Merida has a reputation as one of the expat havens on Mexico and as such we were expecting the prices to be a little higher and we weren’t disappointed in that regard.

It was definitely one of the more expensive places we’ve been in Merida and in all honesty not all that it’s hyped up to be. It could that Covid was impacting our experience or we’d just been spoilt with so many other Mexican gems before getting here but we left with a little feeling of ‘meh’.

However there is plenty to do just outside the city, here are our highlights for Merida:

  • ALL of the ruins but in particular Uxmal and Mayapan. Chichen Itza was impressive but a little too busy for us.
  • Cenotes, cenotes, cenotes. I mean what’s not to like.
  • And…. that’s about it! A lot of the museums and galleries were closed and to be honest we found Merida a little boring, which seems to be an unpopular opinion 😬

Below are our costs for 28 days in Merida for two people, in USD.

Expenses
Rent (see the Airbnb we booked here) $997
Cellphone (for 2 phones) $29.96
Groceries $174.05
Eating Out $459.37
Activities (see list below) $521.82
Toiletries/Pharmacy/Personal Care $82.35
Laundry $0.00
Ubers around the city $66.09
Bus to Playa del Carmen $43.24
Taxi from Airport to AirBnB $24.97
Total expenses $2,398.85

Activities include:

  • Mayapan 
  • Uxmal and Choco-Story
  • Chichen Itza and the pink pools 
  • 2 x Cenote trips
  • Day trip to Progress 
  • Walking tour in Merida City

We always feel a little bad when we don’t love a city we’ve stayed in (it’s actually only happened once with another very popular spot – San Miguel de Allende).

We are extremely grateful to be here and still had a lovely time but want to keep it real and share when something or somewhere wasn’t what we expected or what it’s hyped to be.

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Zahn is a travel junkie born and raised on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Zahn spent two years in South Korea where she met Addison in 2018. She has visited 17 countries and is on a mission to literally work her way around the rest.

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