Getting to Merida (Help!) (pesos, hotels, transfer, buy)
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Merida as a place to go is high on my list, for several reasons:
1. Urbanism/Charm-a beautiful historic center with a lot of really great looking places to stay. In fact, it was recently voted as the best small city in the world. It seems to be a really good balance of being safe by LatAm standards, affordable, relaxed, yet adventurous and happening at once.
2. Archaeology/Mayan Sites-it seems to easily be the best hub base for visiting the most significant sites of this culture. I am in my late 20s right now... two of the absolute best trips I have taken in my 20s and in my life perhaps, were to Mexico City, where I saw major Aztec sites, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the stunning Teotihuacan Pyramids, and to Peru, where I spent time in the historic city of Cusco, seeing Inca sites and portions of the city still in existence there, plus visiting Ollantaytambo, the Inca Trail and of course Machu Picchu. Thus, as the last trip in my 20s, seeing the Aztecs, then the Incas, then the Mayans, would be a fitting conclusion to that trifecta (not that I won't be returning to the others as I plan to, but still.). I would strongly consider visiting the regional Maya Museum in Merida, as well as Chichen Itza and/or Uxmal, among other places.
3. Natural Factors/Miscellaneous-As I mentioned, it seems like a not overly stressful place to plan a 30th birthday or 5th-anniversary trip. In addition, it has tropical ambiance, many of the places we might stay at have a nice pool-it appears very leafy.. there is access to cenote swimming pools, multi-colored lakes, the gulf isn't very far (30 minutes to Progreso-which while not great beaches, might make a decent diversion spot) and there is even archaeological discovery potentially from a further back time when the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs landed near here (I believe there is a small museum exhibit about that). I could see myself visiting this area from anywhere to 3-7 days.
(Obviously, until COVID-19 goes away and we don't know when that will be... this won't happen--so this is ideally after sooner rather than later, some type of effective treatment or containment is developed.
The only problem with Merida is access, in terms of time and cost of getting there. From what I have researched, there are really 4 main ways I could get there from FL.
(A): Take a cruise. Unfortunately, cruises that go near to Merida only seem to depart from western ports (Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston), and not Tampa. Also, they only stay there one day, which really means I'd have to choose between visiting Chichen Itza or seeing the city of Merida... not really a choice I want to have to make, or even if I did see both, just not enough time.
(B) Fly in direct from Miami-however, this route, while available, doesn't seem to be all that regular... and while this probably would the most efficient quickest route, it also appears quite expensive (from when I have looked, over $400 RT for a very short distance flight).
(C) Fly from Orlando into Cancun, then take bus, etc. over--I have considered this because it would be a way of combining beach with ruins, in which case I might make it 3-4 days staying in Merida area, and 2-3 days staying on beach somewhere in Cancun. This has it's appeal... but I'm really not sure how easy it is to transfer by car, bus, etc. from Cancun to Merida, and that seems like an extra hurdle and a lengthy car trip (3.5 hrs.) which gives me pause regarding this idea. Also, airfare doing it this way still appears overall more expensive than
(D) Fly from Orlando or Miami into Mexico City... then fly to Merida (and do the same on the way back). The con in this approach is of course more time in transit, at airports, etc. It still doesn't seem like cheap prices.. (frustrating given that as the bird travels, we only live like 600 miles from Merida), but it's cheaper than the other two. Visiting Mexico City is also a potential pro.. one of our really good friends lives there who did such an amazing job of showing us around last time-and we could even potentially add some time in Mexico City, and a third city such as Puebla or San Miguel de Allende or Guanajuato, and make it a 9-10 day trip. The flaw in this approach of course is the longer airfare... and the problem is that with this being the cheapest "approach", we would probably need a minimum 5-6 days of travel time, further limiting the times we could potentially make the trip throughout the year, or ease of our doing so.
Does anyone have any suggestions other than this? I would absolutely LOVE to visit this city-it's at the very top list of places for a long weekend that I would visit when I am able-BUT, doing so poses more logistical challenges and cost/time to get there than places that are 2-3 times further away. Help! Any suggestions in getting to this amazing city once COVID is done would be appreciated. We live about a half hour south of Tampa, so about 1.5 hrs. from Orlando International, and 3.5 hrs. from Miami International, if that helps with planning purposes.
I am open to any creative ideas (as we flew out of Fort Lauderdale and back into Miami on our Peru trip last year)-but, at the same time-for a short trip, convenience and ease would be preferred... LOVED being able to fly nonstop into Mexico City in 3 hrs. without a hitch for under $200 RT-perhaps we can look to book a separate flight on domestic airlines once getting our flight into MEX. Thanks in advance!
Simplest way, nonstop flight to Cancun from Orlando. At Cancun airport, go to the ticket window for ADO bus line. They run luxury, first class buses from Cancun to Merida about 5 times per day. It takes 4-5 hours depending on the departure time. Cost is less than 500 pesos. You can buy the ADO bus ticket from Cancun airport to Merida, but you will need to change buses in the main bus terminal in Cancun.
Thanks for those thoughts. Generally speaking I tend to agree. And, if we were to do that, I think we would probably do at least 1-2 nights in Cancun on the beach on either arrival or departure, depending on flight timing, etc.
The only two factors that make me consider whether maybe that isn't the best plan for us is this:
1) There is some possibility we could be traveling with a very small child (I think that is very unlikely though with comparative logistical challenges of this trip)
2) My wife has herniated/back issues that can often be aggravated by long car trips.
Now, that doesn't necessarily rule it out-things that tend to aggravate her back aren't all uniform (she does pretty okay with a number of car seats for instance, and smooth running (not jerky and with good seating vehicles)-she is usually able to manage okay (although-this would be a long trip to take).
I guess my follow up questions to you are
1. How is the seat and bus quality? How comfortable is the typical ride compared to say, a standard US city bus?
2. Does/do the bus routes make stops? In looking-it wouldn't hurt to hit a few places, such as Chichen Itza/Valladolid, a Cenote, Izamal, and even Playa Del Carmen, whilst en route either direction that would seem to be decent ways of breaking up the drive.
3. With that said, there is the possibility that her back/health may hold up better in a private rental car with additional room to lay down, stretch out, etc. There are many regions of Mexico in which I simply would not drive under any circumstances. However, I feel that this area is one of the safer ones in the country.. is there a way of knowing which gas stations are better to fill up at than others? Would you feel okay if you didn't have much experience with the country making this drive? Or are the connections sufficient? The other idea might be having a private tour, if not overly expensive, that would take us to some of these places one way or the other from Merida and Cancun.
ADO buses are fine, it's far different than a city bus in USA they usually have two seats on each side that can recline. Some luxury routes have only 3 seats per row. Most passengers are Mexican, and you can bring luggage that they'll put in the hold and give you a tag. Many bus lines also give a meal bag but it's not much.
One advice I'd give is try to get towards the front, sometimes the bathrooms smell horrible and folks in the back suffer.
Looks like this:
They don't stop often, there might be a brief stop on the way but it's not a tour bus where you're stopping in various locations to go see sites.
Sorry I never got back to you. It looks nice enough, so I'll definitely consider it. Though I am actually increasingly thinking I really want to maybe just do a longer trip.. in looking for this summer (which I wouldn't be going during, of course), it looks like there are more readily available flights between MEX and MID ($68 RT in July, I don't know how much cheaper that is than normal).
That information about the ADO buses is helpful in general though, since I am presuming they cover all of Mexico and not just that region? I still may put them to use either way. I'm thinking I may try to get down next summer (July 2021 for between 6-10 days-
Spend some time in the capital of course (which I love)-then I have a few options for branching out including Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, Puebla/Cholula, and Merida and it's environs if by flight connection. That would be the trip to ring in my 30th birthday (LOL), so hopefully COVID will have gone away by then.
I'm thinking I may try to get down next summer (July 2021 for between 6-10 days-
Spend some time in the capital of course (which I love)-then I have a few options for branching out including Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, Puebla/Cholula, and Merida and it's environs if by flight connection. That would be the trip to ring in my 30th birthday (LOL), so hopefully COVID will have gone away by then.
Given that you will have at most 10 days, I would concentrate on exploring the heartland of Mexico. Would start out at the capital (CDMX), visit the museums and historic center for a few nights, head up north to visit Aztec ruins at Teotihuacan, the pueblo magico of Tepotzotlan, continue on to colonial city of Querataro, SMA, Guanajuato, and departing from the BJX airport in Leon. If you have two weeks, a side trip to Grutas de Tolatongo would be nice.
Take separate Puebla and Merida trips in the future.
The ADO bus ride from Cancun to Merida isn't terrible, I fell asleep part of the way and I have back disc issues as well as knee, bursitis of the shoulder and hip I see all kinds of other people with canes and such boarding for these rides. Other that that, I wasn't thrilled with Meridia, others love it, just wasn't for me. I cut my trip there short. I'm in Playa Del Carmen at this time, people love hate this place, but next to Cancun, I like it a lot, been in this city over 4 months now, not sure when I'll be leaving, just got a tourist visa extension. Thinking of heading over to Queretaro and Mex City mid to late June.
TRosa, for a little adventure trip from PDC, take an ADO bus ride south to Mahahual. It is a small coastal town about 3-4 hours south of you, isolated and not over-developed. There are not many tourist attractions aside from the beach, some restaurants and small hotels. The restaurants serve delicious fresh caught fish, usually from the boats that pull up on the beach in the late morning. Hotel del Caballo Blanco is where I stayed, and the owners are super-nice. Their daughter is the town's doctor. It is what the coast of Quintano Roo near Cancun might have been like many decades before.
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