Yucatan

This past Christmas we spent two full weeks in the Yucatan doing a loop from the coast, staying at the beach of Progreso, down past Merida, visiting seven archeological sites (the kids counted!), swimming in cenotes and back to Merida. We did this same trip about 12 years ago, so it was fun to go back with even more children in tow!

Chichen Itza was towards the end of our trip, so scroll down to Day 12.

This Yucatan road trip was so much fun to do. And you could easily break it up.

We flew into the Merida airport, exited and then realized we hadn’t seen a kiosk for Enterprise Rental. So if you rent a car with Enterprise, ensure you stop at the National Rent-a-Car after baggage claim and before you leave the secure zone. In the end we found a guy (isn’t that the way in Mexico?) and it all worked out and we were pleased with the service and car from Enterprise.



We drove to Progreso beach area. There was a Costco on the way, but the lineup to pay was to the back wall! So we shopped at the local Soriana instead. However across the street is a Bodega Aurrera (Wal-mart) and is bigger than the Soriana. We stayed at a lovely AirBnb right on the beach in the area of Chicxulub, just down the coast from Progreso. It had a pool with a BBQ in the front yard, and direct beach access off another patio in the back yard. We couldn’t walk to any restaurants from here, but there was a small La Europea Express with a nice selection of cheese, salami and wine, and Progreso was a short drive away.

We drove into the town of Progreso and had supper at Crabster. It was a very nice location and packed with people. The cocktails were really nice, but we all found the food overly full of cheese, quite rich and expensive. It was all a bit much. We had a nice sunset walk on the malecón. 



Day 2
We went for a walk on beach out our back door. Then we decided to drive to Pig Beach as we had heard about this beach where pigs roam around and you can swim with them. The local tourist description made it sound like piggies running free and frolicking in the waves with you! In reality it’s a pen of pigs on the beach, which they release Thursday to Sunday from 12-1 (it was more like 1-1:20pm when we were there). They sell food so the pigs run to all the people who had bought the food, so the pigs never actually make it to the sea because, well, they are pigs and they just want to eat the food! There were a lot of people there feeding, petting and taking photos with them.

We had a late lunch/early supper back at Progreso at Eladio’s — which is a large open-air restaurant right on the beach. Terrible cocktails, but very nice ceviche with nachos. We ended the night with another walk on the beach and ice cream at Paleteria Y Neveria La Michoacana which is a Mexican institution and the kids loved it.


Day 3
Today we drove into the colorful city of Merida. We were thinking of staying here as there are so many boutique hotels to choose from and it’s fun to walk out your door and have amazing cuisine on your doorstep, but in the end we opted for the beach. Merida is fun and buzzy and would make a good base.

The main boulevard street is Calle Montejo, lined with stately homes modeled after French architecture. On Sundays there is a ciclo via where they close the street and you can bike or scooter up and down the street. We saw places to rent bikes and even one that would have seated six, which would have been perfect for us, but it was ending at 12:30 pm when we got there.

Our walk took us past some really nice spots, we started at Santa Lucia park, (another great place to eat as it’s a park ringed with cafes and restaurants), then walked up Calle 60 (super cute!) to Parque Santa Ana, where there is a market and outdoor places to eat. From there over to Paseo de Montejo. Just up from Montejo 495 was where you could rent bikes for the $40 pesos/hour or $70 pesos/2 hours.

Instead, we had a tour of one of the grand homes on Montejo 495, built in 1904 and full of artifacts of the time. It was interesting to see a house that seemed so European in the heat of Mexico. Then we walked down Calle 47 which was full of cute restaurants and coffee shops. With lunch at Oliva for pizza which was delicious.

We ended the day with a quintessential Merida horse and carriage ride (our eldest was mortified) but it was fun, (pick up the Cathedral/zocalo) $500 pesos for 1-4 people for 45 minutes for $600 pesos for five people.

Friends gave us so many recommendations for restaurants in Merida so I’ve listed them here as they are tried and true, even though we could only go to one:

• Oliva restaurants (they have multiple ones, the pizza one was great)
• Hacienda Teya in the centro or outside of town, they have multiple locations
• Restaurante Casa de Piedra
• Kuuk
• Chaya Maya
• Cantina la Negrita

Day 4

It was Christmas Day so we had a BBQ and relaxed and enjoyed the house. Progreso public beach is wide and sandy. The houses in Chelem or Chicxulub (where we stayed) have a sand bag barrier about five feet out into the sea, to stop erosion. So at low tide, they are visible, but it made a nice little wading pool for smaller children. Or if you want to get into the main part of the sea, if it’s high tide you glide or jump over the sand bag wall, or hop up and stand on them when it’s low tide. 


Day 5

Boxing Day we spent with more swimming and lazying. Saw flamingos on the side of the road on the way into Progreso. We went to have a late lunch at Casa del Pastel — amazing food — fish and chips, tuna appetizers, bang bang shrimp, fettuccine seafood, we loved it all. They also had relatively cheap drinks and cocktails. And service was fantastic. You can eat on the beach, the front verandah or inside with all the beautiful art deco tiling and touches.  We skipped desert and went to Gelatopia and were so glad we did, as it was delicious and tasty with chocolate, pistachio, salted caramel ice creams on the menu.

We had a long list for the area but we only scratched the surface, some other places we wanted to do included kayaking at the mangroves at El Corchito, Xtampu for a pink lagoon and flamingos, and the pyramids of Xcambo. The ruins of Dzibilchaltun and the bright yellow town of Izamal are all within striking distance of the Progreso area and will all have to wait until next time. 


Day 6

We left Progreso to head into the Yucatan and closer to the pyramids of Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc. En route we stopped half way at Hacienda Mucuychue Cenotes for a tour, swim and lunch. (The ruins of Mayapan looks likes it’s nearby on the map, but isn’t.) We really enjoyed our time at this cenote with the different pools, rivers and they also have a swimming pool. The have changing rooms and provide big waterproof duffle bags that you can put your stuff in and lock while you swim.

For the cenotes I would recommend:

• Waterproof phone case
• Flip flops
• Your own travel towel (in case the hotel or airbnb doesn’t provide them)
• You don’t need a longsleeved rasher vest as most are shady or enclosed
• We didn’t need strap-on sandals or water shoes as most of them you just chuck off your flip flops and get in, so flip flops are fine

There are over 3,000 cenotes in Yucatan, which are sometimes fully open like a lake, or fully enclosed in an underground cave, and then everything in-between. Some are quite rustic and hard to find and you pay a local and just jump in, and others are well-developed complexes (but nothing over the top, the ones we went to were all still very natural.) We opted for more developed cenotes as we thought our middle child would be scared of the more rustic ones or our youngest wouldn’t be able to climb on ladders, etc. The best thing about the Yucatan (ok, maybe not ‘the best’ there are so many to choose from!) is that for families, you can balance out the culture of pyramids and ruins, with the swimming of a cenote or the sea, and combine it with world class cuisines — either pizza or seafood or tacos. I really loved this family road trip with something for everyone. 

At Hacienda Mucuychue Cenotes you have a one hour tour of the old henequen plantation (sisal rope) and house, from the 17th Century but there are some initial ones from the end of 16thC. We had a bilingual guide. We booked in advance on WhatsApp and I do recommend booking, especially as we were there over Christmas season. (+52 999 547 6087) 

We spent over an hour swimming as the water was really warm. There is no sunscreen or bug spray allowed and no rasher needed.  Just swim suit and flip flops or water shoes. There is a guide at this one that moves you along through the different sections. You walk down stone stairs to an open cave where you leave your shoes, swim and float down the canal. Then you walk a bit to an enclosed cave which is 32 m deep and 2.2 million years old. After the cave, we walked back to shoes, back up the stairs to where we had left stuff in a duffle bag with lock ($30 pesos). There are women/men change rooms and a restaurant alongside a swimming pool. The lunch at the restaurant was a bit pricey, but drinks were very cheap, and the food portions were huge so you might want to consider sharing.

After the cenotes we drove Hacienda Maria Elena — which we all loved. Our rooms were huge and ample for families. It was comfortable and clean with a swimming pool, man-made small cenote, tennis and pickle ball courts where you could get rackets and balls for free. The restaurant was good with a mix of choices so a good lunch or dining options (even if you aren’t staying there.) We chose to stay here as it was midway between all the sites we wanted to see and it was closer to stay here than driving down from Merida every day. We loved it and were glad we stayed here. Very relaxing!


Day 7
Drove to Uxmal in the morning.

The entrance was very confusing and we got there very early and there were still lineups. So learn from our mistakes!

There are two lines to enter as you need two separate tickets per person. I would suggest if you are a couple that one of you gets in one line and one in the other. You need one entrance ticket for the site, and one ticket for the local tax.


With Mexican student ID and Mexican National credentials we paid $180 pesos to enter total. Otherwise it’s $540 pesos for adults and kids under 12 are free. They do have National/international/disabled free admission as well.

The entrance is cash only, the local tax ticket you can pay by card. So if you live in Mexico it is very important that you bring your local ID and you also bring your children’s school IDs. Every entrance had different prices (they were confused by our one son’s ID as it doesn’t specifically say it is a SEP school, but once we pointed out it’s a school in Mexico City he got the local student price). 


There are boardwalks and ramps and it’s a short walk to the pyramids. Lots of shade and grass to wait and relax on. It could get very hot so I would go early. Many people love Chichen Itza but we all said we thought Uxmal was so pretty and magical. We loved the rounded pyramid and the ones up on the hill with a great view. It is a huge complex and highly worthwhile! We loved it.

We were also there to go to Ruta Puuc, which is a side road from Uxmal with four smaller sites that you can access stretching about 40 km. We had time after Uxmal so we went to see the furthest one on Ruta Puuc which is Labna. It was $70 pesos for adults and kids are free. It was medium sized and took us about half hour to see it. We left the kids in the car, and the place was pretty much deserted when we went there. There are no services but they are building bathrooms and tickets offices at all the sites on Ruta Puuc.


Day 8
Today was the rest of our Ruta Puuc day. The Grutas de Loltún, also part of Ruta Pucc, were closed when we were there.

Xlapak was our first stop, it’s very small and took half an hour to walk the circular loop. If you have to skip one, I’d say you could skip this one. We still enjoyed it, but it wasn’t our favourite. It was $70 pesos for adults and kids free. No services at the time.

On the drive we did see a family of coatis which was fun. The road is good, but narrow and a few spots with deep potholes. 


Sayil is a bit hidden, but there is a sign on the road, just keep an eye out. It took us 1.5 hours to do the whole loop. The first site was stunning. Highly recommend to walk to the right of the palace and go back around it to the back part where you will see the overgrowth of the jungle at the back of the ruins. The rest of the sites were nice, but if you have young children or are pressed for time, I would skip the rest of it. No services. $70 pesos for adults, kids free.

It was 5.5 km of driving to do the two sites and very few people at these three sites.

Kabah had the most tourists and a large carpark on the side of the road for buses. You can see it from the road so it had the most people visiting it. It is so much more impressive when you enter. You can go up on the top pyramid and around to the second one which is full of funny faces and intricate carvings. The heads are carvings of the rain god Chac.

At the ticket booth there is a small kiosk selling drinks and embroidered dresses. The lady also bakes cookies and pastries. For $10 pesos each you can buy her amazing butter cookies! We sampled both the butter heart shaped ones and also the coconut ones and both were delicious. There are bathrooms on site here. The entrance fee is $75 pesos for adults. You can also go across the street and see the incredible Mayan arch.

We had a delicious lunch at the Pickled Onion, which also has cabins. The service was amazing and the menu was a mix of hamburgers, Yucatan and tex-mex food. Good and fast. 

We dropped the boys at the pool and my daughter and I went to check out the Choco-Story, a chocolate museum which is across the street from Uxmal. It took us less than an hour, but I’d plan for two. It was a very good explanation of cocoa (we skipped most of the exhibits or went through quickly as we had seen this type of information before) but they were really well done and a good overview. We were on the move as they also have rescued animals and she wanted to see and feed the monkeys and the deer. Our friends had been the day before and they were able to feed the jaguars, their boys threw a dead raw chicken into the cage. I did ask the ladies at the ticket booth about when the jaguar feeding was and they looked at me like I had two heads. So I think our friends just stumbled upon being able to feed the big cats at the right time. There is a bird sanctuary and jaguarsitas too. A cafe, but they were all out of chocolate drinks, and a nice chocolate shop. 


Day 9
Today we headed to the last part of our loop to the city of Valladolid to stay at Hacienda Kaan Ac.

We were looking for a cenote to stop at en route, but we wanted one that was half exposed (our son doesn’t like the super enclosed caves ones) and easy access for our daughter. There are a lot cenotes along here, known as the anillo de cenotes (ring of cenotes). 

In the town of Homún we saw different tuk tuks taking people between cenotes, which would be fun. And we saw the same as we drove through Cuzama as well.

We ended up at this park of cenotes called Santa Barbara. It had a sit-down typical restaurant, a fast food restaurant, splash pad and four cenotes. At the entrance I felt like maybe we were going to a Disneyland version, but after you get inside, the cenotes are all different and still very natural. To get between the cenotes you can pick up one of their bikes, use a horse-drawn train cart or take a van (all included in the price.) You go all the way to cenote 1 (Cascabel) then walk across a path to the other two cenotes, Chacsikín and Xooch’. Then take the horse train cart back to the main entrance. There you can eat or do the splash pad and you end up with the last cenote, Pool Cocom, which actually has an elevator down to the bottom for those who can’t walk down the long stone steps. 

Lockers were $20 pesos + $50 pesos deposit, which you get back. Parking and life jackets and transport in the park are all free. You could even buy a ticket that included lunch at the restaurant, but we were in a rush so we went to the fast food place instead for burgers. It was $350 pesos per person, children aged 6-10 pay $200 pesos and we were charged a kids rate for our two children who are physically disabled. I think an extra $100 pesos for the food deal at the restaurant would have been good, as the fast food was more expensive. 

We went with our own towels and rasher vests and flip flops. You don’t really need towels, as even at 26C we were warm, as the water and caves are steamy and warm. You need flip flops as there is a lot of taking on and off of shoes and they will get wet. We didn’t use towels until the very end. We used phone waterproof cases. 

The first cenote you walk through the roots of a tree, underground into a mostly enclosed cave. Our middle son doesn’t like these kinds but it was well-lit so he made it in. It feels like a sauna as you enter! It had a big cement platform for the wooden steps and you can swim around it. It has small fish, and stalactites from the ceiling and tree roots. We were there about half an hour. Bathrooms on-site. The second cenote was also down wooden steps to a wooden platform from which you could jump off. It was a deeper cavern and the water was crystal blue and warm and the air was also warm and steamy. It felt cold to go back outside wet (this was in December, but the lifeguards said in July and August outside temperatures reach 45-50C). The third one was a semi-open cenote which you access down stone steps and through a tunnel, it was so beautiful with the trees and sky above. Then we took the horse and cart back to the entrance. The fourth cenote was all open, you swim down a channel with high walls and end up in a circular swimming area. Also ringed with trees and long roots this cenote was all open and accessible by elevator as well. Splash pad and the two restaurants are by the last cenote which is by the main entrance.  

In the end we were there from 1:30 until 5 pm when it closed. We felt rushed and could have had more time. But once you do the cenotes you can’t go back and re-do them. And so maybe arriving at 11 am would have been better, but not sure how warm it would have been yet to want to get in. 

We paid about $200 pesos cash in tolls this day. 


Day 10
Today was a very relaxing day as it was New Years Eve. We went into town and met up with old friends (who were also on a Yucatan tour) and had lunch at Yakunaj Cocina Mexicana. It had a beautiful patio and a varied menu, we all loved our food with many options including hamburgers, pasta, vegetarian and Yucatanen. It was right beside the super cute and famous street of  Los Frailes in Valladolid. Picture perfect!

We then drove back to our hacienda, which I have to say we didn’t love. The front staff were great and had nice suggestions. But the restaurant had very strange hours and the service was so incredibly slow (though the breakfast was nice). We were in the cabin, which was modern and comfortable. But as we are a family of five we also needed another room, and the second one was in the main house. It was a bit like a Midsomer Murder manor house and to be honest my daughter and I were scared to sleep there alone! The pool was clean and really nice. The wifi was only around the reception and data was spotty. 


Day 11
Today was the day we did Chichén Itzá. We hired a guide a friend recommended and we really liked him (Spanish only) and he was accommodating with not talking too too much with kids. Antonio Chitamay +52 985 852 7086. We booked him in advance via WhatsApp and he helped us navigate all the different lines for buying tickets. We went early, but it was still really warm and hot, and I can’t imagine it in the summer at 50C so my advice is to go for the opening time. We were there for 8:30 a.m. and we left by 11:30.

Sundays are free for Mexican nationals so there are more people those days. Parking was $110 pesos. Children with a national ID and a Mexican school ID go free. So all our kids were free. Non residents pay $614 and nationals (we have Mexican ID) pay $266 pesos for adults.
Tolls were just under $100 pesos. Bizarrely there is a Starbucks at the ticket office.

It is a beautiful complex with a lot to explore and shady areas as well, the main pyramid is 30 meters high and it has the biggest ball court in Mesoamérica which is breathtaking.

There are two nearby cenotes, Tskuan or Ik Kil. We opted for Tskuan and there were very few people there. It is a long meandering walk through the trees to the cenote. It was New Years day so services (like the cafe and restaurant) was limited. There are lockers and change rooms and it was a very peaceful cenote. Price was $100 pesos for children under 12, and $230 for adults. Our friends went to Ik Kil and loved it as well, so either is a good choice!


Day 12
I had been reading a lot of suggestions for things to do in the area but everyone just wanted a lazy day of books and pool. We went into Valladolid and walked around the main square where the birds at dusk were absolute maniacs! We had a great supper where you can eat outside in the garden, but choose from two menus, one is Italian and the other is Japanese. It was the perfect choice for the five of us, San Giovanni Trattoria and Itamae. We ended the night with ice cream at Wabi Gelato and there is a nice craft shop next door called Casa Telar.

Some nearby ideas are the towns of Espita, Tizimin, and Ixtapa (a colorful yellow town).


Day 13
Our last day and our last archeological site and cenote. Something for everyone! Today we went to Ek Balam, a small site but one where you can still climb the pyramids. I really liked this one. Parking was $100, we arrived at 10:30 am and parking lot was quite full. There are two entrance fees (entrance and tax) and two ticket lines so if it’s busy make sure you know what line you are in. Children with national and school ID are free, without it they are $95 pesos (ages 4-12). Adults with national/resident ID were $121 pesos and without, $536 pesos. Tax fee, the kids were the same and the adults were $216 pesos with ID and $536 pesos without.  

A guide in Spanish was charging $600 pesos and in other languages was $800 pesos. We decided to practice our Spanish.


The guide told us Ek Balam at the time was more important than Chichen Itza and it was completely Mayan, and only 10 per cent restored. Ek Balam means black or star jaguar. It’s 12 km squared with over 800 pyramids (mostly under jungle).


There are two cenotes in Ek Balam and they traded with Chichen Itza and Guatamela. Ek Balam had people living there, whereas Chichen Itza was ceremonial. There is a ball court and a lot of shade. The main building is the second biggest in the Yucatan and it was a palace, not a pyramid.  On the fourth floor, 90% is original carvings. It was covered in mud and that protected the carvings as well it had a stone roof that protected it from the rain. It’s 32 metres high and 106 steps and was restored in 1994. 



There are a few cenotes in the area to choose from; Cenote Hubiku, Cenote Saac Aua and Cenote Palomitas just to name a few. All were recommended by the hotel. We decided on Cenote Hubiku which charged you $300 pesos per person but it included a buffet meal. It was $40 pesos extra for the life jacket, but unlike all the other cenotes we went to, a life jacket wasn’t obligatory. It was $20 pesos for a locker. 

This cenote was really deep with a high diving platform you could jump off into the cenote. My little fishes loved this one as they didn’t need a life jacket and the could dive down deep. There weren’t many people when we were there. There were also a lot of black catfish type fish in this cenote.

Day 14

Time to leave the Yucatan. While I loved having two full weeks in the Yucatan my husband and I both felt it was a bit long, by maybe two days. The children all said their favourite part was the Hubiku and Mucuychue Cenotes as well as feeding the animals at the Chocolate museum. I loved all the pyramids. My husband said BBQ relax day in Progreso on the beach and Uxmal were his favourites. The best part is, this trip could easily be broken up into three parts.