two regions or Three Mexico
 

Hi everyone.
We have 15 nights in Mexico in November and I'm tossing up whether to go to Mexico City, Chiapas and Yucatan (flying out of Cancun already booked) or just Mexico city and Yucatan?

Option 1:
MC- 4 nights
fly to san cristobal (tuxtla guttierez), 3 nights
palenque 2 nights
bus to Merida, 3 nights. rent a car drive to the coast seeing chichen iza on the way
3 nights in tulum/puerto morelos/playa

Option 2:
MC- 5 nights with day trip to puebla
Fly to Merida, 3 nights there with day trip to Uxmal
2 nights in Vallodad near chichen iza
5 nights on the coast.

My questions are:
are we missing great scenery and the amazing ruins of palenque if we skip chiapas
is the jungle scenery ? is it worth going meaning we are going to have to rush a bit through yucatan? we love the idea of staying in the jungle near palenque are there dense jungle areas in Yucatan?

IS merida so much different to San Cristobal? can we still visit traditional villages, get a feeling for the local culture or is it more geared for tourists?

we LOVE good food, local cultural activities, cooking classes, natural features i.e cenotes, markets, turquoise beaches, jungle walks etc

thanks very much for your advice!

Option 1!!!!! Do not miss Merida and San Cristobal. They are different and both are exquisite. And Palenque, IMO (I have been to every major archeology site in MX) is the most awesome set of ruins in all of.MX. Will you have time to see the waterfalls also?

You are going at a wonderful time of year. I hope your Merida stay falls between Thursday and Sunday. Concert/ traditional dance performance at Santa Lucia park on Thurs. Night is not to be missed, nicest and most enjoyable (free outdoor) performance I have ever attended in MX. Weekend nights are lovely, and Sundays in the zocalo are also.

If you drive from Merida to Chichen Itza, leave very early in the morning. Take this advice: get to Chicen Itza at 8 am when it opens, before the overwhelming hoards of hundreds of thousands of tourists arrive and before the hundreds of noisy obnoxious venders set up table to table all the way around the ruins. Better yet, consider staying at Mayaland hotel on the perimeter of the ruins and walk thru their gate into the ruins at 8 am. Your experience if you take this advice will be completely different than if you arrive at the ruins at 10 or 11 a.m.

Skip Valladolid and experience both San Cristobal and Merida. I have been to all 3, have been traveling all over MX for the last 40 yrs, finally bought a place in Playa del Carmen a few yrs ago and now fly all over from Cancun and then bus. What a great trip you are going to have.

One other option is to consider Oaxaca instead of San Cristobal. You can fly to Oaxaca from Mexico City on one of the budget domestic airlines, and then fly on Viva Aerobus from Oaxaca to Cancun. I am doing that this coming week.

thanks very much guys!!! i've considered the Oaxaca option, it makes more sense withthe limites time we have but everyone seems to think we must do PAlenque!! i hope 3 nights in Merida (and yes it will beon the weekend thursday to sunday!), then full day wth early departure visiting Chichen Iza , nearby cenotes and el bakam arriving in Tulum late then 2 full days there for more cenotes, day trips etc. we won't make it to Playa/cozumel or cancun i don't think . does this sound like a good plan?

It does sound like a good plan and 3 days in Merida will be well worth it, without a doubt. I also agree with emd3 to skip Valladolid and get to Chichen Itza early. :)

Option one is a winner.