Five top — and safer — Mexico vacation spots

It's understandable why Americans are thinking twice about venturing south of the border. A wave of gruesome violence, much of it related to drug trafficking, has swept Mexico in the past two years, leaving thousands dead.

This past summer, armed assailants shot up a town in Northern Mexico that's a gateway to the spectacular Copper Canyon region, killing 13 people. A pile of decapitated bodies turned up 75 miles from the great Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Although the U.S. government hasn't warned Americans to stay away, it has urged caution. On its Web site, www.travel.state.gov, the State Department reports: "While millions of U.S. citizens safely visit Mexico each year, including thousands who cross the land border every day for study, tourism or business, increased levels of violence make it imperative that travelers understand the risks of travel to Mexico. ... Common-sense precautions ... can help ensure that travel to Mexico is safe and enjoyable."

Travelers in Mexico must stay alert, especially in towns near the border with the U.S. and in the northwestern states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua, which are rife with criminal activity. But there remain many safe, or at least relatively safe, destinations.

Here are five favorites that I have visited — all of them twice or more.

Mexico City: Yes, the Mexican capital is a noisy, congested, chaotic place where you should steer clear of those green and white VW Beetle taxis (some engage in kidnapping) and watch your back at ATMs. But it's also the hemisphere's biggest, oldest, most historic metropolis, a bottomless trove of superb art museums, genteel parks, excellent restaurants.

First-time visitors usually gorge on the greatest hits: the bustle of the Zocalo (great central plaza), the superb murals in the Bellas Artes performing arts hall by Diego Rivera, the National Museum of Anthropology in Chapultepec Park. But also try to spend an afternoon just strolling and sampling the pleasures of one of the many neighborhoods, perhaps Coyoacan, with its elegant Colonial-era private homes and cobbled streets.

Puebla: One of Mexico's most beautiful and authentic cities is a mere three hours' drive from the capital, off a good highway past the twin volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl. Puebla's ample historic center has well-preserved baroque buildings, many of them open to the public.

The cathedral is a priority, as is the Museo de La Revolucion (Museum of the Revolution), where the Serdan family fought a 14-hour gun battle with federal troops and police on Nov. 18, 1910, the symbolic start of Mexico's 10-year civil war.

Veracruz City: This tropical port, where the conqueror Hernan Cortes first stepped onto the New World mainland, is often overlooked by travelers dashing to the beaches. That's a shame, because Veracruz is a hospitable city with a raffish charm and an intriguing mixed-ethnicity character.

Its plazas teem with music at night. On nearly any evening you can hear trios, quartets and larger ensembles playing traditional "son jarocho," mariachi, marimba and Afro-Caribbean styles all jostling and overlapping. The expansive harbor front and the miles-long "malecon" (seafront promenade) are terrific places for people-watching.

Playa del Carmen: Leave behind Cancun's overpriced, overbuilt chain hotels and venture south toward the calmer environs of the Yucatán Peninsula. There are accommodations to fit practically every budget, from luxurious small beach hotels to funky resorts with palapa-style bungalows for a fraction of the price. Either way, you'll get access to miles of white sand lapped by calm, warm, turquoise waters. And whatever you do, don't pass up the chance to visit the late-Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Puerto Escondido: This provincial town in southern Oaxaca state is well-known as a hippie-surfer hangout, but it's much more than that. Sleepier and less developed than Oaxaca's other main beach destination — Huatulco, which received huge government development subsidies — Puerto Escondido retains an authentically Mexican atmosphere.