Mérida

Excuse us for not giving an exact location for your next few nights’ sojourn, and instead rather vaguely saying your destination is the “Mérida area.” After pondering where to suggest you stay, it was impossible to recommend just one place. You can, of course, choose a hotel in the heart of Mérida; but dotting the countryside that wraps around the city is a rich selection of hotels, including gorgeous 18^th-century haciendas that have been converted into superb small inns. Here you find the centuries slip away, and you feel like a guest in the home of a wealthy Spanish aristocrat, landlord of a vast sisal plantation. Some of these architectural treasures are listed under Mérida; however, there are other hotels in the area listed by their individual town names. Please look at the map in the front of the book to find all the hotels in this area. Any one of the following properties would make an outstanding choice to use as a base of operation: Hacienda Santa Rosa, Hacienda Temozón, Hacienda San José, Hacienda Xcantún, and the Lodge at Uxmal. Another of our favorites, Hacienda Uayamón (which is closer to Campeche than to Mérida) would also work well as a hub.The following are some of the places to visit in this region of the peninsula. MÉRIDA Mérida, founded by the Spaniards in 1542 upon an earlier Mayan city, is worth a visit to enjoy its rich Colonial heritage. The city is laid out with all streets converging at a large, pretty, central plaza called the Plaza Grande or Plaza de La Independencia. Facing onto this parklike square is the imposing cathedral, the oldest in the Americas. Across the square from the cathedral is the Palacio Municipal, enhanced in front by a series of arches and topped by a tall clock tower. A few blocks away is the Teatro José Peón Contereas, an elaborate theater that attests to the wealth and sophistication generated by the prosperous sisal plantations nearby.