To many travellers from across Canada, the first thing to come to mind when planning a trip to Mexico is the chance to escape Canadian winter for a week or two at least and this translates to sun and sand. The experience might begin there in Cancún or Cozumel for instance but it is nowhere near complete without a trip away from the beach.

A good place to start if you want to get a bit off the well-beaten paths to the resorts is to experience some of the most marvellous sights in the world – Mexico’s brilliant collection of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

There are about 30 such sites in Mexico, one of the highest counts in the world. The sites are archaeological and cultural gems found in nearly every state, chosen for their gastronomy, ancient and modern architecture, museums, crafts, languages and customs of ethnic groups. Speaking of Cancun, Cozumel and the resorts of The Yucatán, there are five World Heritage Sites within easy touring distance from the coastal resorts. It is 411 kilometres diagonally across the peninsula from Cancún to the fortified town of Campeche, a heritage site founded in 1540.Three of the sites are closer to Cancún including the very famous Chichén Itzá . Here is a description of some of Mexico’s World Heritage Sites.

Chichén Itzá

Chichén Itzá is the most important remnant of the Maya-Toltec civilization that lasted from the 10^th to the 15^th century in Yucatán. Its monuments include the well-known Great Ball Court, Temple of Kukulkan and Temple of the Warriors, splendid with their sculpted decorations.

The settlement of Chichén Itzá was established close to two cenotes or chenes, natural and deep cavities in the earth, and residents tapped the underground water in these cavities. The area has a fascinating history including the period when Toltec invaders fiercely subjugated the local population and imposed the ritual of human sacrifice.

Visitors can see here the Caracol, a circular stellar observatory, the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, El Castillo with terraces where the major monumental complexes were built. They can visit the Great Ball Court, Tzompantli or the Skull Wall, the temple known as the Jaguar Temple, and the House of Eagles as well as the Temple of the Warriors, Group of the Thousand Columns, and the Tomb of the High Priest.

Decorations at Chichén Itzá include battle scenes in luxurious detail with likenesses of the plumed serpent Quetzalcoatl and enormous heads of reptiles. Here too is the famed statues of the rain god Chac-Mool.

Uxmal

The ruins of the ceremonial structures at Uxmal represent the pinnacle of late Mayan art and architecture. Uxmal is the centre of the Puuc region in the south-western part of the State of Yucatán. Its main structures were built between AD 700 and 1000. At one time Uxmal was one of the most important great urban capitals in the south-west of Yucatán.

The Pirámide del Adivino dominates the collection of ruins at Uxmal but visitors can also see the Palacio del Gobernador (Governor's Palace), the Casa de las Tortugas, the ball court, and other important discoveries in the area which is still being investigated.

Campeche

The harbour town of Campeche is described as a Baroque colonial town, with a chequerboard street plan and defensive walls. The fortification system of Campeche, an outstanding example of the military architecture of the 17th and 18th centuries, was part of an overall defensive system set up by the Spanish to protect the ports on the Caribbean Sea from pirate attacks.

During the second half of the 16th century, Campeche, like other Caribbean towns, was systematically attacked by pirates and corsairs in the pay of enemies of Spain.

While imagining some of the excitement of pirate attacks on the town, visitors can take in the almost 1,000 buildings of historic value in Campeche including the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, churches, the Toro theatre and municipal archives. In the system of fortifications are the redoubts of San José and San Miguel and the batteries of San Lucas, San Matiás and San Luís.

Calakmul

Calakmul was one of the Maya cities of the Tierras Bajas region and is famous for its series of tombs, some of them royal, with a rich variety of ornaments, ritual ceramic vessels, and a large number of jade masks.

Within a single site, Calakmul displays exceptionally well-preserved monuments and open spaces representative of Maya architectural, artistic and urban development over 12 centuries.

The archaeological site is located within the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which was created in 1989 and is the largest in Mexico. The reserve contains a very extensive ancient settlement that is still not completely explored. This town is comparable with other, better-known sites of the Mayan culture, such as Palenque, Uxmal and Chichen Itza in Mexico and Tikal or Copán in Central America and contains structures that are older than those to be found in these sites.

Tourists visiting Calakmul can see the 120 stelae that have been found on the site. These are stone territorial markers that are often richly decorated and that tell much about the history of the ancient city. Sculpture and reliefs at Calakmul are of high quality and rare.

The Tierras Bajas region itself is heavily forested. Recent discoveries show that large monumental ceremonial structures were built in the reserve leaving visitors to imagine a mysterious and more advanced, complex form of society, capable of creating the enormous structures such as a monument 12 metres high dating back about 2200 years or more.

Palenque

If your visitors want to experience Mayan art at its best, you can direct them to Palenque. Here is architecture with a rare elegance, richly decorated with sculptures and stucco of a type never previously seen. The sights that visitors will see are the same as those that were greatly admired by the conquistadores when they conquered Mexico.

In the heart of a tropical jungle, the ruins of Palenque are only the central area of a vast city that covered eight square kilometresThe layout of the site is incredible. Artificial terracing changed the natural topography of the site, which is between the rugged foothills of the Chiapas to the south-south-east and the lowlands to the north. A river was channeled into an ingenious 50metre-long vaulted-roof canal, and crosses the city.

The dominant element in the central cleared area is the Palacio erected on an immense artificial knoll shaped like a truncated pyramid with a watchtower or astronomical observatory, a unique example in Mayan architecture. Palenque also includes the Temple of Inscriptions atop a stepped pyramid located below the Palacio over a funerary crypt that was explored in 1952.

Visitors will be able to see, in the distance other magnificent temple-pyramids, which are half hidden by vegetation, with names like Temples of the Sun, the Cross and the Foliated Cross, and the Temple of the Count.

One thing visitors to these five world heritage sites can count on is having an incredible experience that will last them at least until their next marvelous vacation in Mexico. Then, you can direct them to the other score and more of UNESCO sites. As one travel writer puts it, there is truly nothing like marvelling at a 1300-year-old Maya palace as parrots screech and howler monkeys growl in the sweaty emerald jungle around you; not even tanning on a beach with the sounds of the surf in your ears.