Luxury dog-friendly hotels in Izamal, Mexico

A treasure of the Yucatán, pueblo mágico Izamal is golden indeed – quite literally, with its colonial buildings painted a bright saffron hue. No-one can say exactly why (stories range from the appeasement of a sun deity to an act of marking the 1993 visit of Pope John Paul II), but this sunny-side-of-life attitude makes it picturesque and all the cheerier to explore. Izamal’s best known for its cache of Mayan pyramids (some of which you can climb), archaeological sites, the 16th-century San Antonio de Padua Convent, and its weekly sound and light show. It's a laid-back, leafy spot, within a day-trip’s length of Chichén Itzá and various cenotes, where your day’s measured out in history hunting, market rummaging and munching on cochinita pibil-stuffed tacos.