You don’t associate the Yucatan peninsular and it’s east coast beach resort strip with city visits, but the Yucatan’s major pre-tourist era cities of Merida, Campeche and Valladolid can easily occupy a week of your time without needing a car.
They are all walkable cities linked by an excellent bus network, and side trips to the world class Maya archaeological sites of Uxmal and Chichen Itza are easily arranged. It’s worth noting that Maya culture and language is still alive and well despite Spanish colonization, with about 800,000 Yucatec Mayan speakers.
Merida
Merida! One of Mexico’s largest preserved colonial cities and the capital of Yucatan State.
Merida retains its low-slung colonial street pattern (odd-numbered streets – calles – run east-west, even north-south) with the usual main plaza surrounded by colonnaded businesses, one of the Mexico’s oldest cathedrals (built 1561-98) and a governor’s palace. On the south side of Plaza Grande, visit the Casa de Montejo (1542) a mansion built for the Spanish governor’s family, now open as a museum.
You can spend plenty of time covering the city center streets largely bounded by Calles 50-68 east-west and Calles 55-65 north-south. Check out the main markets in the center, particularly Mercado San Benito (Calle 69 at Calle 54) and the Mercado Municipal #2, which has a range of good food vendors. (Calle 57 at Calle 70). Parque de Santa Lucia (Calle 55 at Calle 60) is a popular gathering place in the evenings.
A walk along Paseo de Montejo north out of the old center is lined with various 19th/20th century mansions. Merida’s Regional Anthropology Museum (Calle 43 and Paseo de Montejo) is housed in the Palacio Canton, a former Governor’s residence, and well worth a stop for its exhibits on regional Maya discoveries. Further north (a taxi ride from the center), the newer Museum of the Maya World (http://www.granmuseodelmundomaya.com.mx/) is a good preparation for visits to the Maya sites.
If you are after a traditional Yucatan jipijapa hat, the local version of a Panama hat, go to El Sombrero Popular (Calle 65 #32 west of Calle 54). It’ll keep the sun off better than a baseball hat.
Merida Side Trip – Uxmal and Kabah
Uxmal (Oosh-mahl), the Yucatan’s second largest Maya complex after Chichen Itza, is 80 km south of Merida and a very practical day trip. It is estimated to have been founded around the 6th century AD as the Puuc region capital, that covered other smaller sites including Kabah, Labna, Sayil and Xlapak. Uxmal was abandoned in the mid-10th century after military defeat by forces from Chichen Itza.
The site is relatively small (700 x 800 meters) and a visit starts through the House of the Magician Temple, a series of five pyramidal temples built over each other in the 6th-9th centuries. Remember that Maya buildings were often painted, with temples usually in red.
You then pass into the Nunnery Quadrangle with its raised rectangular buildings, before climbing up to the Governor’s Palace, on a raised area with an ornately carved frontage.
Kabah
Kabah is usually visited as part of the Uxmal daytrip. It was a smaller Puuc center about 18 km south of Uxmal, originally connected to Uxmal by a causeway. Developed earlier than Uxmal in about the 3rd century AD, it was also abandoned in the 10th century. There aren’t any major surface rivers in the Yucatan, and so the Maya were dependent on naturally occurring sinkholes (cenotes) or wells, topped up by periodic rainfall, for which they prayed to Chaac, a rain god shown here in the form of a serpent. Kabal has no cenotes and so would have been reliant on wells.
You’ll start at the Palace of the Masks, with a facade covered in over 300 masks of Chaac. The repeated pattern is unusual for Maya structures, and would have been even more impressive when the serpent’s noses were intact and the facade painted. Nearly all of the hooked and curled serpent’s noses have broken off but you can see some intact ones to the right of the temple facade.
The back of the temple has two very rare human guardians – the Atlantes – not commonly seen on Maya temples, one wearing a jaguar head dress.
As you enter the rear area, you’ll see some very well preserved carvings depicting scenes of ornately dressed warriors in combat.
The final main site to see is the raised palace, which has many intact details.
I booked with Edith’s Tours (edithstoursmerida@gmail.com) who covered Uxmal and Kabah.
Valladolid and Chichen Itza
Valladolid gets a bit ignored as a destination, in part because it’s a mid-point between Merida and Cancun, but it’s a nice town with a busy main square. It’s also the closest large town to the Chichen Itza site, 41 km away or about 40 minutes drive.
If you prefer to avoid group tours, it is also very simple and quick to catch a collectivo minibus to Chichen Itza. If you go early, you can see Chichen Itza (allow 2 hours onsite) while it’s cooler and before the major crowds turn up from Cancun.
Valladolid was founded in 1540, with the main church built in 1545. It’s a very pleasant town for walking around and the Mercado Municipal is worth a look. Also, walk along the more historical Calzada de los Frailes to see the Parque Sisal and the Convent of St. Bernard of Siena, opened in 1560, which was built over a cenote.
Valladolid Side Trip – Chichen Itza
Chichen Itza is the largest Maya site in the Yucatan, and was the principal city from its founding by the Itza ethnic group, around 600AD, through to its conquest in the 13th century. Chichen Itza can be roughly translated as the Mouth of the Well of the Itza, with there being at least four cenotes on the site. The major and final development of the city that we see today occurred at the peak of its influence in the 10th century.
The first stop is the 30-meter high Kukulcan Temple, built in various phases in the 8th-12th centuries and dedicated to Kukulcan, a plumed serpent deity, whose head stands at the foot of each stairway balustrade. During Fall and Spring Equinoxes, the shadows of the pyramid steps create an impression along the balustrade of a serpent descending the pyramid.
Next up is the Great Ball Court, the largest in Mesoamerica, set amongst a complex of other temples.
Some areas of the park are allowed to mix with foliage, giving an idea of how Chichen Itza must have looked like on its rediscovery.
The Group of a Thousand Columns, just south of the Temple of the Warriors, consists of the remaining columns supporting a roofed complex.
Campeche
The capital city of neighboring Campeche State is a very well preserved fortified seaport. Established in 1540, the city was repeatedly attacked by pirates and was sacked in 1663. The Spanish administration constructed a major city wall in the late 17th century that included a fortified port area. 12 major sections of the fortress wall strongpoint bastions (the baluartes) still stand, enclosing the city’s grid street pattern.
Campeche became a quiet backwater after independence, and while the oil industry has brought prosperity to the region, its former neglect led to remarkable preservation.
Some of the baluartes are now local museums, with Museo de la Ciudad (Baluarte de San Carlos) on Av. de 16 Septiembre being the most extensive.
The Mansion Caravajal (Calle 10 #230), a Governor’s mansion now converted into a government building, is worth a brief visit for its well preserved interior. Campeche’s State Government buildings echo Brasilia’s concrete brutalist, including a space ship representative chamber.
Campeche Side Trip – Fort de San Jose
Fort de San Jose was constructed in the 18th century to support the city of Campeche. Situated on a hill to the northeast (https://maps.app.goo.gl/1ZHAa153rX1EtK619), it’s a short cab ride or a decent walk and provides good views over the city. The fort also contains the regional archaeological museum, with emphasis on more recent marine recoveries.
Logistics
Getting There and Around
The Yucatan is very well served by air with Cancun having substantial non-stop service, although Merida’s airport has excellent frequencies via regional hubs and is much more central once you’ve arrived. For around the region, intercity buses operated by ADO are very comfortable and timely (https://ado.reservatickets.com). The ADO intercity terminals are quite walkably central to the old towns in Merida (Calle 69, #554) and Campeche (Calle 46, #198H), but at Campeche is located a taxi ride outside the old town. The Transporte Colectivo minibus station in Valladolid for Chichen Itza is centrally located at Calle 59 between Calles 46 and 48 – buy your round trip ticket at the desk and wait for the next departure, which goes when there are enough passengers.
Merida
Merida has an excellent choice of accommodation at your preferred pricepoint, including some historical B&Bs. La Chaya Maya is perhaps the longest established Yucatan restaurant in town and is worth a visit – the Calle 57 at Calle 62 location is the original, with a newer and rather grander “Casona” location in a colonial mansion at Calle 55 at Calle 62. Other places that worked out well included Taquería de la Unión (Calle 55 #488) and Café la Habana (Calle 59 #511).
Even if it’s just for a drink and snacks, ensure you visit La Negrita Cantina (Calle 62 at Calle 49), a very lively bar restaurant with live bands most nights. Craft beer is increasingly popular in Mexico, with Bacab Cervecaria (Calle 56 #472) brewing a nice range of great beers; Apóstol Tap Room (Calle 55 opposite Parque de Santa Lucia) has a great selection. I also stayed at the Hotel Gran Real (Calle 56 at Calle 55), which was modern and very comfortable, and at the Hotel Boutique La Misión de Fray Diego (Calle 61 #524), which was a converted monastery with simple rooms.
Valladolid
Valladolid has developed as a low-key urban destination in it’s own right and so has plenty of good small-scale accommodation in the center. I stayed at the Casa San Roque Valladolid (Calle 41 #93), which was a really nice small hotel with a pool. Pak’al (Calle 39 #194 ) and El Sazón de Valladolid (Calle 41 east of Calle 50) are good Yucatan restaurants and there are a variety of quicker places around the intersection of Calle 32 and Calle 37 just southwest of the Mercado Municipal. There are a variety of restaurants and bars along Calzada de los Frailes – Mezcaleria Don Trejo has a nice outdoor area and Los Frappes (overlooking Parque de Sisal) is a popular bar/restaurant.
Campeche
Campeche is an important regional center and you can pick from newer hotels just outside the old town to smaller places in the old city. I stayed at the Gamma de Campeche Malecon which was a decent newer hotel just north of the Baluarte de la Soledad. There are plenty of restaurants and bars along Calle 57 to choose from, although La Parroquia (Calle 55 #8) is a great local standard and La María Cocina Peninsular (Calle 8 #103) is a higher end place. Santo Taquito (Calle 57 #14) is a great taqueria in the old town and there are a bunch of taquerias in the Mercado Campeche just southeast of the old town.
