Casa Olivia is housed inside a cute corner building overlooking Plaza Santiago, a leafy market square complete with a crumbling lime-washed chapel in Mérida’s beguiling colonial old town.
Planes
Mérida International Airport is served by daily direct flights from a number of destinations in the Americas, including Miami, Dallas, Houston and Toronto. It’s a fairly straightforward whiz along Highway 261 to reach Casa Olivia, taking between 15 and 25 minutes depending on traffic. Private transfers can be arranged from Mex$1,200.
Automobiles
Mérida’s grid-like layout makes it easy to navigate, with narrow streets and broad plazas that beg to be explored on foot, so it’s unlikely you’ll need a car unless you plan to visit the wider Yucatán Peninsula. Even then, you may find it less stressful to have the city’s seasoned bus and cab drivers navigate the city’s convoluted network of one-way streets for you. If you do opt for your own vehicle, there are several rental desks at the airport and parking is free in the Parque de Santiago in front of Casa Olivia.
Worth getting out of bed for
Centuries-old cathedrals, leafy plazas and colourful colonial buildings in pale peach, powder-puff pink and periwinkle purple are among the many no-filter-needed gems you’ll discover on a stroll through the narrow lanes of Mérida’s magical old town. Right outside the casa’s front door, Plaza de Santiago is as good a place to start as any. Grab a table at one of the cafés that line the perimeter and people-watch over a brick-sized slab of homemade tres leches cake.
From one unmissable Mexican confection to another, Mérida Cathedral’s intoxicating blend of Moorish towers and Renaissance interiors should be your first port of call on Plaza Grande. Built using stone from local Mayan ruins, this 16th-century stalwart is only the oldest mainland cathedral in the Americas. Afterwards, grab a gelato and plan the rest of your day in the shade of the plaza’s huge laurel trees. Frankly, you could just spend it here, where a Sunday craft market, nightly live music and ancient Maya ball-game tournaments on Fridays mean there’s rarely a dull moment. Other must-sees around the plaza include local artist Fernando Castro Pacheco’s hallucinatory series of Spanish Conquest abstracts inside the grandiose Governor's Palace and the ever-rotating collection of paintings and sculptures at the free MACAY contemporary art museum, housed, of course, inside a former colonial palace.
If you’re in the mercado for something a little more immersive, join a foodie tour of Santa Ana or San Benito market for a real flavour of the region. We’re talking a kaleidoscopic cornucopia of colourful and exotic produce like hot habaneros, refreshing cactus juice and sweet guaya fruit sprinkled with chilli powder. And don’t dare leave without feasting on Yucatán specialities like cochinita pibil (zingy pulled pork) and papadzules, the habanero-spiced Mayan forerunner to modern enchiladas. You can thank us later.
Work it all off with a sightseeing cycle around the old town. On Sundays, the streets close to motorised traffic, making it an ideal time to cruise up and down tree-lined Paseo de Montejo on two wheels, pausing to admire the monuments, mansions and contemporary sculptures that flank this beautiful broad (and usually traffic-heavy) avenue.
Finally, it would be remiss to visit the Yucatán for more than a couple of days without donning your Indiana Jones hat (and whip, if you’re into that kind of thing) and venturing to some of the region’s exceptionally well-preserved Mayan archeological sites. Chichén Itzá, around two hours out of town, is the big kahuna locally, but those in the know follow the path of the gods to Uxmal. Not only is it closer, it’s generally less crowded too, and its ornate stone carvings, towering pyramids and other ceremonial buildings deliver just as much wow factor.
Local restaurants
Dining in the Yucatán can hit like a near-religious experience, the Peninsula’s regional cuisine a unique blend of Mexican, Carib and Mayan influences, all warm spices, zesty citrus flavours and slow-cooked stews. Mérida favourite Apoala’s location in the arcades that flank pretty Parque Santa Lucia is just one of many feathers in its cap. Oaxaca meets the Yucatán on the menu, where octopus and scallop aquachile (a bit like ceviche), lamb tacos and tlayudas (giant tortillas stuffed with meat, black beans and Oaxaca cheese) are all but guaranteed to have you confirming that second booking before you’ve reached dessert. This is also where you can sip some of the finest cocktails in town; try the margarita with avocado and passionfruit or a mezcal sour for the win. There’s further food of the (Mayan) gods to be found at Holoch, where the yellowfin tuna tostadas, pork-belly empanadas and pibil-style corn are like a religious experience. Pick out the restaurant's cornflower-blue façade between lemon-yellow and dusky-pink neighbours and step inside, where checkerboard tiles and dark wooden tables set the scene for an evening of street food and cervezas. Can’t make up your mind? Mercado 60 has you covered. Grab a bench in this self-styled culinary and cultural market and mix and match your meal from a dozen or so food stalls and bars. Tacos, tostadas, quesadillas, margaritas…you’ll find flavours from around Mexico and beyond here, with live music nightly to keep the cocktails flowing.
Local cafés
You’re never more than a coffee bean’s throw from an espresso bar in caffeine-obsessed Mexico, and Mérida is no exception. There are any number to choose from on and around Casa Olivia’s location on Plaza de Santiago and even the bleariest of early risers can likely manage the two-minute walk to nearby Placer y Delirio for their morning fix. Mosey over to SOCO Merida for something a little more substantial. Here, blues and jazz music soundtracks lazy brunches of sourdough salmon bagels, tlayuda (crispy tortilla topped with eggs, vegetables, refried beans, and salsa), and avocado toast. Wash down with a specialty coffee or refreshing cold brew. Head back via Parque Santa Lucia and pick up dessert at Pola Gelato, where the unusual menu of flavours includes blue cheese with apple, olive oil with dates, and a mango sorbet spiked with hot chilli.
Local bars
Entering Salón Gallos’s crumbling interior through a pair of rusting red gates, you could be forgiven for wondering if you’ve come to the right place. You’ll quickly warm to the industrial look though, all exposed timbers, bare floors and cracked plaster. Drinks in the Wine Bar are presented in beat-up hospital-green cabinets – there’s a good selection of Mexican and international wines alongside cervezas, cocktails and tequilas galore. There’s also a restaurant, a gallery space and a small cinema showing offbeat classics and arthouse indie flicks. Beer aficionados rejoice: there are also a couple of decent taprooms within stumbling distance of Casa Olivia. Start at Hop 3 the Beer Experience, a dinky microbrewery and beer garden west of Paseo de Montejo and work your way back down to the unassuming Cuerno de Toro taproom, tucked away behind jade-green wooden doors on the corner of calle 55 and calle 64 a few blocks west of Parque Santa Lucia.
