Why you should add Mérida to your Mexico hit list (VOGUE)

Natalie Shukur is a freelance editor, writer, content strategist, and creative director, working for a variety of international publications, brands, retailers, and digital editorial platforms (including VOGUE Magazine), and she specializes in fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wellness, arts and interior design. She recently advised Vogue readers to to head inland from the shores of Cancun to find the vibrant, tropical heart of the Yucatán.

The largest city in the Yucatán peninsula, located 22 miles off the Gulf of Mexico, Mérida is often overlooked in favour of its too-cool coastal cousin, Tulum. But with its historic streets, bustling markets, and lush rainforest, Mérida and its surrounding municipalities is a feast for all the senses.

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Locals may be quick to tell you that Mérida is the most beautiful city in the Yucatán, and it’s also one of the safest—not to mention an epicentre of art and culture. With its colonial past, the city is a melting pot of influences, and its history is rich: Mérida has the highest indigenous population within any Mexican metropolis.

While on the grand Paseo de Montejo, modelled after the Champs Élysées, you’ll find lavish pastel-washed haciendas and stately federal buildings, such as the lime green baroque revival Palacio del Gobierno, and the pink Palacio Municipal, both open for public tours. For a brief period around the turn of the 20th century, Mérida was said to house more millionaires than any other city in the world, and the city’s sisal barons commissioned Parisian architects to build the opulent villas and buildings you’ll see scattered throughout the heart of the city.