Yucatán State & the Maya Heartland

Since the Spanish conquest, Mérida has been the cultural capital of the entire Yucatán Peninsula. A delightful blend of provincial and cosmopolitan, it is a town steeped in colonial history. It's a great place to explore, with narrow streets, broad central plazas and the region’s best museums. It’s also a perfect place from which to kick off your adventure into the rest of Yucatán state. It has excellent cuisine and accommodations, thriving markets, and events happening just about every night.

Long popular with European travelers looking to go beyond the hubbub of Quintana Roo’s resort towns, Mérida is a tourist town, but a tourist town too big to feel like a tourist trap. And as the capital of Yucatán state, Mérida is also the cultural crossroads of the region. There’s something just a smidge elitist about Mérida: locals have a beautiful town, and they know it.

The most famous and best restored of the Yucatán Maya sites, Chichén Itzá, while tremendously overcrowded – every gawker and his or her grandmother is trying to check off the new seven wonders of the world – will still impress even the most jaded visitor. Yes, it's goosebump material. Many mysteries of the Maya astronomical calendar are made clear when one understands the design of the ‘time temples’ here. Other than a few minor passageways, climbing on the structures is not allowed.

The heat, humidity and crowds in Chichén Itzá can be fierce, as can competition between the craft sellers who line the paths (not to mention the irritating habit of hordes clapping to illustrate the pyramid acoustics). To avoid this, try to explore the site either early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

A nightly sound and light show gets some people fired up; others less so.

On the windy northern shore of the peninsula, sleepy Río Lagartos (Alligator River) is a fishing village that also boasts the densest concentration of flamingos in Mexico, supposedly two or three flamingos per Mexican, if one believes the provided math. Lying within the Reserva de la Biosfera Ría Lagartos, this mangrove-lined estuary shelters bird species, including snowy egrets, red egrets, tiger herons and snowy white ibis, as well as the crocodiles that gave the town its name. It’s a beautiful area. At the right time of year you can see numerous species of birds without even getting out of your vehicle.

The Ruta Puuc (Puuc Route) meanders through rolling hills dotted with seldom-visited Maya ruins sitting in dense forests. A road branches off to the east (5km south of Kabah) and winds past the ruins of Sayil, Xlapak and Labná, eventually leading to the Grutas de Loltún. The sites offer some marvelous architectural detail and a deeper acquaintance with the Puuc Maya civilization.

Once known as the Sultana of the East, Yucatán’s third-largest city is famed for its quiet streets and sun-splashed pastel walls. It’s worth staying here for a few days or longer, as the provincial town makes a great hub for visits to Río Lagartos, Chichén Itzá, Ek’ Balam and a number of nearby cenotes. The city resides at that magic point where there’s plenty to do, yet it still feels small, manageable and affordable.