I'm traveling to Merida, Mx, for first time from US and have a few questions:

1. I speak little, or bad, Spanish so how much of an impediment is this? I plan to stay outside Merida at a plantation, but would like to visit the city as well as ruins like Uxmal and Chichen. Is this doable for gringo who no habla espanol?

2. I hear Vallodolid (sp?) is a fascinating place to visit, with few tourists and more authentic. What's it like?

3. How is the driving/roads in central Yucatan? I've been to Tulum and roads there were fine.

4. Any insight on Ek Balam or Dzibilchaltun?

Gracias, all in advance.

1) I don't think your lack of Spanish wil be a problem. At least, my lack of Spanish wasn't a problem when I was there. Doubt you'll have difficulties at Uxmal or CI, either.

2) Valladolid is a good base for visiting both CI (if you're not staying at the resorts) and for Ek Balam. It has no must-see sights, but is an authentic and pleasant Mexican city.

3) The driving is easy in most areas. Getting in and out of Merida might pose a problem -- and is one place where speaking Spanish would be an advantage. See if you can arrange transportation to and from your hacienda.

4) Ek Balam is a small but very impressive site. The high relief sculptures there are, I think, unique in Mexico. Haven't been to Dzibilchaltun.

Hi will -

Merida is a pretty interesting place. Doable with only a little Spanish, but it will be a challenge sometimes. Be sure to use what little Spanish you have.

Both Uxmal and Chichen are fascinating. Try to stay overnight at Chichen, so you'll be able to enter first thing in the morning to avoid crowds. I can highly recommend a stay at the Hacienda Chichen.

If you're driving from Merida to Uxmal, you might consider continuing south and west to Campeche. I liked Merida, but I loved Campeche. A beautiful, charming, lively, historic small city on the Gulf.

What I did not like was Valladolid. True, not touristy at all, but just plain unattractive. Any charm it may have completely eluded me.

I should add here that Merida is totally genuine and not particularly touristy. Or perhaps a better way of saying it is that the size of the city makes tourists less noticeable.

Driving is great. Roads are fine. Highways are fine. When you enter a different state (eg Yucatan to Campeche), there's a checkpoint, but the officers just wave people through unless there's something suspicious, like you're driving a big truck and your marijuana harvest is sticking out of it.

I recommend getting off the highway and taking the side road from Merida to Chichen. The side road goes through some really fascinating villages. However, one Spanish word that you will learn quickly is topes. Topes are the speed bumps you hit when you enter and leave a village. I advise entering the villages VERY slowly.

Have fun!

What's Campeche like? Safe place for folks to wonder around? How far is it from Merida? Thanks.

Campeche is great. It's on the Gulf, with great sunset opportunities. There's a strolling / biking path along the embankment. There's a very lively and attractive zocalo surrounded by blocks and blocks of charming and beautifully restored buildings, perfect for walking and all perfectly safe. Surrounding everything are ramparts, built to keep the pirates / English out. There are 2 forts overlooking the city. We only went to one of them, but it was interesting and the view was great.

Oh - one other thing about driving - fill the tank whenever you can. Do not wait until you're at 1/4 full before you start looking for a gas station. I didn't run out of gas, but it got close.


It's about 2 hours from Merida on the highway. On our drive, we went from Chichen straight to Campeche. We stayed overnight, and the next day drove to Uxmal by the back roads. Pretty but time-consuming.

Both cities sound great! Can anyone recommend clean, decent hotels in the central historic areas in walking distance to cultural attractions, parks, and restaurants. Not interested in American chain hotels or dingy hostel-like places. Willing to spend $200/night. If anyone knows Hotel Lunata in Playa Del Carmen, that's the kind of place we love. Thanks.

In Merida, I highly recommend the Casa Del Balam. Everything about it - location, courtyard, room, bar, restaurant, pool area - was excellent.

We stayed at the Francis Drake in Campeche. Nice enough, great price, great location, but incredibly noisy, at least in our rooms, starting at about 5am. It's not street noise - it's breakfast staff noise. I think I would try somepklace different next time, but Campeche seems to suffer from a dearth of well-priced, well-located hotels.

In Valladolid I would definitely recommend Casa Quetzal - http://www.casa-quetzal.com/ - it's lovely. The cenote, Zaci, just outside of the center of town is great, and the restaurant there serves authentic Mayan cuisine. Las Campaniles (spelling?), is a corner restaurant diagonally across from the cathedral on the square. Live music almost every night!
Yucatan Today has very good maps and lots of info about some of the less-known places in Yucatan.
http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinat...valladolid.htm

We liked the lovely Casa Mexilia in Merida.

We also speak no Spanish. We arrived in Merida with no bookings and just found a place we liked the look of and negotiated a price(Fun with our lack of Spanish but most hotels speak a little English) We hired a car from the hotel and found driving very easy. The town is on a basic grid pattern with one way streets running alternately with one east the next west ect. It is a few years since we were there and I no longer have the name of the very nice place we stayed in just off the main plaza.One thing, we were only able to find a stick shift to hire. Someone else may be able to tell you if that has changed. We loved Merida and hope to return sometime.

Can anyone comment on Casa Mexilo in Merida and Mayaland out by Chichen Itza? Both sound nice. Casa Mexilo sounds like it's very close the historic center of Merida. They have a rooftop room that sounds great. How's the evening light show at C.I.?

It's been a few years, but we stayed at the Mayaland hotel in Chichen Itza and thought it was really nice. The rooms are gorgeous -- really nicely decorated, great shower (strange what you remember!), and outside each little bungalow is a nice hammock to relax in. It's pretty dark walking to and from your room at night, so I'd suggest bringing a little flashlight, if possible.

Regarding the light show at Chichen Itza... I thought it was cheesy and boring. If you want to rent a headset (so you can understand what's being said) you have to leave your driver's license at the front. I just did not feel comfortable doing this, so I guess that contributed to the boredom for me. Still, the big booming dramatic voice and all that... a little too tacky for my taste. The only plus is just getting to see it lit up at night. And, it's pretty much the "only show in town."

Can anyone give first hand experiences with Hacienda San Pedro Nohpat? It sounds great. Also, how long is it from Merida to Chichen Itza, looks to be maybe 2 hours? Gracias.

It's about 2 and a half hours from Merida to Chichen Itza. We're supposed to get a high-speed monorail sometime in the future - which will be great! There's a review of the Hacienda you mentioned here: http://www.yucatantoday.com/culture/...nda-hotels.htm

Mayaland has resorts in both Chichen Itza and Uxmal. They are very excellent. You can always look at www.yucatanliving.com this is a web site that is all of the foreigners that live here in the peninsula touch base and get good information on what to do where to go etc.