Getting to know Mérida, Yucatán in less than 48 hours

As mentioned in a previous post, we made a road trip from Cancún, Quintana Roo to Mérida, Yucatán which ended up being about a 4 hour drive with a stop along the way in Valladolid.

Mérida is in the state of Yucatán in the Yucatán Peninsula close to Cancún and when researching where we wanted to travel to besides Cancún last year, we decided on Mérida. It wasn’t a city I can say I was particularly interested in nor was it a city I had heard a lot of but I do remember my grandma visiting it once so I figured it would be nice to visit a new city that was relatively close. As usual, I did my research and realized it really was a beautiful city so I was excited to visit it.

While we were only there less than 48 hours, I didn’t get to visit as many places as I would have liked to. Again, we were there less than 48 hours because we didn’t know we’d love the city so much. I plan on returning because I really really loved it. Although we were there a short period of time, I do have a few places you can’t miss on your next visit so I decided to share them with you. There are many more places but remember I didn’t have enough time to visit them all. There was also a Mayan Museum in the city but I had already been to another one in Cancún so I decided not to visit this one, but the city does have several museums worth checking out. On an interesting note, the city is known as Ciudad Blanca (White City) due to its cleanliness. The city is considered the cleanest in the country; fact I can confirm. Never had I seen such a clean city! Not a single piece of trash on the floor, and I absolutely loved that!

Paseo de Montejo

Paseo de Montejo is a wide avenue that was modeled after Paris’ Champs–Élysées. It is lined with the mansions of Merida’s old aristocracy. It was named after Francisco de Montejo, the Spanish conquistador who founded the city in 1542. The avenue houses some of the city’s most iconic buildings and monuments. I highly recommend walking along the street to take in all of its beauty. There are also a few houses that have been converted into museums so they’re worth checking out. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time so I didn’t, but I plan to next time I visit.

Plaza Grande

Plaza Grande is the main plaza located in the Historic Center of the city and it is where the church/cathedral is located at. It’s a really beautiful historic area to walk around in and enjoy the scenery and the calm lifestyle of the city. It has many restaurants and shops as well. The Merida city sign is also located here and makes for beautiful pictures.

Parque Hidalgo

Parque Hidalgo is a little plaza/park located a block away from the Plaza Grande, the main plaza. Located here are two hotels that form part of the city’s history: Gran Hotel and Mansion Merida on the Park. Both are breathtakingly beautiful and full of history. This plaza is a great place to sit on one of their benches drinking coffee and enjoy the breeze and calm life of the city. See and feel how slowly time passes by and how at least for a moment, you forget about all of your worries.