Merida, Mexico

Capital city of the state of Yucatan, Merida, has great architecture and a rich cultural heritage. Whether you are looking to spend your vacation in a cozy B&B or roam around the city to explore the culture and architecture or even go a little further away to experience some natural wonders, Merida has it all.

I loved Merida for many reasons 1. It is surprisingly clean. It’s hard to find even a single piece of garbage on the streets. 2. It is very safe. Yucatan is considered the safest state in Mexico. We walked around late at night without any worry. 3. It is such a walkable city and walking is fun when you have such cute and colorful houses all around. 4. You can enjoy authentic Mayan cuisine which has a lot of flavor. 5. There are many options for exciting day trips. 6. Unlike Cancun, Merida is not very touristy.

Things to do in and around Merida

Explore the architecture and culture – Merida has a character which is influenced by Mayan and Spanish architecture. Most of the streets in Merida are full of beautiful pastel color row houses – perfect for that instagram picture. Some are well maintained, some are not but they truly represent the life in Merida. Don’t forget to go out for an evening stroll on Calle 60. On weekends the street is closed at night for live performances.

Experience authentic local cuisine – You may have eaten plenty of mexican food before but Yucatecan cuisine is different. Highly recommend Chaya Maya (you will probably get this recommendation from everyone in Merida!). I tried their Pollo Pibil which is marinated chicken cooked in banana leaves served with handmade tortillas and bean puree. It was delicious. Some of the other highly recommended restaurants are Panchos, Mercado 60, La Prospe del Xtup.

Check out the Cenotes – This is definitely a must do. Cenotes are underground caverns formed when limestone bedrock collapses and exposes the underground water. Yucatan has around 7000 cenotes and many of them are just a few hours away from Merida.

Cuzama is a highly recommended one – it is a group of three cenotes, a few hundred meters apart from each other. It is a great way to experince different types of cenotes in one trip. The fun part is a horse-pulled cart that takes you from one cenote to another. The one way ride to the farthest cenote is about 30-40 minutes. Keep in mind the stairs taking you to the underground cavern can be very steep and slippery . Wear appropriate shoes and take extra caution while heading down the stairs. Keeping a torch with you might not be a bad idea. Swimming is allowed so carry your swim suits.

Take a trip to see Mayan Ruins – Yucatan is known for Mayan ruins. Two of the well known sites are – Chichen Itza and Uxmal. You can pick either of these sites based on your convenience. However, locals recommend Uxmal as it is less touristy and I agree with that. It is a great way to get a glimpse of grand Mayan empire.

Chichen Itza might be a better choice if you want to see the ruins on your way to/from Cancun.

You can combine your visit to Uxmal and Cuzama in the same day. Uxmal can be seen in 2 hours and Cuzama would require around 3 hours. Travel time from Merida would be ~3.5 hours making this a 8-9 hours long day trip.

How to reach Merida?

You can fly in to Merida but there are a very few direct flights from the US. The other option would be to fly to Cancun and then take a bus. There are some really good buses between Merida and Cancun run by ADO which take around 3 to 4 hours. Bus turns out to be a much cheaper option than a private taxi. Although a taxi would give you the flexibility to stop and explore some sites on the way.

Where to Stay?

If you only have a couple of days in Merida, my recommendation would be to stay within a walking distance of Santa Lucia Square. This area seem to have a lot of activities with some good restaurants in and around the square.

Merida has some great resorts and B&Bs. We stayed in Casa Del Maya Bed & Breakfast located on Calle 66. This place is beautiful and the owner is super helpful. He helped us with each and everything we needed to have an excellent trip. Rooms are simple but cozy. They also have delicious homemade breakfast!

How to roam around?

The city is pretty walkable but you can use Uber if you do not want to walk. For exploring the places around Merida, you can either book a tour or hire a chauffeur driven car. Those could be arranged through your hotel and cost around 2,200 Pesos per day. There are rental car options available at the airport too.

Travel Tips

Keep Google Translate handy – At many places, you will find locals do not speak english. We used Google translator to communicate with our taxi drivers.

Make sure to have some local currency – You will need Pesos to pay for entrance fee for Mayan ruins as well as Cenotes. We also used it to pay our taxi driver too. There are a couple of money exchange centers neat Santa Lucia Square.

Hope this gets you excited to plan your trip to Merida. This cute little city definitely deserves a couple of days of detour from Cancun.