The pre-trip anxiety started early. “There’s a 90 per cent chance you’ll have your own bed,” said Justyna Chlopecka from WeRoad, the tour company I’d just signed up with to go to Mexico. “But don’t worry,” she assured me over the phone. “We probably wouldn’t put you in a room with a man.” I hung up and immediately sent an email asking for my own room, which would cost extra.
WeRoad’s Mexico 360 tour is a 13-day whistle-stop trip around the Yucatan peninsula, in southern Mexico. The adventure takes travellers from Cancun to Valladolid, Merida, Uxmal and Bacalar before looping back towards Tulum, Playa del Carmen and Holbox. Groups stay in a different town almost every night, with time split between visiting Mayan ruins, swimming in cenotes (natural pools, often underground), exploring the local cuisine, learning to salsa and relaxing by the beach.
Launched in 2017 by three friends in Milan, WeRoad is an Italian start-up that specialises in group adventure trips for solo millennial travellers. Today, it is one of the fastest-growing travel platforms in Europe, with a team of about 150 employees and additional offices in Spain, France, Germany and the UK. In the past financial year, 50,000 travellers flew around the globe with WeRoad, with popular destinations including Jordan, Morocco, Japan, Cuba, Peru and Bali.
Some focus on history and nature, while others are more geared towards partying or physical activity — trekking in Patagonia, for example. The Classic 360 trips, like ours, are designed to showcase all aspects of a destination with typical group sizes of 10 to 15. There were 11 of us on our trip, including our tour co-ordinator, Ana, who was responsible for organising the trip and getting us around on time. The catch? She had never been to this part of Mexico before.
WeRoad is not like other tour companies. First, it’s significantly cheaper — which is partly why I had some misgivings about travelling with them. One of its main competitors, Flash Pack, offers a nine-day tour of Mexico from £2,590pp, including transfers, some activities and most meals. Meanwhile, ours is four days longer but costs just £1,529pp, with similar inclusions. Second, there’s the intention behind the tours: Flash Pack’s feel more rooted in traditional tourism — the itinerary features zip-lining and swimming with turtles — whereas WeRoad’s tours are supposed to offer experiences that reflect local cultures.
Advertisement
And bar a visit to Chichen Itza, the ancient Mayan city, we avoided the typical tourist trail. We got our culinary kicks in the depths of humid markets in Merida (chilli-spiced clementines and black sapote, a fruit native to southern Mexico that tastes like a cross between a date and a potato). We dived into lesser-known cenotes that were jaw-droppingly stunning and blissfully uncrowded. And we were shown around 16th-century haciendas so pretty that they looked straight out of a Wes Anderson film.
The restaurants we visited were almost entirely populated by Mexicans, as were the salsa bars we danced in most evenings. It made it more challenging for the non-Spanish speakers, which was most of us, but it meant everything we did felt special, offering a taste of the untrodden path we’d struggle to follow, let alone find, otherwise.
“Mixing with the locals made it very unique for a tour like this,” said my fellow traveller, Stela, 32, from Bulgaria. “I loved learning salsa with them.” That the planning was done for us also made it a fairly relaxing adventure. “I signed up for the trip very late without much research on WeRoad or Mexico,” said Mark, 44, from London. “Luckily for me there was a great itinerary. Top memories for me were swimming in the cenotes and rounding it off with two days on the island of Holbox.”
Gaps in the plan left room for unexpected moments of joy — playing card games huddled under an umbrella on the beach in Holbox while it rained, dancing on tables in a Tulum nightclub and being surprised by an enormous crocodile on a boat trip.
Another way in which WeRoad differs from its competitors is that it doesn’t hire tour co-ordinators who are experts in the area, but instead avid travellers with the same aims and intentions as the customers: to discover new countries and cultures alongside a group of strangers. When we visit cultural sites, such as the Tulum and Uxmal ruins, Ana asks questions along with the rest of us. The co-ordinators are paid, of course, but they are part-time employees who put the itineraries together themselves with support from WeRoad and advance input from the group (Ana asked us all to fill out a brief questionnaire on our preferences for the trip).
Advertisement
“We want our tours to be more than just a journey,” explained Chlopecka, the company’s marketing manager. “WeRoad’s co-founders had done a series of trips with other companies and felt that the leaders were detached and disconnected from the group. This inspired them to infuse a more human element into our tours, choosing seasoned travellers as group leaders.”
• 10 of the best tour companies for solo travellers
• Mexico travel guide
It’s a good idea, but not one that’s highlighted on the website — almost no one in our group realised that Ana had never visited most places she would be taking us to. This meant that she couldn’t answer everyone’s questions, which caused some frustration. The age range — from 29 to 45 — and the mix of nationalities (six in total, including Bulgarian, Japanese, and Polish) also led to the occasional communication clash.
Flexibility with the itinerary meant that ours was slightly different from the one online — so a few things some people had looked forward to (eg beach time) were overlooked, but there were also some pleasant surprises (snorkelling off the coast of Cozumel, part of the second-largest barrier reef system in the world). The transfers could be tiresome. For the first half of the trip we had a small minivan with faulty air conditioning, and for second half a smaller one that dripped water on our heads. A luxurious holiday this was not — the hotels were fine at best; dirty or smelly at worst — although a few of us noticed that one hotel listed on our itinerary had particularly terrible reviews. Thankfully it was changed at the last minute.
Despite this, it was still one of the most incredible trips of my life, much more so than my first visit to Mexico, when I stayed in overpriced hotels in Tulum and Holbox with my boyfriend of the time. Sure, I might have been a little cleaner, felt a bit safer, and spent more time on a beach than in a broken minivan. But I didn’t explore beyond my comfort zone, nor was I surrounded by an international group of people I’d never normally come across in my daily life.
Advertisement
This is where WeRoad excels and why I’d recommend its trips. Because despite every complaint and concern, there was an underlying spirit that bonded us throughout. On those long transfers, we spoke about family issues, grief, loneliness, break-ups and divorces. We engaged in healthy debates about a range of sociopolitical topics. We even did yoga on the side of the road during a traffic jam and held towel-screens up for each other so we could pee in the bushes.
Parts of the trip were really challenging, particularly for those in the group who were more accustomed to high-end, more organised travel. But they’re the kind of challenges that push you to become a better, more tolerant and patient person. We could all do with more of that.
In today’s hyper-online society, a WeRoad trip also offers something that is becoming fleetingly rare and increasingly valuable: an opportunity for real human connection. The kind that can only come from regular, consistent interactions, forcing you to venture beyond insipid chatter about work, hobbies and how many siblings you have. If you’ve ever found yourself longing for that, well, I’d suggest booking immediately. There have already been a few London meet-ups among the group.
There are things WeRoad could tweak to improve — slightly cleaner hotels wouldn’t go amiss, nor would a more thorough pre-trip questionnaire to gauge the interests and tastes of the group. But generally speaking, if the experience has taught me anything, it’s to do the things that unsettle you. Very often, they can be the most rewarding.
Olivia Petter was a guest of WeRoad, which has 12 nights’ B&B from £1,529pp, including transfers (weroad.co.uk). Fly to Cancun
This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue
Three more ways to see Mexico
Advertisement
By Sean Newsom
1. Street food tour
Squash-flower burritos, blue corn tlacoyos, Oaxaca sherbet, all kinds of chillies: ten days of culinary fire and colour await on this three-centre tour, from Mexico City to the Unesco-listed Puebla and on to Oaxaca. Accommodation is in mid-range hotels and in each city, guided market tastings are your starting point. You’ll go on to meet some of the local chefs updating centuries-old culinary traditions. You’ll meet brewers and distillers too — as they turn the sacred agave plant into two of the country’s most distinctive drinks, pulque and mezcal.
Details Nine nights’ B&B from £2,160pp (journeylatinamerica.com). Fly to Mexico City
2. From Puerta Vallarta to Mexico City
Beach life, rebellion and the lust for gold all feature on this Essential Central Mexico guided tour. It starts on the Pacific Ocean beaches of Puerta Vallarta before moving inland for tequila-tasting in Guadalajara and the exuberant architecture and tumultuous history of Guanajuato — one of the tinderboxes that ignited Mexico’s War of Independence. You’ll visit gracious San Miguel de Allende too, which grew fat on the proceeds of Mexico’s gold and silver-mining boom: as you might, given all the tamales and quesadillas you’ll be eating en route.
Details Eight nights’ B&B from £877pp (gadventures.com). Fly into Puerta Vallarta and out of Mexico City
3. Whale-watching in Baja California
Yes, the accommodation at the remote Cabanas San Ignacio is pretty basic. But for whale-watchers that’s a minor concern. Because here, in the Vizcaino Biosphere Reserve on the Baja California peninsula, it’s what goes on offshore that counts. For generations, grey whales have been coming here each winter to mate and calve, and on twice-daily boat trips, visitors can interact with them. Local populations of peregrine falcon, pelican and osprey deepen the sense of wonder. Tailor-made trips usually take place in February or March.
Details Eight nights’ B&B from £4,195pp, including flights and most other meals (wildlifeworldwide.com)
Sign up for our Times Travel newsletter and follow us on Instagram and X
