to Central Mexico. We drove 4220kms in covering those sites - it needs to be realised that extending the route beyond the "core" sites and colonial cities in/around Mexico city to take in Franciscan Missions, El Tajin, Tlacotalpan, Oaxaca, Guadalajara and Tequila will significantly add to the drive and days required. The roads down through the Sierra Gorda Missions to Tajin, along to Tlacotalpan and up to Oaxaca in particular are quite slow/hard

Looking back, it is amazing how much technology has already altered how we travelled in those days a mere 10 years ago! We didn't have mobile phones or GPS maps and finding one's way around was quite a challenge. Booking.com existed but we didn't use it and had to find hotels each evening on arrival! 2 of the major logistical "difficulties" should thereby have been significantly eased for "today's" travellers".

Thanks Solivagant. I was looking for that but couldn't find it. I guess it would be wiser to wait a bit more then and allow 3 weeks to 'clean' most of Mexico (already visited Yucatan, Chiapas and Tabasco).

Done. It's here https://www.worldheritagesite.org/docs/newsletter16.html (although the diacritical marks seem to have gone missing, the itinerary is still very clear)

Clyde, as promised, here's our itinerary. Did it all with a rental car, total 19 WHS in 13/14 days:

26.12. evening arrival to Mexico City, night at hotel
27.12. Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan (WHS), Cathedral, Palace, Fine Arts Museum, Post museum. Afternoon Chapultepec – Anthropological museum, palace and gardens, Museo Tamayo and Tequila and Mezcal museum in the evening at the Mariachi plaza
28.12. Teotihuacan in the morning (WHS), drive to El Tajin with a stop to Padre Telembeque Aqueduct (WHS). Sightseeing at El Tajín (WHS), drive back to Mexico City, dinner, night at the hotel.
29.12. Early morning sightseeing of the University complex (WHS), then drive to Coyoacán, visit to Leon Trotsky Casa, skipped Casa Azul as the crews were insane. Drove to Louis Barragan house and studio (WHS), guided tour, then drove to Querétaro (2xWHS). Late lunch/early dinner there, rest of the day spent sightseeing around.
30.12. Day-trip to Sierra Gorda, stop at El Chuvejé waterfall, visiting Jalpán and Landa (mission churches) (WHS), lunch at Jalpán. Visited Bernal on the way back. Night at Querétaro.
31.12. Visit to San Miguel de Allende (WHS), drive to Guanajuato (WHS). Visited the Mummy museum, walked around town, had an early dinner and spent New Year's at the panoramic terrace of hour guesthouse.
1.1. Drive to Zacatecas (WHS), visited Cerro de la Bufa, walking around town, vsiting the sights.
2.1. Morning visit to Rafael Coronel museum, drive to Guadalajara. Left the car at the hotel, visited Hospicio Cabanas (WHS), walked around the town, visited the cathedral.
3.1. Day trip to Tequila (WHS) with tour of fields and distilleries.
4.1. Drive to Morelia (WHS), afternoon spent sightseeing.
5.1. Day trip around Lake Patzcuaro: Pátzcuaro with its museum, church and market, Tocuaro with the mask makers, and Tzintzuntzan. Night at Morelia.
6.1. Early morning ride to Angangueo, to see the Monarch butterflies (WHS). Then ride to Cuernavaca to see one of the monasteries at the slopes of Popocatepetl (WHS). Ride to nearby Xochicalco (WHS), late afternoon visit. Drive to Taxco, night there.
7.1. Early morning sightseeing of Taxco, drive to Puebla (WHS). Afternoon and evening spent sightseeing Puebla.
8.1. Morning trip to Cholula and Cacaxtla, drive to the airport, evening flight home.

Just to make this clear: this itinerary is rather extreme and I had to work more than usual on planning it. I am able to do stuff like this because I get reduced fares on flights and I sometimes have to do stuff like this because I am not able to use all of my 25 days off to visit WHS. To allow 2-3 hours for a town or 1-2 hours for a more compact site you have to be constantly on the move. Get up early, have lunch on the move (so no, meltwaterfalls, I unfortunately did not have plenty of local food), no "just sitting around" breaks, walk fast, no shopping and lots of driving. I can do this because I get excited when visiting WHS and develop a sort of energy and endurance I mostly lack on a normal workday.

To make this trip more relaxed I certainly would have added 2-3 days. However apart from Guanajuato (I had no time to visit the mine outside the center) I was totally ok with the time I spent per WHS and felt I covered the POI of the sites pretty well.

Wow, that looks like a busy trip, but I'm glad you were able to see everything you wanted and enjoyed your time, kintante! For those not interested in using a rental car, I have notes in the Mexico (or Alternatives) thread on how I used public transportation to visit nine sites around Mexico City last January. Mexico City is definitely worth the visit, and, as meltwaterfalls mentioned, the food is great. I am sorry to hear that there was earthquake damage to the cathedral at Cuernavaca. Hopefully it will not take long for it to be repaired.

My itinerary a few years ago:

25.12. Flight Mexico City

26.12. Mexico City

27.12. Teotihuacan

28.12. Cuernavaca + Xochicalco
In Cuernavaca aim for the chapel to the left to the entry.

29.12. Flight to Campeche, Bus to Merida

30.12. Uxmal (Daytrip from Merida)
Some Cenotes are on the road.

31.12. Celestun (Daytrip from Merida)
Progresso for Ring of Cenotes would have been better. On the road to Celestun there are also a few cenotes that are part of the site.

01.01. Valladolid (huge hangover)

02.01. Chichen Itza (daytrip from Valladolid)

03.01. Valladolid and surroundings

04.01. Bus Tulum, Tulum

05.01. Sian Kaan Day Trip, Tulum

06.01. Bus Tulum -> Chetumal

07.01. Chetumal -> Xpujij

08.01. Calakmul

09.01. Calakmul, Bus Emiliano Zapato, Colectivo Palenque

10.01. Palenque, Bus Villahermosa

11.01 Villahermosa, Bus Cosamaloapan, Bus Tlacotalpan. Note: I should have continued to Tuxtepec.

12.01. Tlacotalpan Bus Tuxtepec, Tuxtepec Collective Oaxaca.

13.01. Yagul/Mitla, Oaxaca/Monte Alban

14.01. Oaxaca Bus Puebla, Puebla.

15.01. Puebla Bus > Queretano > San Miguel

16.01. San Miguel > Bus Guanajuato

17.01. Guanjuato > Bus Morelia

18.01. Morelia > Bus Mexico City

19.01. Butterfies
Can be ticked off coming from Morelia.

21.01. UNAM & Luis Barragan

22.01 Tepoztlán

Thanks a lot nfmungard. Since I'd be willing to rent a car and I wouldn't have to drive further than Oaxaca, 2-3 weeks seem quite reasonable. Since I'm more into archaeological/cultural WHS, I'll try to add El Tajin instead when I decide to revisit Mexico.

Hi all, I am sharing my itinerary for my trip to Mexico next month + UNESCO site I will be visiting. I would appreciate any comments/suggestions. Thank you!

Day 1 - Mexico City - Historic Center of Mexico
Day 2 - Mexico City - Teotihuacan
Day 3 - Mexico City - UNAM
Day 4 - Mexico City - Historic Center of Mexico
Day 5 - Mexico City - Historic Center of Mexico
Day 6 - San Miguel de Allende + San Juan De Dios (Camino Real)
Day 7 - Queretaro
Day 8 - Guanajuato
Day 9 - Cuernavaca
Day 10 - Xochicalco
Day 11 - Oaxaca - Historic Center
Day 12 - Oaxaca - Monte Alban + Yagul and Mitla
Day 13 - Oaxaca - Historic Center
Day 14 - Mexico back to Manila

One can potentially "tick off" Sierra de San Francisco by visiting the National Museum of Anthropology in CDMX (@Bosque de Chapultepec) as it has a replica. Whereas the real deal is not sealed off per se like the ones in France or Spain, it is very tricky to get to and requires a mule hike through the rough areas of Baja Sur. For purists that's perhaps cheating but if you aren't in good health or something...

#discuss

p.s. enjoy your trip

Thank you Zoe! Would probably not tick it off so I will have motivation to visit Mexico again, though visiting again may be hard to do if you have full-time work and are a Filipino passport holder (weak passport).

I have forgotten to indicate there that I will also visit Frida Kahlo Museum and Bosque de Chapultapec (tentative sites). I intentionally did not include Luis Barragan because the tickets are already sold out. I was fine spending bucks to be able to enter but it's also a turn off that they charge you big bucks just to take pictures.

I have also noticed that the preceding itineraries are jam-packed. I wonder how the trip went as most seem to be spending the day traveling to and fro...

You can do a lot more if you rent a car, which is quite easy in Mexico. Even if you stick to public transport five days in the capital seems a lot (actually seven as I suppose Xochicalco and Cuernavaca will be done from the capital). Go at least to Puebla. From Cuernavaca you can go to Taxco de Alarcon, a T-site and a hidden gem.

San Miguel de Allende can be accomodated between Queretaro and Guanajuato without losing any day.

Two days in historic center of Oaxaca is way too much. Do Oaxaca, Monte Alban and Yagul in two days and see Tehuacan.

I had some guidance on what worked for me using Mexico City as a base, but it appears that it has been deleted from the forum, probably in an attempt to merge the Mexico threads (the other thread had been used for logistic discussions). I can't recreate the recommendations now since I don't have a copy of it handy, but I can pass on two recommendations:

1) If you want to visit the Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque (which is sort of impressive, but not the best thing you'll see in Mexico), it can easily be added onto a day trip to Teotihuacan. I hired a taxi to drive me out to the aqueduct in the morning, where I took some pictures and walked down a short trail, then had the taxi drop me off at Teotihuacan, where I spent the rest of the day before catching the bus and metro back to Mexico City.

2. If you're looking for another stop on the Camino Real, I highly enjoyed Tepotzotlan, which has the National Museum of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the heavily gilded Church of San Francisco Javier housed in the inscribed College of San Francisco Javier complex. There are regular buses to Tepotzotlan from the north side of Mexico City (I believe I had more specific logistics in my lost post, but you should be able to find bus information online).