The US is about to get even more attention. Another country deserves it more

Even in its quietest times, the United States tends to suck up a lot of attention. This is a country that demands to be noticed, whose culture is omnipresent, whose celebrities are global celebrities, whose heroes and villains stoke admiration and anger in nations far removed.

We know everything about America; it’s unavoidable. We know about its sports, even though most are essentially just national quirks. We know American landmarks, American stories and myths, American passions, and perhaps most specifically right now, American problems.

Because now is not the quietest time for the US, the country sucks up even more of the world’s attention, dominating the news cycle and altering everything about the planet around it.

Over the next six weeks, though, you’re going to be hearing about and thinking about the US a lot – probably even more than usual. The FIFA World Cup begins on Friday morning (Australian time). The tournament is being jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, though of course it’s the US that we will talk about most.

As a fan of travel, you probably know the US is a long-term favourite destination of Australians, a nation we’re very familiar with. Canada, its co-host, is also a wonderful place to visit, all jaw-dropping vistas and disarmingly friendly people.

But if you’re watching the World Cup this year and thinking about a future holiday, there’s somewhere better. Over the next six weeks, I encourage you to drag your gaze away from the spectacle that is the United States, and even away from Canada, to look south of the border. Because here you have one of the greatest destinations on the planet, and one that remains criminally underrated by Australian travellers.

Mexico. Thanks in part to our good friends in the US, we have a skewed notion of what this nation is all about, a group of stereotypes many of us have been fed since early childhood, when cartoon characters wore giant sombreros and lazed around playing guitars. Mexico is dangerous, we later learnt. It’s under-developed.

So it can be such a surprise for someone of my generation to arrive in Mexico and discover just what an amazing, joyous and culture-rich country this really is.

Let’s begin with the capital, Mexico City, one of the world’s great metropolises. It’s filled with art and creativity, a place of Aztec history and grand boulevards, where Diego Rivera has painted murals, Frida Kahlo produced her best work, local designers stock fashion boutiques and masked “lucha libre” wrestlers are idols.

Then you have Oaxaca City, home to the Day of the Dead festival, an incredible cultural experience; you have Guadalajara, birthplace of both mariachi and tequila (coincidence?); San Cristobal with its colonial-era architecture; the beachy goodness of the Yucatan and Baja peninsulas; and island life on Isla Mujeres and Isla Holbox.

Yet I’m still holding back, because Mexico’s key attraction is the food. This, again, comes as a shock when you grew up the way I did in Australia, thinking Mexican food is hard-shell tacos from a box (or burritos produced by two American expats).

Either way, Mexican food is hugely undersold here and largely misunderstood. What you will discover when you travel to Mexico is hands down one of the world’s greatest culinary cultures.

It’s not just tacos – although it is tacos. Tacos dripping with spiced meats and fiery salsas and crunchy vegetables and crumbled cheese, bought for a couple of bucks from late-night hole-in-the-wall joints, devoured with friends, washed down with Modelo Negras or micheladas or agua frescas (fresh juices).

Tortillas in Mexico are nothing short of stunning. Fresh corn tortillas, rolled by hand and toasted on a hot comal. Honestly, you have no idea what tortillas taste like until you’ve been to Mexico.

But then you have this whole world of food that I don’t have anywhere near enough space to explain, stews and braises, tamales and sandwiches, stuffed tortillas drowned in the most complex, flavourful sauces you have ever tasted, piping hot, grilled corn that has no right to be so delicious, fresh, zingy seafood, and on and on and on it goes.

There’s a joy to dining in Mexico that you get swept up in, a shared appreciation for this ritual and this cuisine that’s impossible to replicate.

There’s more to the attraction of the country: music is omnipresent – it seems like there’s always a band playing, always someone singing. Sport is a huge part of Mexican life. There’s a deep connection to history, to the Maya and the Aztecs, though there’s also a modern culture of creativity and invention, amazing cinema, beautiful stories.

Mexico is complicated because it does have deep social issues and sporadic violence. Vast swaths of the country, including much of the north, are rated “reconsider your need to travel” by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (though the country’s overall rating is just “exercise a high degree of caution” – the same rating as Britain and France, among many others).

But then, vast swaths are not. It’s a place to be aware of your safety and your surroundings, though not to become obsessed.

So this is your chance. This World Cup, turn your attention from the US – if the country will allow it. And if you’re looking for inspiration for your future travels, look south of the border, down Mexico way.