Day 28: Celestún Tour in Yucatán - Mérida
Today is the first day of the year And after doing yesterday the Celestún Tour in Yucatan, and as usual for us on this trip to Mexico in 45 days, we wake up early in the morning, to enjoy the first hours of the year by the sea at the Hotel & Villas Playa Maya Resorts Celestun, which It has been our accommodation in Celestún tonight.
Hotel & Villas Playa Maya Resorts Celestun
Walk along the beach of the Hotel & Villas Playa Maya Resorts Celestun
After this walk that reminds us how lucky we are, when it's 10 in the morning, today's breakfast time for being the first of the year, we sit in one of the terrace masses overlooking the sea, with a coffee and a breakfast that makes us charge energy to start the next stage of the trip that will take us to know Mérida, which will be our next stop on this trip to Mexico for free and another of the essential places to visit in Mexico.
But before starting with the detailed account of today in Mérida, as we told you yesterday after visiting Uxmal in Yucatan, we want to explain all the details of the Celestún Tour in Yucatan that we did yesterday afternoon, but that we initially planned Do this first morning of the year.
If you want to do this tour from Mérida in one day, we recommend you book this Excursion to Celestún.
Where and how to hire the Celestún tour in Yucatán
If you are in Celestún and want to do the Celestún tour in Yucatan By free, we explain how and where to do it.
- To be able to buy the tickets to the tour, you have to go to the Celestún Tourist Inn, at the entrance of Celestún.
- The Celestún tour includes a visit to the area where the flamingos, the Bird Island, the Water Eye and the Mangrove Tunnel are concentrated. To take into account that in the Ojo de Agua, which is a kind of cenote, a stop of about 15-20 minutes is made to bathe.
Celestún Yucatan Tour
- You can do the tour throughout the day, although depending on the season and the tides, it may be better to do it in the morning or afternoon. Of course, from 3:30 in the afternoon it is no longer recommended, since the flamingos are going to rest. The area they take you on this tour is where they are going to eat during the day.
- According to the guides, the best time to see it depends on the tides, being the best time when there is low tide, as it is when they eat and are more visible. If you have all day, we recommend you approach the pier and ask for the best time of day.
Embarcadero Tour Celestún in Yucatán
- The price of the boat to do the Celestún tour in Yucatan is 1500 pesos for 6 people. If you choose this option, you must wait for a boat to complete the tour.
Another option, if you want to go alone or want to leave at a certain time when there are no more people, is to pay the total of the boat and do the private tour.
This way, you can also Modify the schedules that they have established to be at each point of the tour, adapting them to your interests.
This is the option that we have chosen, being able to spend more time in the area of flamingos, which was the one that most interested us.
Celestún Yucatan Tour
- This price includes the boat and the guide service, which is done by the boat driver.
- Keep in mind that the payment has to be in cash. They do not accept cards, although there is an ATM on the premises.
- The tour time is approximately 1 hour and a quarter.
- There is also a cafeteria and a small shop on the premises.
- Surely you have seen images on the internet in which the water is bluish green. Keep in mind that this color can be seen when it has not rained, since when it rains a component of the trees is released that causes the water to be dyed a characteristic reddish color.
What does the Celestún Tour in Yucatan include
As we mentioned before, the Celestún Tour includes a visit to several points that include the area where the flamingos are concentrated, the Island of the Birds, the Eye of Water and the Mangrove Tunnel.
Embarcadero Tour Celestún in Yucatán
After buying the tickets at the box office, either in a shared or private boat, you will have to go directly to the jetty, a few meters away so that you can be assigned a boat directly and start the tour.
Celestún Tour in Yucatan
Flamingos
The first of the areas to be visited on the tour is the area in which the flamingos are grouped. Depending on the time and time, you can see more or less. It is for this reason that before doing the tour, you make sure that it is the best time or at least, that you will be able to see them.
Flamingos on the Celestún Tour
In our experience, we have to say that we have found that the boats maintain a prudential distance with the flamingo colony, although undoubtedly, in high season, when there are many boats, no matter how long the distances are maintained, we understand that for flamingos and Wildlife in the area, this can be stressful.
Flamingos
Normally in this area it takes about 15 minutes. If you want to stay longer, you must hire the private boat service and also talk to the boatman, explaining the situation so that he can organize the stops and times.
Flamingos on the Celestún Tour
More practical information to prepare your trip to Mexico
- The 10 best excursions in Riviera Maya
- The 10 essential places to see in Riviera Maya
- 10 essential places to visit in Mexico
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Mexico
- Best travel insurance for Mexico
- Security in Mexico
Island of the Birds
This is the next point of the excursion in Celestún, located very close to where the flamingo colony is usually. It is a small island, which is bordered and to which they are usually closer, since these types of birds are not as vulnerable to human presence as flamingos.
Island of the Birds
Island of the Birds
Eye of the Water
The next point of the tour is the Ojo del Agua, a place where a 15-20 minute stop is made, where you get off the boat, you can walk along some suitable walkways for it and you reach the Eye itself del Agua, which is nothing more than a cenote in the middle of the mangroves, where you can bathe.
Eye of the Water
Eye of the Water
Mangrove Tunnel
This is the last visit made on the tour and it is the navigation inside the mangrove.
Mangrove Tunnel
Mangrove Tunnel
After the experience in this Celestún tour, we have to say that it is incredibly recommendable. Both for the places that are visited and for the incredible feeling of approaching a giant pink spot, which gradually becomes a colony of flamingos.
Celestún Tour
In addition to this, the main reason for the majority of travelers who arrive here, the possibility of seeing them fly around you and the mangrove experience, make this tour one of the moments that we are sure, we will not forget this trip.
We leave you a map with the points that are visited in the Celestún Tour in Yucatan.
We return to today's story, in which we will go from Celestún to Mérida.
It is 10:30 in the morning when we leave Celestún on the way to Mérida, from where we have 90 kilometers and one hour fifteen minutes to arrive, which we do again enjoying roads surrounded by vegetation, which are still in very good condition, to as we expected and for which it is a real circular pleasure.
Road from Celestún to Mérida
This is something we wanted to highlight. Since at least in the itinerary and route of this trip, all the roads we have traveled, including the section we made to visit Calakmul in Campeche, have been very good, besides being roads on which there is very little influx, So driving is very quiet.
This is something that also happens in cities, such as Mérida or Valladolid, where you can practically circulate in the center as if you were doing it for a small population.
We arrive in Mérida when it is 12 in the morning, leaving directly to park at the Hotel Montejo, which will be our accommodation in Mérida for the next two nights and which is in the historic center of the city.
As we do not have the room ready, we leave the luggage at the reception and go out to the streets of Mérida, today January 1, which allow us to enjoy photography and visit the places to see in Merida practically alone, as we He spent December 25 in Campeche.
Places to visit in Mérida
As in the rest of the cities that we have been visiting these days ago and that we will visit during the rest of the trip, Mérida is a city where in addition to visiting some points or tourist attractions, it invites you to stroll. Invite to enjoy its streets, slowly and savoring it little by little.
That is why we recommend you to leave some time for the walk and to get lost in its historic center without any plan and without a map. We are sure that this will be the best way to meet her and enjoy unique moments.
A good option to know the history and curiosities of the city is to book this Free tour of Merida Free !.
Book the best-rated tours and excursions in Spanish from Mérida by travelers:
- Excursion to Chichen Itza
- Excursion to Celestún
- Excursion to Uxmal and Kabah
- Excursion to the cenotes of Cuzamá
- Excursion to Ek Balam and Valladolid- Many more excursions and tours here
Big square
This square could be said to be the nerve center of the city. That place that at some point during the day, you will end up going through.
Practically boiling at any time of the day, we recommend sitting on one of its benches, in the shade of any tree and enjoying the city.
Big square
City Hall
The Municipal Palace is one of the buildings that can be seen on one of the sides of the Main Square.
City Hall. Places to visit in Merida
Montejo House
Place where the soldiers once lived, was the subsequent home of the Montejo family.
Montejo House. Merida
San Ildefonso Cathedral
Probably the most remarkable building in the Main Square is the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, which was once a Mayan temple.
Visiting hours are from 6 in the morning to 7 in the afternoon and admission is free.
San Ildefonso Cathedral
Government Palace
The visiting hours are from 8 in the morning to 8 in the afternoon and inside you can see several murals of Castro Pacheco.
Government Palace
Jesus Church
On 60th Street we find this small church built by the Jesuits who used stones from an ancient Mayan temple for this company.
Jesus Church
60th Street
The 60th street is one of the streets that you cannot miss in the city, being this one of the main arteries of Merida.
We advise you to walk through it at various times of the day, as it changes continuously with the passing of the hours.
Mérida streets
Paseo de Montejo
Recommended by many as the most pleasant walk in Merida, we have to say that although we traveled a part, we found it quite Gray.
We imagine that being January 1, there was not much atmosphere, but as we said, we have not just found the point in this area of the city.
Highlight that this is where the Monument to the Homeland is located, one of the most visited places in the city today for its fame in social networks.
Paseo de Montejo
It's a little after 1 pm when we decide that today, the first day of the year, we will go to one of the most recommended restaurants in the city, which is none other than La Chaya Maya, in which its specialty is Yucatecan food . But like us, many people have thought the same, so we have to queue for almost 45 minutes, until we get a table to enjoy the New Year's food.
We ordered an order of cochinita, a plate of tikin-xic plus two waters of chaya and two express for 510 pesos with which we enjoyed a memorable meal. Definitely a highly recommended place.
Eating in La Chaya Maya
After lunch and with energy, we return to the Hotel Montejo to check-in after a shower, return to the streets of Mérida to know its historic center.
It seems that the beginning of the year does not want to receive us in very good weather, giving us a pretty gray day so we decided to play put on a bad face and continue with him itinerary of places to visit in Mérida we had planned, to get to know this beautiful city.
Today's route through the places to visit in Merida will take us to visit its historic center and places such as its Plaza Grande, the Municipal Palace, the House of Montejo, the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, the Government Palace, the Church of Jesus, Peón Contreras Theater, Calle 60 and Paseo de Montejo.
And so, still having part of the morning tomorrow to continue getting to know the city, we will have dinner at Los Trompos, a Foster Hollywood-type restaurant, but with Mexican food.
We ordered an order of guacamole, which looks like a bathtub, plus some arrachera tacos and some pastor tacos, more soda, dessert and coffees for 350 pesos.
The truth is that it is not bad, but the portions are huge and the quality has not finished to like us. Of course, the service super attentive and friendly.
And so, at 9:30 at night, we return to the Hotel Montejo to rest and tomorrow continue with this incredible trip.
Day 29: Convents Route in the Yucatan Peninsula: Oxkutzcab, Peanut, Chumayel, Mama, Tekit, Tecoh and Acanceh - Cuzamá Cenotes - Mérida
