anyone been to Merida?

[daveyboy3]

Trying to be a little adventurous this time and am taking the bus ( ALDO ? ) from Cancun to Merida. Have a week booked at the Hotel El Castellano.

Anyone every stayed there? Also I could use some suggestions on what to see and do in Merida.
As usual I am counting on my fellow tuggers to provide insight and information. Thanks for anything you can provide.
Will be there in early November.

Dave C

 

[Jim in Cancun]

Congratulations for breaking out! You will enjoy it. I have never stayed at the hotel but Mérida is a great city. Do a City Tour when you first get there to get a lay of the land. There is a zoo, the Cathedral and, of course, hanging around the square is required. One time I took the tour of the "Puuc Route" to see a lot of minor Mayan ruins and ended up at the large one--Uxmal. At least do Uxmal--impressive.

 

[alfie]

The El Castellano is a Royal Resorts condo-hotel, which is centrally located in downtown Merida. We stayed there for several days when we toured the area by car. The hotel was redone several years ago, so it is quite newish inside. There is an excellent restaurant for breakfast, and fine service. From the hotel you can easily walk to many other restaurants in the area, and the main town square called the Zocalo. In the Zocalo you can visit the cathedral, and other municipal buildings which allow touring. A walk down the calle 60 and calle Montejo are a must do. As mentioned before the little tour bus is an interesting ride. It can be picked up across the street from the Parque Santa Lucia, on calle 60. The ADO bus ride from Cancun takes about 4 hours on the express toll road, a not too scenic ride (bring a blanket or a jacket - the air con is too cold. You may wish to consider a day trip to Uxmal (the ruins) or to Progreso (the beach) which can be reached by bus from the main downtown terminal.

 

[geoffb]

We flew to Merida a few years ago to stay at El Castellano and then took the bus to Cancun for our week at VCI. We really enjoyed Merida, my main advice is brush up on your spanish as fewer people in Merida speak English by comparison.

(I enjoyed the opportunity to speak spanish for several days personally.)

Unfortunately Delta dropped the Atlanta-Merida service.

-G

 

[CatLovers]

Unfortunately Delta dropped the Atlanta-Merida service.

Continental flies Houston-Merida direct.

 

[FFUNCO]

Been there twice

Hi, I have driven from Cancun to the Merida area twice. I stayed at the El Castellano and it was ok. It is a hotel in the middle of very old homes but close to the "town square" maybe 2-3 blocks away. Safe around there to walk to the square and see the activities. The hotel is probably an older established place; not a new upscale hotel. Clean and the staff were fine. Driving around Merida is difficult since we did not have a map but found our way to Uxmal, Labna, Sayil, Kabah ruins. We have also driven out to Campeche and seen some more ruins like Oxkintok and Edzna. I have also stayed in the Montejo area and like it better since it is a modern area where the restaurants and shops are closer. It all depends on what you want to see and do . . .