Our Merida, MX Vacation
As a native Southern Californian, trips to Mexico are quite common. Throughout my life I’ve taken dozens of trips across the border. Destinations like Tijuana, Ensenada, Cancun, and Cabo San Lucas , and Puerto Vallarta are all common places to visit. Most Americans tend to head to these destinations and overlook so many other amazing cities that Mexico has to offer.
Last year, we partnered with Volaris Airlines to feature a small town called San Pancho which is located about 45 minutes north of Puerto Vallarta (read more about that trip here). This year we were fortunate enough to work with them again on featuring a new area of Mexico that many Americans haven’t heard of…yet. When Volaris first asked us if we would be interested in visiting Merida, I have to confess that I hadn’t heard of it before. However, upon their description of this amazing town along with some quick research, I instantly fell in love.
Merida is located in the state of Yucatan which is in the south east tip of Mexico along the gulf of Mexico. It borders the popular Quintana Roo which is the state that is home to popular tourist destinations like Cancun and Tulum. We were fortunate enough to work directly with the Yucatan Tourism Board to create an itinerary that was perfect for a family with young children. We completely trusted them to plan our trip and went into it not knowing fully what they had in store for us, but it did not disappoint!
I should also mention that this trip took place in November of 2020 during COVID. After researching Volaris’ biosecurity protocols as well as the state of Yucatan’s safety policies, we felt very comfortable sharing with our audience that it is a safe to travel with Volaris to Merida. We actually found Mexico to have strictly safety precautions with everyone we encountered strictly following the rules. In fact, when we visited there was an 11pm curfew in the entire city and they had just lifted a 4 month alcohol ban.
Our Itinerary
Day 1
Flight to Merida
Stay at Gamma Mérida el Castellano Hotel
We chose to fly out early in the morning because the kiddos tend to do better with airline travel during the day. Whenever we fly to anywhere in Mexico we always cross the border and fly out of the Tijuana airport. For years now we have chosen to fly Volaris airlines because it is the #1 airline in Mexico, has the safest protocols, and is also the most affordable and reliable. To be totally transparent, this blog post is in partnership with Volaris Airlines. We first began working directly with Volaris last year, but prior to having an official relationship with them, we had chosen to fly Volaris several times.
Another great aspect of flying out of the Tijuana airport is using the CBX terminal. If you’re not familiar with it yet, its a total game-changer. Essentially it’s a special airport terminal on the US border that allows you to cross over into Mexico via a bridge that drops you directly into the Tijuana airport! It safes so much time and effort and allows you to have access to domestic mexico flights via the Tijuana airport.
This was our first flight experience post-covid. We definitely noticed how serious the airport and Volaris took the safety protocols. Some of the things we noticed were that masks were required by everyone on the plane and the flight attendants made sure to remind everyone throughout the flight. Hand sanitizer was also offered multiple times to everyone on the plane.
After our flight and due to the time change, we arrived in Merida late in the evening. After a 30 minute shuttle from the airport to our hotel, we ate a quick meal and then went straight to bed knowing we had a big day ahead of us.
Day 2
Breakfast at Hotel
Shuttle to Mayapan
Shuttle to hacienda mucuyche
lunch at mucuyche
Shuttle back to hotel
dinner at hotel
We woke up the next day in the Gamma Mérida el Castellano Hotel feeling rested and ready to take on the day. We hadn’t actually seen what the city looked like yet since we arrived at night, so the first thing the kiddos did was swing open the curtains to take it all in. Merida itself is a cute little town that has a old school or even colonial vibe. The city itself is beautiful and is also consistently rated as the safest city in Mexico. We quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to breakfast. The hotel has as wonderful restaurant that we ate breakfast at each morning. We got to sample some of the local dishes and fell in love with just about everything we tried. We had heard that Merida was known for good food and the hotel restaurant was no exception. I should also mention that this hotel was absolutely wonderful with large clean rooms and beautiful views.
After breakfast we jumped in a passenger van to head out to see Mayapan. Mayapan is a Pre-Columbian Maya site approximately 25 miles south-east of Mérida. While Chichen Itza may be the more popular maya site, we found Mayapan to be absolutely breathtaking and also less crowded. In fact, at the time we visited, there were only a few other groups there so we felt like we had the place to ourselves! The kids LOVED running around and climbing the pyramids. We also had a wonderful tour guide who shared with us the history of Mayan culture and the significance of this site. Before visiting Mayapan, Vinny and I were a little worried that the young kids might not like or understand it, but it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip!
After Mayapan it was off to visit a Cenote! If you’re not familiar with a Cenote, it is a natural pit, or sinkhole, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater. The regional term is specifically associated with the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, where cenotes were commonly used for water supplies by the ancient Maya, and occasionally for sacrificial offerings. In addition to that, they are also absolutely breath-taking to look at.
This was definitely something the entire family was looking forward to and it exceeded expectations! I couldn’t even try to begin to explain how beautiful and spiritual this place was. It was literally unreal. We definitely pushed Fox and Sequoia’s comfort zones as we traveled deeper into the caves of the Cenotes, but they both absolutely loved it and Sequoia was so relaxed he even fell asleep on Vinny while floating 😂 - If this isn’t already on your bucket list..add it now! You can also check out my insta story highlights with more videos of this incredible experience.
I should also mention that the specific Cenote we visited was the Cenotes Hacienda Mucuyche. This location was the perfect blend of adventure and relaxation. The Cenote itself was the adventure but just outside of the cenote itself was a wonderful restaurant and pool for the kids to play in! I highly reccomend this cenote for family’s with small children because the tour is very well structured and if you ever do need assistance, there are several staff nearby.
Also we sure are taking down these Agua Chaya’s. A delicious local drink from the Yucatán made from a plant full of protein, vitamins and antioxidants. They kept telling me we’ll be like Popeye. 💪🏾 And that’s just fine by me.
Day 3
Breakfast at hotel
Shuttle to Izamal
lunch at zamna
shuttle to hotel
dinner in the city at museo gastrologico
Day 3 started just like Day 2 - with an awesome breakfast at the hotel. It was so nice to be able to wake up and walk right down stairs to a wonderful meal. After breakfast we hopped in the van to head to Izamal AKA Pueblo Magico (The magic city). We loved exploring the magical city of Izamal. The entire city was painted yellow and referred to as a “colonial” town because it’s been protected from commercialization. We didn’t see a single advertisement anywhere. We had an amazing guide and we all continued to learn about Mayan culture. Izamal displays so clearly how the Spanish/Catholic invasion literally was built on top of this Mayan city. We visited the convent, strolled the town, climbed the sun-faced god pyramid and ended the day with the most amazing lunch at @restaurantezamnaizamal. This sun-yellow town is often overlooked when visiting Yucatán but it certainly shouldn’t be.
After a fun day in Izamal, we headed back to Merida with a little time left to explore the city. While we wish we would have had more time to roam the streets of Merida, this night was our chance to check out was much as we could. We ended up having a wonderful meal at Museo de la Gastronomia which was located just a block away from our hotel. Definitely add this one to your list as the ambience and food are well worth the trip.
Day 4
Breakfast at hotel
Shuttle to sayachaltun
lunch at sayachaltun
shuttle to Hotel Reef
dinner at hotel
This was our last day in this hotel and we were sad to leave it behind but also excited for what was to come. After packing our bags and grabbing one last amazing breakfast, we were off to Sayachaltun. Sayachaltún is the newer ecotourism destination located 45 minutes from Mérida. It offers a large pink colored lake with a mangrove forest, as well as a wide route for kayaking, guided walks, camping, tree tunnels, flamingo watching, sustainable sport fishing and nighttime crocodile watching. We spent the day touring the mangroves and bathing in the warm sun. We also hopped out of the boat for native mineral clay body scrub treatment which was so fun for the whole family! Defintely click here to watch this experience in our stories! lol
After a full day we then headed to our net hotel, Hotel Reef . Whenever we plan a trip we love to start out with adventures and end in relaxation. We’ve learned that when we vacation this way, we return home more rested and refreshed. So after 3 days of adventure, we headed to our happy place, the beach to soak up the sun and put our toes in the sand.
Day 5 & 6
Play and eat at Hotel Reef
We spent the next days enjoying an all-inclusive experience that included an amazing pool, beach and restaurant. We loved this hotel because it was big enough to offer plenty to do for the family but small enough where you didn’t feel like you were in a mega-resort.
Day 7
Flight home
After 2 full days of fun and relaxation it was time to head home. A quick shuttle ride brought us back to the airport and then a direct 4 and half hour flight from Merida to Tijuana brought us home. Once we landed it only took us about 20-30 minutes to grab our bags and head back through CBX and into the states. We felt very comfortable claiming our baggage knowing that they had a special sanitization process in place for all luggage on the airplane and in the airport. Overall we are so so glad we decided to explore a new part of Mexico and definitely see us returning to Yucatan and Merida again and we will definitely be flying Volaris the next time we fly in Mexico. If it’s not on your travel bucket list, definitely add it!