The Redditor's guide to Merida!
This guide is intended as a complement to The always up-to-date Redditor's Guide to the Yucatan State! And it's a work in progress!
Narwals and bacon, my dear redditors! (do we still use that?) This guide is intended to help fellow redditors visit our city. As with the general guide to the Yucatan state, This text is mainly intended as guide on alternative, less visited and locals-only experiences. It will contain some reccomendations on mainstream or hight-end tourism, but it's not it's main objective.
First, some basic facts about Merida
Mérida (Yukatek Maya: Hoꞌ) is the capital and most populous city of the Mexican state of Yucatán, as well as the seat of the municipality of the same name. It is located in the northwest of the state in the southeast of the country, a region of which it is the most inhabited urban area and its main social, educational and financial center. According to the 2020 Population and Housing Census of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico, the city had a population of 921,771 inhabitants in that year.
Merida is also the cultural capital of the Yucatan Peninsula, something that makes the city a point of interest for travellers looking for gastromy, historical sites and cultural events, not to mention that is near to natural wonders such as the Ring of Cenotes State Geohydrological Reserve or the pristine beach towns of Sisal, Celestun, Telchac and many more sites of interest.
Q&A about Mérida
How to get to Mérida?
- From the Cancun airport you can board an ADO bus to Merida, use the ADO BUS site to buy tickets or just buy those on the Airport terminal. If you are arriving from Europe or Asia, there are a couple of hotels (Fairfield, Hilton) nearby the airport in wich you can rest.
- From Cancun's downtown or Hotel zone, use the central ADO bus station. It's a 4 hour ride to downtown Merida's terminal (TAME). ADO buses are safe and confortable, so don't worry.
- Merida has an international airport, so you can just fly directly from Canada the US and more, but it will be more expensive that arriving in Cancun. Good thing is that Merida's airport is way way faster and less crowded than Cancun's. Airport taxis are safe but on the expensive side, to save some bucks you can buy Vay-y-Ven bus tickets to downtown (there is a booth right there in the airport) or just walk 10 minutes outside of the federal exclusion zone to this point, so you can use uber or Didi.
Where to stay in Mérida?
Merida has many lodging options, there is no point on listing those because you can use google maps to search one thet fits your budget, including cheap hostels.
Now, if you want the experience to stay at an Hacienda (old plantation mansions converted in luxury hotels) there are some of those in and around around Merida and they offer services like fine dining and SPA.
There is also alot of Airbnb's with all the benefits of using that platform. Tourists are also using booking.com to search for places to stay at reduced price, but be aware that a lot of those would be unregulated and unsupervised, so you are on your own regarding safety and quality of service.
What to eat in Mérida?
Mexican cuisine is famous around the world, and Merida is one of the country's culinary capitals. With plenty of options for everyone, the city has everything from fine dining restaurants to small, locals-only food stalls. Visitors can chose from the rich local cuisine to modern fussion food, noisy cantinas or quiet relaxing places and more. Merida particularly is considered a foodie city.
Do not commit the mistake of discarding restaurants just because the current trend is to eat at street food stalls! There are plenty of restaurants that have excellent food at reasonable prices. Here is a brief list of such places that we locals prefer (note that as said before, we are excluding overpriced options and tourist traps purposefully)
Yucatán cuisine
If you are interested in reading about the rich cuisine of the Yucatan State, wikipedia.es has a great article about it.
Considered by many experts as among the best in Mexico, yucatan's cuisine is a mix of indigenous Maya, Spanish, caribbean and Lebanese ingredients, making it something unique, full of exotic flavors and interesting dishes.
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| Chilmole |
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| Escabeche oriental |
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| Longaniza de Valladolid |
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| Cochinita Pibil torta |
Yucatan regional food:
Manjar Blanco - Netflix's famous
El príncipe Tutul Xiu Merida - Maya royalty!
Cantamayec - Small restaurant with homey flavor.
Hacienda Teya - stunning hacienda with a great kitchen
International, no traditional and fussion cuisine
Pizza e core - Great Pizza
Due Torri - Small italian restaurant
El apapacho - non gourmet but artsy food!
Micaela Mar y Leña - Oaxacan Food, some consider this the best restaurant in Merida.
Wayan'e - Best non-traditional tacos in Merida!
Jumiles - Central Mexico food
Rosas and Xocolate - has won several local and international awards.
Fine Dining
Kuuk - Located in an old mansion right in the famous Paseo de Montejo.
Ixi'im at Hacienda Chablé - This restaurant won the best looking in the world, versailles award a few years ago. It's fantastic looking!
Néctar - A modern take on local endemic ingredients.
Cienfuegos - Best steak house in Merida.
Vegan/Vegetarian food
El Árbol - do not expect a menú here! you just sit and are served the day's vegetarian meal.
Merida has a recently inagured gastronomic corridor at Calle 47. It has all kinds of restaurants serving Oaxacan food, Steakhouses, wine partlors and more.
Free, family-oriented spaces to visit in Merida
Merida can get really hot year-round! so one of the favorite activities for meridanos is to visit parks in the morning and afternoons.
Parque de las Americas With it's beautiful neo-maya architecture, is a local favorite. Look for the marquesita and esquites stalls for a delicious snack.
Parque La Plancha - recently inaugurated, it's one of the best options to take a stroll, eat some snacks and watch it's colored fountains. This park has even a dog friendly area!
El Centenario Zoo - Merida's bi-centennial park is a charming space just 15 minutes away from downtown. It has beautiful architecture and very old trees.
Parque Miguel Alemán - One of merida's oldest parks, it's reccomended to be visited Saturday/Sunday nights, when there are fair-like activities for kids and many snack stalls.
Animaya zoo is a great option for kids. Sunday is the busiest day.
Activities in Merida's downtown.
Located right in front of Merida's main square, Centro Cultural Olimpo has plenty of cultural activities year-round.
Yucatán trova is a traditional style of music that mixes Cuban, Colombian, Spanish and Caribbean influences. You can't miss La Serenata de Santa Lucía. Every Thursday night on the beautiful Sta. Lucía Park
Pok ta pok the maya mall game is celebrated every saturday, 8:00 PM, in front of the main cathedral. (Free)
Calle 47 gastronomic corridor a nice, walkable street with plenty of restaurant options.
Bici ruta dominical in Paseo de Montejo Sunday mornings the spectacular Paseo de Montejo gets closed to cars and you can rent a bike and ride among it's trees and magnificent palaces. (Free, but you need to rent a bike)
Merida en Domingo is a great complement to the Bici Ruta, Just visit Merida's main square in a sunday morning to check out a big market with food, trinkets, clothing and more. If you stay late you can participate in an a Mexican baile (Free)
Saturday nights many central streets close to cars so tourists can have a drink and some food in the street, there is music and a great vibe around.
You can also board the Turibus and get to know a lot of Merida's points of interest for cheap.
Museums
Gran Museo del Mundo Maya - Dedicated to the Maya culture, it's the best in the world in it's kind.
Museo Palacio Canton - This Porfirian-era palace was built in 1911 in a Parisian beaux arts style and it's home to a great collection of Maya artifacts.
Some other museums
- Museo del Meteorito - Learn about the meteorite that impacted Chicxulub and the natural history of the region. (it's located in Progreso, 25 minutes away from Merida's downtown)
- Museo Casa Montejo - It has a good collection of antiques and it's free.
- Casa Museo Montes Molina - an old colonial mansion with stunning decor, it offers guided tours and has a great restaurant.
- Palacio de la Música - all bout Yucatan music.
- Museo de la gastronomía Yucateca - a restaurant museum about local cuisine.
- Museo de la Ciudad - about Merida's history and has temporary exhibits from local and foreign artists, free entrance.
Sports
Gotcha Mérida and Xtreme Jumping Both at Gran Plaza (do not confusse Gran Plaza with Plaza Grande lol)
Rock Climbing at Rocksolid
(Thanks for th recs u/Nonrefun and u/Fonsy94)
Depending on the season in which you visit the city, there can be several festivals such as
Mérida Fest is celebrated in January, plenty of cultural activities, concerts and such.
Carnaval is celebrated in february and is all about parades, party and more.
Tunich artisanal fair, July and August.
The Hanal Pixan (roughly "food for the souls of the deceased") is celebrated from October 31 to November 2. It's a Mayan festival that honors deceased ancestors and the connection between life and death. Merida offers a ot of activities on this days, including the paseo de las ánimas parade, the altar offering at the main Merida plaza, the Mucbilpollo (a type of tamal, named colloquially Pib in the Maya language) fair and much more.
The Xmatkuil state fair happens around november and it's a huge event, attended by a lot of people. It includes concerts, fair activities, plenty of food stalls, handcrafts and much more.
Feria del libro Yucatan has plenty of book-related activities.
Other activities
u/luleosw reccomends this monthly SW Fest
Autódromo de Yucatán has a big list of racing events, from bikes, dragsters, quarter mile and much more.
Tsunami is the biggest anime convention in Merida. This is mostly a family event, so if you plan on a risky cosplay, better contact the staff about it beforehand.
That's it! if you have any doubt, a suggestion or want to contribute, please make a new thread at /r/yucatan !!
