Ten underrated cities from Newfoundland to Guatemala, from Guanajuato's tunnelled ravine to Dominica's rainforest capital, ranked by how much more they give than their visitor numbers suggest.
Most North America trips run New York, Cancún, Las Vegas and Mexico City. These ten sit a short flight or a bus ride off that circuit. We ranked them by the gap between how good the place is and how few visitors it gets, the same basis as our global hidden gems list.
A silver-mining town in a ravine, on the UNESCO list since 1988, where the traffic runs through tunnels that once carried the river. Ride the funicular to the Pípila for the view, then go underground at La Valenciana.
A baroque city of tiled facades two hours from Mexico City, with close to 2,600 listed colonial buildings. The Biblioteca Palafoxiana of 1646 counts as the first public library in the Americas; buy Talavera only from certified workshops.
Cuba's first capital, founded in 1515 under the Sierra Maestra, and where son cubano took shape. Hear it at the Casa de la Trova, then give an afternoon to El Morro, the UNESCO-listed fort above the harbour mouth.
The Yucatán's white capital, around a cathedral finished in 1598, the first completed on the American mainland. Use it as a base: Uxmal is an hour south, the Homún cenotes an hour east, and the plazas stage free music most nights.
The Spanish capital of Central America until the earthquakes of 1773, on the UNESCO list since 1979. Walk the cobbled grid past the roofless churches never rebuilt, with Volcán de Fuego smoking over the rooftops.
A harbour city closer to Dublin than to Winnipeg, its painted wooden houses stacked up the hills. Climb Signal Hill, where Marconi took the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901, then drive to Cape Spear, the continent's easternmost point.
Dominica's small capital is the way into the Caribbean's wildest interior: Morne Trois Pitons National Park, UNESCO-listed since 1997, and the Boiling Lake. In 2023 the island's western waters became the world's first sperm whale reserve.
The Maya city the jungle kept, where Pakal's tomb was found in 1952 under a staircase packed with rubble. Be at the gate for opening, with the mist still in the trees, and finish at the Misol-Ha waterfall.
Canada's smallest provincial capital, host of the 1864 conference that led to Confederation. Summer runs at full volume from late June to September, with Island oysters on the wharf and the beaches 20 minutes north.
A lake city in a dry valley that grows peaches at the 50th parallel, where a mission planted the Okanagan's first vines in 1859. In 2025 it became Canada's first UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy; come for the autumn harvest.
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