The first time I was in Merida was during Christmas 2001 and New Year’s 2002. I was a college student doing a two week Spanish intensive. I chose Merida because of it’s proximity to the ruins of Chichen-Itza and Uxmal. My memories of the city itself include a hot and dusty downtown and the municipal buses I would take to get there from my homestay. They include terrible food, and hitchhiking back to the city from the ruins of Uxmal in the bed of a pickup, convinced that I was going to die en route. Let’s say that my first experience of Merida was… mixed.

Not so on my most recent trip. One of my husband’s colleagues held her wedding in Merida not long ago, so I once again found myself in the city I had visited when “Buenos días” and “Hace frío, ¿no?” represented about sixty percent of my language abilities. It’s hard to say which changed more, myself or Merida. What is entirely certain is that the city I recently spent the weekend in had very little in common with the one I remembered as dusty and filled with smelly buses.

Prior to my recent trip, I learned that Merida was once the center of a booming sisal industry, the fruits of which were used to construct large and elaborate mansions and haciendas. I also learned that after the sisal industry collapsed, many of said mansions and haciendas were abandoned. Later – probably right around the time of my first visit – these basically abandoned mansions and haciendas were discovered by Americans and other expats, who bought second homes, retirement homes and vacation homes in the center of the city and remodeled them for a fraction of what they’d have paid at home.

We stayed at one such renovated mansion-turned-boutique hotel, the immaculate Casa Lecanda, which features a high-end boutique and a plunge pool in addition to a small bar and restaurant. 

Here are a few of my recommendations and must see-spots in the Merida I recently discovered:

Beware of Mondays

Our trip was over a holiday weekend, arriving Friday night and departing Monday night. The wedding took up all day on Saturday and we spent the better part of Sunday recovering and enjoying a spa day – not realizing that most museums and many restaurants are closed Mondays! If you, reader, happen to visit Merida over a holiday weekend and depart on a Monday evening, consider having your spa day on Monday. (We thoroughly enjoyed one of the packages offered at the spa at Rosas & Xocolate.)

Visit Coqui Coqui

Coqui Coqui is a fragrance company and hotel chain with locations throughout the Yucatan peninsula – Cobá, Valladolid, and Izamal in addition to Merida. When I say hotel “chain” please don’t misunderstand. Coqui Coqui is only a chain in the sense that it has several locations where you can stay, if you book your stay far enough in advance. Many of their spaces, including the one in Merida, consist in just one guest room located above the shop. 

The shop itself is a sensory experience that you should not miss. It features a wide array of scents inspired by the Yucatan peninsula. Look for the signature scents for each of their locations, and take a little bit of your vacation home with you in the form of perfume, linen spray, candles or aromatic diffusers. They also have a selection of personal care items, such as shampoo, conditioner, soap and body oil. 

At the back of the shop, you’ll find a little cafe. Have a seat, order a tea or a coffee, and enjoy the fresh baked cookie that comes with it. My husband and I would have been happy to spend an entire afternoon there.

Look for locally made products

In Merida, as well as the rest of the country, seems to be in the midst of a boom in locally made products, and there are several spaces dedicated to showcasing and selling Mexican clothing, homewares, jewelry and accessories. For example:

Casa T’Ho’

This space has a beautiful design, a little cafe in the back corner, and plenty of retail space with all kinds of products at a range of prices.

Kukul Boutik

This is a small shop, but packed full of creative things from all over Mexico, especially colorful clothing items.

As someone who travels to Oaxaca often, I do need to warn you that a lot of the products you’ll find are sourced from Oaxaca and not necessarily from the Yucatan. Just in case you, reader, also happen to travel to Oaxaca often.

Eat ice cream

The weather in the Yucatan is hot, pretty much year round, though in the winter when temperatures drop below 80 degrees you will find locals wearing winter coats. Eating ice cream is absolutely the nicest things to do when the temperatures are above 80 degrees, which is most of the time. Head to the main square for a scoop of sorbet, or try a local favorite of coconut ice cream with cold milk.

Eat all the food

Yucatecan cuisine is famous throughout Mexico – a fact I was unfortunately unaware of on my first visit to Merida. Specifically, pork dishes such as the cochinita pibil and lime soup (sopa de lima). We had breakfast on Sunday at Manjar Blanco, which was highly recommended in more than one publication. I’ll be honest, my husband was less than impressed, though I thought the food was good. 

Dinner on Sunday night was at Apoala, which mainly serves (wait for it)… Oaxacan food! We opted for non-traditional dishes, and found the food to be delicious. Recommended spots that we weren’t able to try, but would have liked to, include Ku’uk and Nectar.

Seek out art

The Palacio de Gobierno (Government Palace), on the main square right next to the cathedral, features a series of murals  that are spectacular, informative and critical of the Yucatan’s history, all at the same time. This is open every day, even Mondays.

Merida’s contemporary art museum, the Museo Fernando García Ponce, is located in an imposing structure on the other side of the cathedral. I can’t provide any insight other than that I’d have liked to visit. (It’s closed on Mondays).

The Fundación de Artistas (Artist’s Foundation) is right next to Coqui-Coqui. My husband and I were unimpressed with the exhibition they had up while we were in town, but since the exhibitions change, you may have better luck.

Merida’s Gran Museo del Mundo Maya is known for the architecture of the building itself, as much as for its contents. This one is closed on Tuesdays – we just had the terrible luck that it was closed for maintenance the Monday we were there.

Venture out of the city

As I mentioned above, the main reason I went to Merida when I was in college was it’s proximity to the ruins of Chichen Itza and Uxmal, but the city is also close to other sites. The yellow town of Izamal (where Coqui-Coqui has a residence) is a small town that is painted entirely yellow. It is designated a Pueblo Mágico (Magic Town). There is a pink lagoon full of flamingoes, and there are cenotes. If you want to explore outside of the city, I do recommend making arrangements ahead of time. The last minute is not a good time to plan an excursion, since the places are two-or-so hours from the center of Merida.

 

Casa Lecanda – Calle 47 No 471 x 54 y 56 97000 Mérida // Rosas & Chocolate – Paseo de Montejo No 480 97000 Mérida // Coqui Coqui – Calle 55 N.516 (Entre 62 y 64) Colonia Centro, Merida // Casa T’Ho’ – Paseo de Montejo 498 Esquina con calle 45 Colonia Centro // Kukul Boutik – Calle 55 n. 513, Loc. B. Centro // Manjar Blanco – Calle 47 496, Centro // Apoala – Calle 60 471 Local 2 X 55 Parque de Santa Lucía, Mérida // Ku’uk – Avenida Romulo Rozo #488 por calle 27 y 27A Col. Itzimná // Nectar – Av A García Lavín, Plaza Jardín Mérida // Palacio de Gobierno – Calle 60 s/n ( on the corner of calle 61), Centro // Museo Fernando García Ponce – Pasaje de la Revolución entre 58 y 60 // Fundación de Artistas – CALLE 55 #520 ENTRE CALLE 62 Y 64 CENTRO MERIDA