Mérida

Dates visited: December 18, 2011 – December 21, 2011 Mérida is the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatán. We flew into Cancun, but drove to Mérida the following day as we decided to make it our base for visiting the Mayan ruins at Uxmal and Chichen Itza. Mérida is a pretty…

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Uxmal

Dates visited: December 19, 2011 – December 20, 2011 Uxmal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is about 49 miles south of Mérida (1hr 15m by car). The Mayan ruins of Uxmal are as popular as the ones at Chichén Itzá so we decided to include them in our itinerary. We visited the…

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Chichén Itzá

Dates visited: December 21, 2011 Chichén Itzá, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is roughly one-third the distance between Mérida and Playa del Carmen. It is 76 miles east of Merida (1 hr 30 m by car). We left Mérida right after an early breakfast to view the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá;…

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Valladolid

Dates visited: December 18, 2011 and December 21, 2011 We stopped in this pretty colonial town twice—once on our drive from Cancun to Merida, and the second time on our drive from Chichén Itzá to Playa del Carmen. It’s a lively place to just wander around and spend a few…

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Playa del Carmen

Dates visited: December 21, 2011 – December 30, 2011 It was a toss-up between Cancun and Playa del Carmen (PDC), and PDC won primarily because it is more family-oriented than Cancun… …but of course, don’t let the photo above deceive you! I was surprised to read that Cancun mostly receives…

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Akumal

Dates visited: December 25, 2012 23 miles south-west of Playa del Carmen (around 35 mins by car), Akumal is a great place for snorkeling. We snorkeled in Yalku-ito; a place where the underground freshwater of the ground of the Yucatan Peninsula exits towards the ocean. We saw several schools of…

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Tulum

Dates visited: December 28, 2011 The Mayan ruins at Tulum are 40 miles south-west of Playa del Carmen (around 50 mins by car). What makes them spectacular is that they are right on the coast so the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean Sea present a wonderful backdrop. However, once…

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