Fees for Spanish classes in Mexico vary depending on the location, the program and the extras offered. As a general rule, tuition ranges from $125 to $200 a week for two to four hours a day of instruction; private lessons range from about $180 to over $360. Expect to pay a one-time registration fee of $75 to $100 on top of that. Homestays cost about $125 to $200 a week, depending on the number of meals and whether it offers shared or private rooms.

To make sure you're getting a program that will fit your needs and interests, be sure to get answers to the following questions before enrolling: How many hours of instruction are included? What extracurricular activities are included? How big are the classes, and what is the age range? Are students mainly from one country, or is there a broad mix of nationalities? Does the school emphasize oral exercises? Are all the teachers native speakers? How much experience have they had? Do they have professional teaching credentials? Is college credit available?

For comprehensive lists of Spanish schools in Mexico, check Planeta or Spanish Abroad. Here are some schools that we can recommend:

BAJA

Ensenada and La Paz both have established language schools. Even leaving aside Ensenada's proximity to drug gang violence, La Paz — the capital of Baja California Sur — holds more appeal. A genteel city with a delightful malecón (waterfront promenade) and streets lined by laurel trees and coconut palms, La Paz is as peaceful as its name. With a large middle-class working community, the small port city is largely overlooked by U.S. tourists, though it is the starting point for cruises to the islands of the Sea of Cortés.

Se Habla La Paz occupies a large, multistory house on a residential street two blocks from the waterfront. Its large, light-flooded classrooms are decorated with Mexican folk art; some have ocean-view balconies and terraces. Programs and materials are compiled for each individual's specific interests; a 40-hour-per-week Healthcare Program is also available and includes observation and practice in medical clinics as well as classroom study. The school has a branch in Guadalajara, enabling students to study in a large metropolis as well as a small coastal city.

See also: Centro de Idiomas, Cultura y Comunicación

PACIFIC

If you're Pacific coasting, you have choices in both Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta. I'd go for Mazatlán, which has a quaint but sophisticated downtown area; its resort scene is nearby but removed from the historic old town.

Centro de Idiomas de Mazatlán occupies the upper floors of an elegant old building not far from the cathedral in the downtown historic district, a short walk from the beach and harbor. The large, high-ceilinged classrooms are steeped in Old Mazatlán atmosphere. The program offers group or private lessons for two or four hours a day, plus an optional daily one-hour workshop on pronunciation and comprehension. The school hosts a Friday night conversation club with Mexicans studying English at the center, and will arrange volunteer stints and meetings with local people working in the student's profession or area of interest.

See also: CEPE (Centro de Estudios Para Extranjeros), the Puerto Vallarta branch of the University of Guadalajara's Spanish program for foreigners.

HIGHLANDS

Mexico's heaviest concentration of language schools lies inland, in picturesque colonial cities that enjoy moderate climates and no end of historical sites. As the best-known destinations for Spanish study, they draw the greatest numbers of U.S. tourists.

Cuernavaca has more language schools than any other city in Mexico. Its lively intellectual scene, proximity to Mexico City, famous "eternal spring" climate and rural enclaves make it catnip to Spanish students. Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico made his summer residence here in the mid-1800s, and wealthy Mexicans have been vacationing here ever since. You can find a Spanish language school to match any type of study style, from formal university courses to casual programs geared toward tourists.

Encuentros is housed in a modern building on a quiet residential street, with a two-story atrium overlooking the barranca (ravine), below. Emphasizing the "communicative" method, constructed around natural verbal exchanges, the program relies heavily on practicing Spanish during excursions to the bakery, the botanical garden, the local market or an artist's studio; cooking classes, films, salsa dancing on the terrace and get-togethers in the zócalo are also included in the tuition. For an extra fee, you can take short courses on Mexican crafts, alternative medicine or other subjects; a special one-on-one program for executives is also available.

See also: Cemanáhuac Educational Community, Experiencia

Besides Cuernavaca, San Miguel de Allende and Oaxaca are well-known bastions of Spanish study. In Guadalajara, try the University of Guadalajara's CEPE program, Instituto Mexico Americano de Cultura (IMAC), Se Habla La Paz's Guadalajara program or the Vancouver Language Centre.

Getting away from the anointed tourist destinations gives you more opportunity to put your Spanish to practical use. In the hilly, picturesque university town of Guanajuato, Academia Falcon occupies a large, chalet-style house built by wealthy Europeans in the late 1800s. The course tends toward a more academic approach but offers a wide variety of special interest courses and cultural programs. Escuela Mexicana is known for its small class size and family atmosphere, and Instituto Miguel de Cervantes is set on a hillside with spectacular views of Guanajuato and the historic mining town of Valenciana.

In Morélia, the capital of Michoacán state and arguably Mexico's most beautiful colonial city, the Baden-Powell Institute, occupying a colonial building in the historic center, specializes in individual instruction and offers a special "Spanish for travelers" program; the Centro Cultural de Lenguas, on the historic center's main avenue, teaches just two or three students per class and offers volunteer opportunities with disadvantaged Mexican children. Querétaro, another beautiful colonial city, has Olé on a cobblestone street in the historic center, featuring more than a dozen programs, including one for senior citizens, along with special vocabularies for engineers, lawyers, architects and other professionals.

YUCATAN

There might be no more unlikely place to take Spanish lessons than the one destination in Mexico where you could conceivably spend your entire vacation speaking only English, but Cancún does have one language school, and it's a great way to get a little bit of Mexico along with your sun, sand and spas, especially if you take advantage of its homestay program.

El Bosque del Caribe is downtown, close to the road connecting the city to the Hotel Zone. The school keeps classes to a maximum of six students (in all but summer months, they are usually smaller) and teaches Spanish through conversation, newspapers, literature and music as well as textbooks and videos, plus excursions to markets, museums and restaurants. Three-fourths of the students come from Europe, Brazil and Asia, which makes a refreshing change from the U.S.-dominated Hotel Zone. Students can stay in quarters on campus, live with Mexican families in nearby middle-class neighborhoods or rent private air-conditioned apartments or Hotel Zone condos, arranged by the school.

See also: El Estudiante, Playa Lingua del Caribe and Solexico, 45 minutes down the coast in Playa del Carmen.

Mérida is the language-school capital of the Yucatán. The hospitable "White City" is the modern incarnation of Maya civilization, with a continuing lineup of daily cultural events among the ornate colonial buildings. It's also the hub for trips to the Yucatán's trove of Maya archaeological sites.

The Benjamin Franklin Institute, occupying a big old colonial building in the Centro Histórico, is the granddaddy of Mérida's dozens of language schools; its primary focus is teaching English to Spanish-speakers, but it also teaches Spanish to foreigners. The most popular course is an intensive five-hour-per-day class combining morning classroom work with cultural activities in the afternoons. Though its program is more formal than other schools in the city, teachers typically provide guided tours of local sights in addition to classroom work.

See also: Centro de Idiomas Sureste (CIS), Ecora Spanish School, Instituto de Lengua y Cultura de Yucatán.