The capital of Yucatán, Mérida is one of Mexico's finest old colonial cities and is perfectly located to serve as a base from which to explore the region's many fine Mayan sites, including Chichén Itzá and Tulum. It's an equally popular day trip or overnight stopover from the resorts of the Mayan Riviera. Established in 1542 by the Spanish, Mérida is laid out on a grid pattern, making it easy to explore its numerous attractive parks and fine old buildings. The European influences are everywhere, particularly in the old city squares and plazas where evidence of French architecture can still be seen. It is also a remarkably neat and tidy city, something of a badge of honor for its citizens who like to dress in white, giving the city its long-standing nickname of Ciudad Blanca, the "white city."
Plaza Mayor - also known as Plaza de la Independencia - is both the commercial and cultural hub of Mérida, and is a good place to start a walking tour of the old city center. In addition to being surrounded by some of Mérida's most important buildings, it's also a very pleasant space to simply hang out thanks to its shady palm trees, beautiful flower gardens, and fountains. Covering an entire city block, it's as popular among locals as it is among tourists due to its regular markets with vendors selling everything from food to crafts and souvenirs. It is also lined with a number of good restaurants offering traditional Mexican fare. Also of interest is the Municipal Market, just a short walk south of Plaza Mayor and worth visiting for its many products made from locally produced sisal, including hammocks and panama hats, huipiles (Mayan-style dresses with brightly colored embroidery around the neck), and guayabera shirts for men.
On the east side of the Plaza Mayor, occupying the site of an earlier Maya temple, stands Mérida Cathedral, built between 1561 and 1598 and the largest church in Yucatán. Despite its rather plain façade, the building's interior boasts a rich décor notable for its many references to the town's Mayan and colonial histories. One of the first you'll see is a painting above a doorway of the Maya ruler, Titul-Kiú, shown visiting conquistador Francisco Montejo in Tihó. Other notable features include the Chapel of the Christ of the Blisters (Capilla del Cristo de las Ampollas), with its 16th-century Indian woodcarvings famous for the blisters left after the wood was charred during a fire. Part of the cathedral since 1645, the relics here are the subject of special celebrations held each October.
In the picturesque Parque Cepeda Peraza (or Parque Hidalgo) stands the quaint Church of Jesús, or the Church of the Third Order (Iglesia de la Tercera Orden), a favorite church for weddings. After enjoying the park and the church's superb 17th-century exterior - it was built as part of a convent that later served as a Jesuit seminary - be sure to pop inside for a look at the fine high altar with its exquisite altarpiece of carved and gilded wood made in the Plateresque style, a tradition common to communities with talented silversmiths. Afterwards, take a ride on one of the fun "calesas," horse-drawn coaches in Parque Cepeda Peraza that will take you past some of the town's most interesting colonial architecture.
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Governor's Palace, Merida
Built in 1892, the Palacio de Gobierno houses the state of Yucatán’s executive government offices (and a tourist office). There are wonderful murals and oil paintings by local artist Fernando Castro Pacheco housed in a magnificent sala ). Completed in the late 1970s, they portray a symbolic history of the Maya and their interaction with the Spaniards. Upon returning to Mérida in 1973, Pacheco began the 26 murals that are featured in the History Room at the Governor’s Palace, his largest work yet. The final five murals of the collection, which are featured in the building’s courtyard, were completed in 1975
The building and its beautiful central courtyard is considered something of a masterpiece. In addition to its fine murals, the building also houses a rich collection of paintings by other leading Mexican artists, the best of which can be seen in the History Room. They cover topics from the Spanish invasion to their often harsh treatment of the Maya. After enjoying these historically significant murals, one is advised to spend a little time exploring this splendid old building, in particular the balcony for its fine views over the cathedral and Plaza Mayor. We found this nigh on impossible to do as the windows did not open!
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Casa de Montejo
The south side of Plaza Mayor is dominated by Casa Montejo, one of the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in Mexico. Built in 1549 as the residence of the wealthy Montejo family who owned the building until 1978, the palace's magnificent Plateresque façade once extended along the whole of the south side of the square (although somewhat smaller today, it remains impressive). Inside, its large and handsome rooms are laid out as a museum set around two courtyards and are furnished with antique furniture imported from Europe. Of particular interest is the coat of arms of the Montejo family, as well as the stone sculptures of a conquistador standing with one foot on the bowed head of a conquered Maya
It maintains the facade of the XVI century, a masterpiece of that artistic style. It is one of the five Casas Señoriales Banamex, offered to the public by the National Bank of México: historical-cultural spaces that they have contributed to the cultural, social, ecological and educational development of the country.
Museo Casa Montejo has four permanent rooms for the on-site museum: the office-library, the living room, the bedroom, and the dining room, furnished in the style of the last quarter of XIX century and first quarter of XX century in Mexico.There are also three exhibition halls in which temporary exhibitions will appear that invite artistic appreciation, as well as a program of conferences, concerts and the work of the Great Masters of Folk Art.
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Contemporary Art Museum
This museum, which is one of the most visited in Merida, is found right next to the Cathedral of Merida, and was founded in 1994. It has four large rooms where the work of the great local artists is exposed: Fernando Garcia Ponce, Gabriel Ramirez Aznar and Fernando Castro Pacheco. Until 1920, its activities were related to religious art, because of its proximity to the Cathedral. In addition to the collection of pieces that can be found in their rooms, in the corridor between the Cathedral and the Museum, you’ll find sculptures and works of different artists.
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Anthropology and history museum (Palacio Cantón)
Opened in December 1959, as a historic monument of the early twentieth century. The building has an ornate construction of plaster, marble in various shades, fine finishes in ceilings, Doric and Ionic columns, a beautiful staircase carved in white marble and gardens outdoors with a very french architectural touch. The museum was re modeled in December 2012 with new photographic galleries, original mayan wardrobes, vases, and other archaeological treasures.
The museum itself has two levels. On the ground level, there is an collection of Mayan artifacts . There are also some educational tools, like posters explaining the mathematical system of Mayans. These items are arranged in chronological order, so you can see how the Mayans progressed through time. The upper level displays the recent history of Yucatan, starting from the Spanish conquest of Mexico.
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Diplomat Boutique Hotel
9.7 on Booking.com & on TripAdvisor. & their own web site 4 rooms. Offering an outdoor swimming pool and free breakfast, the Diplomat Hotel is located within Mérida's historic centre, 1 km from the Plaza Grande Park and 800 m from the Zoo. Free WiFi access is available throughout. The rooms here will provide you with a flat-screen TV, air conditioning and cable channels. Featuring a shower, private bathrooms also come with a hairdryer. At The Diplomat Hotel you will find a bar and free street parking. Guests can find a variety of restaurants but they are a good 15 minutes walk away in the city centre. The property is 650 m from Parque de la Paz and 550 m from Parque Santiago.
A lovely hotel in a quiet suburban street about 15 minutes walks from the centre. It is run by a Canadian couple who go out of they way to offer hospitality and advice on where to eat and what to do. Remember that this is only a B&B so you have to go out to dinner at night. I guess you could take a taxi into town, rather than walking at night. Though we walked every night and were never worried.
Our very agreeable room opened out onto the spectacular pool, but, beware!, mosqitoes were a problem beside it..
Every day (we stayed 3 days) we had a different (fixed) breakfast . A lot of thought went into producing these breakfasts, and they were really exceptional
All in all this is an exceptional hotel, offering an exception experience for people wanting to stay in Merida
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Restaurants
Hennessey's Irish Pub
The ubiquitous "Irish Pub" was close to the Anthropology Museum, and was a convenient stop after a long walk to the museum. However it was no more Irish than the King of Spain's daughter, although I had been assured that the owners were Irish. The reviews name them as Sean and Colm but we never saw them. The Mexican staff were less than forthcoming, and we would not have wanted to go back there. It is the sort of place where you ask for the bill, it never arrives, and you have to haul them out of the kitchen to pay. I suspect that Sean & Colm give the regulars a good line in chat, and the place goes to the dogs if they are not there
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Pola's Gelato Shop
I like icecream, but I had real problems with what we had here. We went to the shop because our hotel gave us some really good flavours from here to try, but the ones in the shop did not live up to that. Between the two of us we tried 4 flavours. The flavours lacked any intensity, but the main problem was that they were all flecked with lumps of ice, as though the whole display had half melted at some point, but then been refrozen leaving ice crystals. This was across all the flavours we tried The staff are pleasant. It is a nice place to sit and recover from tramping the sites of Merida. But I am afraid we were disappointed by the ice cream and did not return
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Rosa Sur 32.
An average tourist restaurant in a tourist town. It is tucked away in the corner of this "restaurant square". The area is touristville, so I was not surprised that the food here was decent without being memorable. The service was friendly. But you really come here to sit and watch the goings on in the square. People looking for a place to eat, itinerant musicians, assorted vendors and beggars (they do not hassle you too much as most restaurants do not let them enter, so only the diners along the periphery are badgered). This restaurant is slightly more set back from the square than some of the others. But having eaten at one of the others the previous night, I would say that there is not much to chose between most of them
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Apoala
This restaurant is right on "the" dining square in Merida. I would recommend that you book one of the outside, on the square, tables. You will get pestered a bit by the musicians, vendors and beggar that roam the square, but in a way they are part of the atmosphere. We did have a bit of bother with our reservation - basically the hotel made the booking for us but the restaurant claimed never to have got it. Anyway, it was sorted in the end and we got a nice table on the square
This is unquestionably a tourist restaurant, and the food is decent without being memorable, the service is friendly and bright, and the ambience good. It is the position that I remember rather than the food.
I would certainly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Merida
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Pancho's Restaurant
All restaurants in Merida are tourist restaurants, but Pancho's does go out of its way to give you a memorable evening out.
Pancho's is truly vast in size but is split up into lots of different nooks and crannies. Find an area that suits you, the greeter will be happy to let you choose your own table. At night it is quite magical in the garden area towards the back where we ate.
The food and the service are par for this sort of restaurant. You are never going to get Michelin star food, but it is, for the price, perfectly acceptable and value for money.
Call me a tourist, but at the end of the meal I ordered one of their Irish coffees. It is served flaming after the liquor has been passed flaming between two jugs. Brings the restaurant to a standstill while they put the show on
Of the three dinners we had in Merida, I enjoyed this the best
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We then drove back to Cancun Airport to drop off the car and take a small plane to Belize.