The colonial city of Merida is one of the most desired places to live in Mexico at the moment. It is a quiet town well known for its safety ambience and the high-quality gastronomy restaurants that enhance the traditional recipes and ingredients with the top trends in the kitchen culture. You will love the ambivalence of the downtown colonial style with the mansions of the rich families working on the henequen business.
Merida is located north-west of the Yucatan peninsula. It is only 5 hours drive from Riviera Maya and has its own airport. It is going to be a perfect spot to go and explore the stunning surroundings of the Uxmal jungle and the Yucatan beach coast.
When visiting Merida, you need to take a tour around the zocalo square, taking special attention to Montejo’s home and all the carved reliefs telling the colonization history. Walking across downtown is lovely, with all the well-dressed streets filled with traditional guayaberas shops and smell-good restaurants. At 60th street mind the Jesus Church, built with pyramid stones more than 400 years ago (as it used to be the trend back in the days).
Santa Lucia square is the place you want to visit at night when dinner time arouses. The restaurants open the gates to welcome you with the nicest of the Mayan cuisine flavors mixed with high standard international kitchens.
Also, in the city you might like to take a pick to the archeology museum, where some of the pieces rescued in the ruins are kept safe and opened to the public. Or walk across Montejo’s Avenue, the enjoyable path among the nicest s.XVIII palaces that stand as part of the wealthy Merida’s past.
When in Merida you must go take a tour in some of the henequen haciendas to know why this city was one of the richest areas in Mexico 200 years ago. Those haciendas, now opened as museums or hotels & restaurants, were the heart of the henequen business in the area, the plant that produced the clothing fibers.
Being in the heart of the Mayan zone, you are surrounded by ancient ruins, being Chichen Itzá the most well-known one, but give Uxmal a try, and also Mayapan, because those three were historically the ones that ruled the Mayan empire back in the day.
Cenotes in the area are simply incredible. You will find here some cavern or open cenotes that are fresh, quiet and low in tourism footprint. Once here, you will understand why cenotes were so important for the maya culture and the underworld rituals.
If visiting Merida surroundings, don’t miss Izamal, the golden town and the Franciscan convent built on top of a pyramid, or some other natural areas such as Puerto Progreso and the saltworks or the flamingo’s home in Celestun.
