11-Day Sober Mexico Tour: Yucatán & Palenque on Tren Maya 2027

Most people picture the Yucatán as Cancún’s party scene. Our 11-day tour shows TSC readers the opposite: a slow, alcohol-free journey by train into Mexico’s Mayan heartland. We ride the Tren Maya from Cancún to Valladolid, Mérida, Campeche, and the jungle of Palenque, with guided visits to Chichén Itzá, Uxmal, Edzná, and Palenque, cenote swims, a bike day, and turquoise waterfalls in Chiapas.

The timing matters. The trip starts January 4, the first weekend of Dry January, so it gives readers who want a real reset something to say yes to instead of a month of white-knuckling at home. Many of our guests come solo and leave with lifelong friends.

My husband Zach and I are both in long-term recovery. We know early sober travel can feel scary, especially in places known for drinking, and we’ve built this trip to feel safe, joyful, and adventurous. It’s culturally respectful too, with local guides, pesos spent at local businesses, and a Spanish crash course. For sober and sober-curious readers, it’s proof that a famous destination can be experienced in a completely different, clear-headed way.

Carrie Hoffman and Zach Minnich are a married couple in long-term recovery from alcohol addiction. Carrie has been sober since 2016, and Zach followed soon after. They founded Bigger Life Adventures in 2018 and have since hosted more than 100 alcohol-free yoga and adventure trips in six countries and four US states, and about 60% of their guests come back for another trip. Carrie is an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher, 800-hour Ayurvedic Health Counselor, trauma-informed and teen yoga teacher (Prison Yoga Project, Yoga Ed.), Wilderness First Responder, and permitted Grand Canyon guide who runs the yoga program at Flagstaff’s juvenile detention center. Zach is a holistic nutritionist, Reiki master, Wilderness First Responder, and the plant-based chef behind the cookbook Plants on Plates. Together they ran Grand Canyon Eco Retreat for five years and have traveled to 44 countries.