Mexico City: Cheap airfare to most visited religious destination

If you’d asked me to guess the world’s most visited religious destination, I would, without hesitation, guess the Vatican. But, apparently, I’d be wrong. According to a recent study by the Spanish Office of Tourism, “the preferred destination of tourists seeking religious sites, largely because of its Basilica de Guadalupe, which receives millions of pilgrims each year,” is Mexico City, reported the Los Angeles Times’ L.A. Plaza blog.

So get thee to Mexico City. A nonstop flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Mexico City (MEX) is less than four hours, you won’t have to battle too much jet lag (Mexico City is two hours ahead of us, on Central time), and for we Angelenos, it’s a whole lot cheaper to get there than to continental Europe’s smallest country anyway.

I’ve been watching airfares from LAX to MEX decrease in price over the last five months, from about $460 round-trip in August to as low as $262 round-trip now (including taxes and fees, for a trip in the beginning of February, through Orbitz.com).

Whether religious sites are your thing, you’ll find plenty to do and see in “the hemisphere’s biggest, oldest, most historic metropolis, a bottomless trove of superb art museums, genteel parks, excellent restaurants.” You can start planning with a read through “5 favorite vacation spots in Mexico,” in which the article’s author included Mexico’s capital in a selection of destinations considered safer for tourists in a country that has been, in parts, ridden with violence.

– Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: Dancers at the Basilica de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. Mexico Tourism Board]

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This entry was posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 at 10:18 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Airline travel, Arts & Culture, Deals, Mexico, Mexico City, News, Tips & Advice, Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.