Things to do in Mérida: 10 experiences

2 to 3 hoursFree

Mérida's main square stands on the Maya city of T'Hó, and its first Spanish buildings were raised with that city's stones.

2 to 3 hoursNo booking needed

A modern museum in the north of Mérida that tells the Maya story from its origins to the people who speak the language today.

Half a dayFree

The boulevard the sisal fortune built, lined with mansions from Mérida's boom years, two of which you can enter.

An evening, any dayFree

Every night the city puts on a free show in the centre, from jarana dancing to a Maya ball game.

2 hours in the morningFree

Mérida's big central market, where Yucatán's slow-roasted pork is a morning meal at the counters.

A full day from MéridaGo alone or with a tour

The great city of the Puuc hills, where rain-god masks and stone latticework cover palaces around a pyramid with rounded sides.

A full day from MéridaGo alone or with a tour

On the Gulf coast west of Mérida, a mangrove estuary where tens of thousands of flamingos feed in the shallows.

A full day, or a nightNo booking needed

A town painted yellow, where a Franciscan convent sits on a Maya acropolis and pyramids still rise between the houses.

Half a dayNo booking needed

A Maya site 15 km north of Mérida, lived in for thousands of years, whose small temple draws crowds at the equinox sunrise.

1 to 2 hours per cenoteGo alone or with a tour

Swim inside the Yucatán limestone, in sinkholes like Suytun, where a shaft of light falls on a stone platform.