Mexico

Yucatán is diverse: archaeological sites galore, colonial cities, tropical forests, peerless snorkelling, seaside resorts, quiet coastlines and a raucous nightlife. The region's famous Mayan sites are particularly impressive at Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, near the Yucatán state capital of Mérida.

Before the 20th century

The Maya - inventors of the concept of zero; accomplished astronomers and mathematicians; sophisticated artists, writers and philosophers; architects of some of the grandest monuments ever known - created their first settlements in (what is now) Guatemala as early as 900 BC. Over the centuries, the expansion of Mayan civilization moved steadily northward and by AD 550 great Mayan city-states were established in southern Yucatán. In the 9th century, and most likely because of political upheaval, the great cities of southern Yucatán were slowly abandoned, though by 850 new Mayan civilizations began to flourish in the north.

The last of the great Mayan capitals, Mayapán, started to collapse around 1440 when the Xiú Maya and the Cocom Maya began a violent, protracted struggle for power. In 1540, Spanish conquistador, Francisco de Montejo the Younger (son of legendery conquistador Francisco de Montejo the Elder) utilised the tensions between the still-feuding Mayan sects to finally conquer the area. The Spaniards allied themselves with the Xiú against the Cocom, finally defeating the Cocom and gaining the Xiú as reluctant converts to Christianity.

Francisco de Montejo the Younger, along with his father, Francisco de Montejo the Elder and cousin (named, you guessed it, Francisco de Montejo) founded Mérida in 1542 and within four years brought most of the Yucatán Peninsula under Spanish rule. The Spaniards divided up the Mayan lands into large estates where the natives were put to work as indentured servants.

When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the new Mexican government used the Yucatecan territory to create huge plantations for the cultivation of tobacco, sugarcane and henequén (agave rope fibre). The Maya, though legally free, were enslaved in debt peonage to the rich landowners.

In 1847, after being oppressed for nearly 300 years by the Spanish and their descendants, the Maya rose up in a massive revolt, massacring whole towns full of ladinos (whites). This was the beginning of the War of the Castes, the most organised rebellion the Americas had witnessed since the time of the Spanish Conquest.

Modern history

Finally, in 1901, after more than 50 years of sporadic, often intense violence, a tentative peace was reached; however, it would be another 30 years before the territory of Quintana Roo came under official government control. To this day some Maya do not recognise that sovereignty.

The commercial success of Cancún in the early 1970s led to the selling off of hundreds of kilometres of public beach along the Caribbean coast to commercial developers, displacing many small fishing communities.

Recent history

While many indigenous people still eke out a living by subsistence agriculture or fishing, large numbers now work in the construction and service industry. Some individuals and communities, often with outside encouragement, are having a go at ecotourism, opening their lands to tourists and/or serving as guides.

Top Accommodation

Top Restaurants

Semi-tropical weather, where the sun shines 253 days of the year on average, helps resorts such as Cancún maintain a healthy holiday reputation. Averages don't drop below 20°C (68°F), summer temperatures push but rarely exceed 35°C (95°F) and the humidity level stays just high enough for the promise of a swim to be tempting all year round. Temperature and rainfall tend to be higher inland.

Average weather

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Transport

Getting around

Intrapeninsular air travel is limited to Aerocaribe flights between Cancún, Mérida and Cozumel, and flights between Cozumel and Chichén Itzá. When you factor in the time and expense of getting to and from the airports, it's nearly as fast to take a 1st-class bus between Cancún and Mérida as it is to fly, and the bus is a quarter the price.

The bus system on the peninsula is generally user-friendly, especially in Cancún and Ciudad Cancún. Intercity buses are fairly frequent and go most everywhere. For trips of up to three or four hours on busy routes, you can usually just go to the bus terminal, buy a ticket and head out within a couple of hours. For longer trips, or trips on routes with infrequent service, it's best to book a ticket at least a day in advance.

All deluxe buses, most 1st-class buses and some 2nd-class buses are air-conditioned, so bring a sweater or jacket with you. Most have computerised ticket systems that allow you to select your seat from an on-screen diagram when you buy your ticket.

In much of the peninsula, a variety of other vehicles perform the service of transporting people from A to B, especially on short-haul routes between rural settlements.

Volkswagen combis and more comfortable passenger-carrying Ford or Chevrolet vans operate shuttle services between some towns, usually leaving whenever they have a full load of passengers. Fares are typically a little less than 1st-class buses. Combi is often used as a catch-all term for these services regardless of van type, as is taxi colectivo (shared taxi) or simply colectivo. More primitive are passenger-carrying camiones (trucks) and camionetas (pick-ups). Standing in the back of a lurching truck with a couple of dozen campesinos (farm workers) and their machetes and animals is at least an experience to remember. Fares are similar to 2nd-class bus fares.

Getting there and away

Most visitors to the Yucatán arrive by air. International air routes are structured so that virtually all flights into the region from the rest of the world pass through a handful of 'hub' cities: Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, LA, Mexico City, Miami or San Salvador. The majority of flights into the peninsula arrive at busy Aeropuerto Internacional de Cancún (call sign CUN). The region's other four international airports are Cozumel (CZM); Chetumal (CTM); Manuel Crescencio Rejón (MID), in Mérida; and Alberto Acuña Ongay (CPE), in Campeche.

The few tourists who reach the Yucatán Peninsula by land do so either by entering Campeche state from Tabasco or Chiapas or by entering Quintana Roo from Belize. Short of crossing illegally from Guatemala into Campeche or Quintana Roo - an effort that would require transiting many kilometres of roadless jungle - there's simply no other way to reach the Yucatán by land.

Buses run between Chetumal in Quintana Roo and the Belizean cities of Corozal, Orange Walk and Belize City. There's also bus service between Chetumal and Flores (Guatemala), near Tikal; this requires passing through Belize.

For US and Canadian visitors, taking your own vehicle across the USA-Mexico border is a practical and convenient option. Coming from overseas, you may want to buy a used car or van in the USA, where they're relatively cheap, and drive through the USA to Mexico. Buying a car in Mexico is not a practical option because of the amount of time and bureaucracy involved.

Good makes of car to take to Mexico are Volkswagen, Nissan, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, which have manufacturing or assembly plants in Mexico and dealers in most big Mexican towns. It is very foolish to drive in Mexico without Mexican liability insurance.