6 Hidden Destinations in North America

Mexico

Destinations

Loltún Cave (Grutas de Loltún)

Mexico · Yucatán

Descend into a sprawling underground labyrinth that Maya priests once believed was a portal to Xibalba, the underworld, complete with ancient murals and 'singing' stone columns.

Loltún Cave, meaning 'Flower Stone' in Yucatec Maya, is a colossal cave system steeped in millennia of human history, from early hunter-gath...

Hierve el Agua

Mexico · Oaxaca

Imagine cascading waterfalls, not of water, but of solid stone, frozen mid-fall over a cliff face in the mountains of Oaxaca.

This extraordinary geological formation features two distinct 'petrified waterfalls,' sculpted over thousands of years by the calcium carbon...

Piedras Encimadas (Stacked Stones Park)

Mexico · Puebla

Journey into a hidden valley in Mexico where colossal boulders are perfectly balanced on top of each other, defying gravity like a geological Jenga game.

This surreal landscape is home to hundreds of massive volcanic rocks, some towering over 20 meters, sculpted by millennia of wind and rain i...

La Iglesia de San Juan Parangaricutiro

Mexico · Michoacán

Imagine a volcanic eruption so sudden and powerful that it swallowed an entire town, leaving only the steeple of its church defiantly poking through the solidified lava.

In 1943, the Parícutin volcano erupted in a farmer's cornfield, growing rapidly and eventually burying the village of San Juan Parangaricuti...

Sima de las Cotorras

Mexico · Chiapas

Every morning and evening, thousands of emerald-green parakeets erupt from or descend into a massive, jungle-filled sinkhole that also hides ancient rock art.

This colossal circular sinkhole, over 140 meters deep and 160 meters wide, forms a unique subterranean ecosystem with a mini-forest at its b...

Sótano de las Golondrinas (Cave of the Swallows)

Mexico · San Luis Potosí

Plunge into the heart of Mexico where an enormous, perfectly circular sinkhole plunges over a thousand feet, serving as a dizzying avian skyscraper for hundreds of thousands of birds.

This majestic open-air pit cave is so vast it could easily hold the Chrysler Building, descending an astounding 1,214 feet. Each dawn and du...