Mérida Day Tours
| The Mérida city tour. |
| Complete
tour of the city; cultural, financial & health center of the
Yucatan. In this tour will be visited the very historic places and
the newer ones. The tour starts at downtown visiting the main square,
the governors palace & the history chamber, “Montejo”
house, the San Ildefonso Cathedral (the oldest in America’s
mainland); continuing north trough the 60th street and its important
buildings: the “Tercera Orden” church, Hidalgo Park,
Motherhood park, José Peón Contreras theater, Yucatán
University, Santa Lucía Park and Church, Santa Ana park and
Church; arrival to the main avenue the “Paseo Montejo”
to appreciate the French style buildings like the “Cantón”
Palace, the twin houses and more. At the end of “Paseo Montejo”
we will visit the Motherland monument. After that we will visit
the modern residential zone of the city, the Itzimná quarter,
the Pérez Ponce Avenue, the Justo Sierra statue, the Cupules
avenue, the “parque de las Américas”, the Colón
avenue. After that the tour will start to go back to the downtown,
visiting on the way back the “Santa Isabel” church,
the San Juan arch, the San Juan church and park, the “Monjas”
church and the “Lucas de Gálvez” market. If the
city tour is made in the evening it can end at one of the many cultural
events held every night in downtown. |
| Tour to Chichén Itzá with lunch |
| The
tour departs at 09:00, it will take one hour and twenty minutes
to arrive to the most famous Mayan site. The itinerary to visit
the most relevant places of the site may change but the places visited
won’t. The guided tour includes: The Kukulkán pyramid
(by far the most famous and extraordinary of all the buildings),
the ball court (the biggest in ancient América), the eagles
and jaguars platform, the sacrifice well, the warriors temple, the
thousand columns temple, the Venus platform, the observatory (one
of the few astronomic labs of pre Columbian América), the
Church, the monastery and more. It is important to mention that
Chichén Itzá is best archaeological example of the
Maya – Toltec culture. |
| Tasting and gastronomy tour. |
| Is The tour consists basically in the visit to two XVII century haciendas located in Mérida. The first one to visit is “Hacienda Vista Alegre” which has the most important and prestigious production of traditional Rum and liquors from tropical fruits; it is a 45 minutes visit to the oak wood barrels deposits, to the pottery house where the bottles for the finest liquors are hand made and to the factory which is still inhabited by the owners; all the process of making the Rum and liquors is explained by a local host and tasting of the different products is made after the explanation. After the liquor tasting the tour proceeds to another old colonial palace called “Hacienda Teya”. This award winning hacienda offers the best typical gastronomy of the Yucatán and has received visits of figures like Queen Sophie from Spain and Greece, Hilary Clinton, the Luxembourg Dukes and more. Yucatán is known for having the most prestigious, the finest and most diverse culinary tradition of México and Mexican gastronomy is famous worldwide. In this tour people will have the opportunity to try the best of the best from our proud cooking tradition. A la carte menu, 4 courses, no beverages included. |
| Rum & Exotic liquors tasting tour |
| Discover
how the rum, the traditional xtabentún (pronounced sh-ta-ben-toon)
and liquors from tropical and exotic fruits like coconut, guanabana
or nance are made. Experience the taste of the distilled liquors
from the most important producer in the Yucatan. The liquor house is located in an old and still inhabited hacienda from the XVIII century, with an interesting yard of typical Mayan trees and plants and located in the outskirts of Mérida city. The tour includes: the rum barrels deposit, the production area, the filling area, the pottery and painting room, the traditional garden, liquor tasting & Wholesaler price shopping. |
| Tour to Uxmal and the Light & Sound show with lunch |
The
tour departs at 13:00, one hour drive heading south its expected
depending on traffic. Uxmal is one of the most beautiful Mayan archaeological
sites ever built; it’s the best example of the Puuc architectural
style which is considered the finest among many archaeologists.
At Uxmal, a different feeling comes through the air, a feeling of
energy, mysticism or power. The includes the following: The magician
pyramid, the nuns quadrangle, the parrots square, the ball court,
the governors palace (with more than 20,000 sculptured stones, is
considered the most beautiful structure in ancient América),
the turtles temple, the great pyramid and more. Dinner will take
place after the visit. In the evening, attendance to the fifty minutes
light and sound show. Expected length of the tour: nine hours. |
| Tour to Uxmal & Kabah with lunch |
The
tour departs at 09:00. The same route than the Uxmal tour but continuing
fifteen more minutes to the archaeological site of Kabah. Kabah,
as Uxmal, is a Cultural Heritage of the World and also, as Uxmal,
is a great example of the Puuc architectural style. There are two
important buildings at this small site, the acropolis and the impressive
Codz Pop palace which is all covered by masks of the Mayan rain
god “Chac”. After visiting Uxmal and Kabah, we will
lunch at one of the restaurants near Uxmal. Expected length of the
tour: eight hours. |
| Tour to Celestún Biosphere Reserve |
| The
tour departs at 09:00. It takes one a hour drive heading west to
arrive there. The tour consists in a one hour and forty five minutes
boat ride through the lagoons of Celestún Biosphere Reserve.
There are many interesting aspects to observe in this boat ride
like the flora and fauna of the zone. The flora is dominated by
the mangroves, “mangrove trees constitute the very core of
the coastal ecological cycle. They are uniquely adapted to living
in salty water and provide protection from coastal erosion. Fungus
that grows on the dead, fallen leaves provides nourishment for small
crustaceans and birds. Some of the trees reach heights of up to
85 feet”. Birds are the most attractive of all the animal
species in the reserve, among the birds the pink flamingo has a
special place because of its uniqueness and finesse, one of the
worlds biggest settles of these birds is in the Yucatán coastline. After the boat ride, time to walk around the small fisherman town of Celestún. Expected length of the tour: six hours. |
| Tour to the Natural Wells and Underground rivers (snorkeling) |
| The
tour departs at 08:00. Fifty five minutes drive heading southeast
to arrive. This is a special kind of tour because of the many interesting
issues it covers. Just twenty minutes after departure we will arrive
to the town of Acanceh which has in its main square an ancient Maya
pyramid from the pre classic period (250 B. C.), called the palace
of the stuccos and a colonial style church of XVI century; this
is a very graphic example of the hybrid culture of the modern Yucatán,
a mixture of Europe and the ancient Maya. The tour continues until
Chuncanán Hacienda. At Chuncanán, we will ride in
the former “railroad system” of the hacienda, with wagons
pulled by horses until we arrive, after a thirty minutes ride between
the forests, to the underground rivers. The caves are magnificent
places full of stalactites and stalagmites and the underground river
which is as clear as a swimming pool and as colorful as the Caribbean.
It is an excellent place to do snorkel and to do cavern diving.
If time permits it we could visit two more caves. The Yucatán
Peninsula has the biggest underground rivers system in the world
due to the limestone shell that allows the rain water to filter.
Cave and cavern trips are away of the beaten road of mass tourism.
Expected length of the tour: seven hours. |
| Tour to Dzibilchaltún, Uaymitún & Progreso |
| The
tour departs at 09:00. Just fifteen minutes to arrive to the Archaeological
site and museum of Dzibilchaltún. At the Maya Culture museum
we will see, in a very graphic and interesting way, the most important
aspects of the Mayans, from the ancient ones to the contemporary
ones, like: Geography, nature, geology, history, archaeology, culture
and economy. At the archaeological site we will visit the important
“temple of the seven dolls” which has an interesting
light and shadow phenomena on the days of the equinox. The site
also has an open natural well or cenote with clear waters and very
nice to swim at. The tour continues to Uaymitún, a place
located in the northern coastline which has a bird watching point
to look at the pink flamingo and other species settled in the swamp
and on the mangroves. After visiting Uaymitún the tour goes
on just ten minutes to Puerto Progreso, there we will have free
time to enjoy the beach, the sand, to walk around or to lunch. Expected
length of the tour: five hours. |
| Tour to Colonial Cities & Dzitnup |
| The
tour departs at 08:00. The first town to be visited is Izamal. This
town has a long history of importance among every other place in
the Maya World; at the Maya period (before 1500 A. C.) it was an
important center for pilgrimage due to the fact that the city was
all dedicated to the most important Mayan God: Itzamná. From
the Spaniard arrival and the colonial era until now, the town had
hosted the sculpture of the Holy and miraculous Virgin Mary of the
“Inmaculada Concepción” Queen of the Yucatán,
which is the most venerated icon after the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe.
The Pope John Paul II visited Izamal in 1993. Izamal has other aspects
that make’s it unique: it has the biggest convent in América
and the second in the world after the Vatican; the town is all yellow
painted, it has many Mayan pyramids inside the downtown. After visiting
Izamal the tour continues to Valladolid the second most important
city in the state of Yucatán after Mérida. The city
was founded over the ruins of an ancient Mayan site called Zací
in 1543 A. C. It preserves its colonial style in the main square
and in many of its streets, the most important places that we will
visit are the San Gervasio Cathedral, San Bernardino Convent, the
majors palace, the main square and the priests road. Valladolid
is famous for its gastronomy; many of the most important Yucatán
dishes were created there. After Valladolid we will make a stop
at the Dzitnup natural well and cave, one of the most beautiful
in all the Yucatán. Expected length of the tour: eight hours.
|
| Tour to Yaxcopoil Hacienda and Uxmal with lunch |
| The
tour departs at 08:00. It will take half an hour to arrive to Yaxcopoil
and another half hour to Uxmal. Yaxcopoil is a former sisal fiber
factory. The importance of this fiber was enormous to the Yucatán
between the end of the XIX century and first half of the XX, due
to exploitation of it, Yucatán became one of wealthiest states
in México and Latin América. The few owners of the
many factories that processed the fiber were known as the “divine
caste” because of their richness. After the 1950’s working
the sisal was not good enough and many of the factories were abandoned.
Yaxcopoil is one of the most beautiful factories of all and is a
great example of this important period in the Yucatán history.
After visiting Yaxcopoil the tour continues to Uxmal. Lunch after
the visit to the archaeological site. Expected length of the tour:
eight hours. |
| Tour to the Puuc Route and Loltún with lunch |
| The
tour departs at 09:00 and it goes to the archaeological sites of
Sayil and Labná, both Cultural Heritage of the World, located
close to Uxmal and Kabah. These sites are small but extremely beautiful
and both of them are away from the mainstream of tourism, so as
we explore them we perceive the sense of being centuries away from
our time. Sayil has a magnificent palace with three different levels
of chambers, rooms and masks dedicated to the always powerful God
of rain “Chac”. Labná has one of the most impressive
structures of all the area, “the gate to the city” which
is perfectly symmetrical and very decorated. After visiting these
sites, the tour continues to Loltún, one of the most beautiful
cave systems of the Yucatán. It takes more or less one hour
to walk trough the magnificent path of geological formations that
once served as refuge of the early pre classic Mayans (1500 –
250 B. C.). Lunch near Uxmal. Expected length of the tour: eight
hours. |
| Tour to Campeche |
| The
tour departs at 08:00. It will take a fifty minute drive to arrive
to our first stop: the typical town of Bécal. This town is
famous for its original hand make panama hats. The procedure to
do a fine panama hat is very complicated and it requires a lot of
patience and dedication, it takes one month to a skilled person
to do one first quality hat. At this town we will have the chance
to meet one family that is dedicated to the hat production, a member
of the family will explain us the procedure to do a panama hat,
why it is very difficult to do it and why the hats from that town
are considered the best. After visiting the town we will continue
to Campeche, another Cultural Heritage of the world. Campeche was
founded by the Spaniards in 1541 and it has been the most important
port for the Yucatán Peninsula since then. The principal
attractive of Campeche is its very well preserved downtown, the
walls that once defended it from the pirates attacks and many different
fortresses that also helped in Campeche’s defense. Campeche
is considered one of the jewels of colonial México, it has
many traditions and it is famous for the gastronomy based on seafood
and the mixture of European ingredients with the spicy ones original
from the Yucatán. At Campeche we will visit the Cathedral,
the walls, the fortresses, the San Miguel bastion, the San Francisco
church, the San Román church with its miraculous black wooden
Christ, the Sea gate and the Land gate. We will also have free time
to lunch or to walk around the beautiful streets of the city. Expected
length of the tour: ten hours. |
| Tour to Chichén and drop off at Cancún with lunch |
| The tour departs at 09:00. It is the same than the regular tour to Chichén but instead of returning after lunch to Mérida, it goes ahead to Cancún. Expected length of the tour: eight hours. |
| Transfer from Cancún or Riviera Maya to Mérida with lunch |
| Professional transportation from your hotel at Cancún, Riviera Maya or from Cancún International airport to Mérida, provided in our own comfortable vans. |
| Transfer from Mérida airport to hotel or vice versa |
| Professional transportation from or to Mérida’s International airport, provided in our own comfortable vans. One person from our staff will be waiting for you at the arrivals gate. |
Orbitur Travel Service
Calle 6 #480-A x 19 y Colón
Colonia García Ginerés
C. P. 97070
Tel (999) 920 3085, 920 3086 Fax (999) 925 5684
Mérida, Yucatán, México
 |
Mérida City
Chichen Itza
Tasting and gastronomy tour.
Rum & Exotic liquors tasting tour
Uxmal
Kabah
Celestún
Natural
Wells and Underground rivers
Dzibilchaltún
Dzitnup
Yaxcopoil Hacienda
the Puuc Route and Loltún
Campeche
Todos los derechos reservados.
Ultima actualización:
January 10th, 2006