ColoradoChica

Any suggestions for seeing the Yucatan area? My husband and I are wanting to take about a week long trip. We are active outdoors people from Colorado yet realize this will be more of a sight-seeing adventure. We want to be budget conscious, avoid the big fancy resorts, see the area's authenticity (markets, art, etc) Any suggestions on a week's itinerary (ruins, good food, affordable/unique places to stay, some beach time)? What about the Yucatan versus Oaxaca? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

swimmr

You could use Merida as a base for exploring the Yucatan. From there, you can see a variety of Mayan ruins, the nature park at Celestun, and enjoy Merida's colonial sites and restaurants. Merida will also satisfy your budget conscious requirement.

We were there a couple of weeks ago and used Merida as a starting point for touring ruins before venturing to the Playa del Carmen area and relaxing beach time.

During our vacation, we stayed at Casa Mexilio in Merida, Hacienda Chichen at Chichen Itza, Kailuum II (north of PDC) and Playa Maya in PDC.

I can't comment on Oaxaca since we've never been there.

laverendrye

I agree that Merida is a good base for exploring the Yucatan. A week will hardly be enough to take in all the highlights, but will give you a taste of things. You will want a couple of days in Merida itself, a day at Uxmal, another day to Chichen Itza, and perhaps a day visiting the ruins on the Puuc route, which you could combine with an overnight at Uxmal.
Celestun is worth a visit, and if you want some beach time, there are several fairly simple hotels there, or you could spend a night at the Eco Paraiso Xixim, about 10 km up the coast on a dirt road. If you don't go to Celestun, there are lots of beaches on either side of Puerto Progreso, which is a short drive from Merida.

I would be hard pressed to choose between Oaxaca and Merida. It is a beautiful city, more attractive in my opinion than Merida. The ruins at Monte Alban and Mitla are fabulous, and there are interesting towns up and down the valley. With only a week, it might be hard to get beach time, as the resorts at Huatulco and Puerto Escondido are some distance from Oaxaca, but perhaps 4 days in Oaxaca and 3 days on the coast could work.

Both Merida and Oaxaca have wonderful markets which you should not miss.

Our accommodation in Merida was not really in the budget category, so I'd hesitate to recommend it, and it's been a while since I have visited Oaxaca so my recommendation would not be up to date.

Janecita

If you want to stay in nice places at the ruins, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Coba, opt not for the fancy hotels at these ruins. Try the Villa Club Med, Uxmal, Chichen Itza or Coba. They are right next door to the fancy hotels, smaller, very colorful, beautiful rooms with old Spanish syle woodwork and arches, and great food and service at about 1/2 the price of the fancy hotels. They are also just a short distance to the entrance of the ruins.

YucatanVacation

Here are some of our family's favourite Yucatan vacation places on a blog at
http://yucatanvacations.blogspot.com/