Experience the true magic of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula on a luxurious, week-long journey based entirely in the heart of the region's cultural capital, Mérida. Your home for the week is the breathtaking Mansion Merida on the Park, a five-star boutique retreat housed in a gorgeously restored 19th-century French-style mansion, offering an atmosphere of Belle Époque splendor. From your arrival on Friday, February 13th, you’ll be immersed in warm hospitality, beginning with welcome drinks and a delightful dinner at the Museum of Yucatecan Gastronomy, setting the stage for an unforgettable adventure ahead.
This meticulously curated itinerary balances sophisticated colonial history with thrilling natural beauty and exclusive cultural access. You’ll spend Valentine's Day soaking up Mérida's charm with a captivating walking tour, an elegant lunch, and a celebratory tequila tasting, capped off by the vibrant music and dance of Noche Mexicana. Beyond the city, your journey takes you to the natural wonder of Celestún, where an early morning boat trip promises the spectacular sight of pink flamingos in their natural habitat, followed by a refreshing swim and lunch on a pristine white-sand beach.
Dive deep into the region's ancient heritage with exclusive, expert-led tours that bring the past to life. You'll gain unique insights from an ancient art expert, including a private viewing of personal collections and a guided tour of the Maya Museum. Journey to the majestic ruins of Uxmal, an architectural masterpiece of the ancient Maya, followed by a hands-on experience at the Chocolate Museum. The day concludes with a highly personalized cooking class at a local family's home, where you’ll learn to make tortillas and salsas from scratch and prepare a meal in the traditional underground Pib oven.
The final days celebrate the rich, enduring spirit of the Yucatán. Experience the grandeur of traditional Hacienda life with a full tour and lunch at Hacienda Sotuta de Peon, followed by an unforgettable evening at the private and exquisitely restored Hacienda Subincancab for a special tour, a poolside dip, and a delicious BBQ dinner under the stars. Cap off your cultural immersion with a visit to the "Yellow City" of Izamal, followed by a cooling swim in a spectacular underground cenote. The trip concludes with an exclusive afternoon visiting local artists in their studios and a farewell cocktail party, leaving you with cherished memories of the extraordinary history, culture, and hospitality of Mérida.
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Kiki Keating treats travel as an art form. Each journey is composed with precision, intuition, and a taste for the unexpected. She has a passion for taking small groups on life-changing adventures and works tirelessly to ensure that every detail of each trip is meticulously planned and executed.
Kiki curates intimate, life-shifting journeys with a sharp eye for detail and a refusal to follow the expected. Each itinerary is a collaboration with world-class guides and insiders, blending culture, music, art, and exceptional food with access that feels both rare and effortless.
Her journey as a travel leader began in 2000 while she was leading international trips for the dean in her role as Communications Director at the business school at Dartmouth. Over the last decade, KikiNetwork Travel has been dedicated to transformative travel. While her trips touch iconic landmarks, the real focus lies deeper: meaningful encounters, cultural fluency, and connections that linger long after the journey ends.
A native of the United States, has been living in Merida, Mexico for the last seven years. She spent most of her working life in Rome, Italy working for the United Nations. they dedicated dog and cat lover, Jill’s passion for the arts and architecture inspired her to make Merida her home
The visionary behind wanderlust and global connections is my guest on Speaking of Travel!
Watch Kiki’s presentation with The Covey Club: How to Travel Alone as a Woman Today: Tips to Keep You Safe & Happy
Are you enjoying the cooler, “winter” temperatures in Mérida? We love this time of year! This is the perfect time for traveling the Yucatan. Cooler temperatures are when we get out and about to explore parts of the Peninsula that we haven’t been to before. Between October and March, the weather is more agreeable in the Yucatan Peninsula. Notably, you don’t have to worry about exceedingly high temperatures or hurricanes. We’ve put together a short list of 11 items which have a priority spot in your backpack or car for your epic Yucatan Adventure. Importantly, these are recommended for day trips as opposed to a 10 day road trip across the Peninsula.
Sun Protection
Firstly, this might sound like a crazy obvious suggestion but don’t forget that the sun is still just as powerful even in cooler temperatures. If you’re heading to the beach in particular, do not forget your sunblock. Of course, reapply often. Other suggestions, when traveling the Yucatan in the pueblos (towns and villages), cenotes, haciendas and archeological sites are:
Also, don’t forget insect repellent!
Our favorite pyramids are in Uxmal.
Again, a possibly obvious suggestion but super important. Take more water than you think you need when you head out for the day. Depending on how many people are accompanying you, make sure you have a couple of liters per person. Invest in a nice water bottle that keeps your water cool. Additionally, you might want to make sure you have change to buy some cold water or juices on your day out.
Before leaving Mérida, we recommend stocking up on a few snacks while traveling the Yucatan. You may not be able to stop once you’re on the road. The highways are generally quiet. While there are restaurants, they are scarce and usually located close to the points of interest. You might also find that shops and restaurants are closed in the middle of the day in the small towns. This is because the locals will be taking their siestas. Before you find yourselves becoming irritable with hunger, or hangry as we like to say, take chips, fruit or cookies for the journey.
If you’re taking fruit or anything that needs a cooler temperature, pop a cooler or cool bag in your car. If there’s one thing that we value while traveling the Yucatan, it’s our cool bag. It also means we can sneak in a bit of chocolate!
One of the beautiful building in Progresso on the city square.
The signal out in the wilderness of the Yucatan Peninsula cannot be relied upon. You might be accustomed to trusty google maps. But, if you’re looking to step off the beaten track in search of cenotes or ruins then you might just find google abandoning you. Get a road map or, even better, a cenote map. When you get close to a cenote, people from local villages will often guide you on their bikes. Please remember to tip them for their helpful service.
While we love a guide book, we acknowledge that they can have outdated information very quickly. However, they will always have interesting history and facts about places of interest. For Maya ruins, this can be a great alternative to hiring a guide for the day. Having said that, our experience with guides at archeological sites has always been absolutely worth it. We’ve always come away with a much richer experience than when we’ve explored the sites ourselves.
This is absolutely vital. Once out of Mérida, it can be much harder to either pay by card or find a cash point. Better to take a few hundred pesos out before setting off on your journey than to find that you can’t eat at any of the local restaurants because they don’t accept cards. Especially if you’re hoping to have lunch at a local establishment with really authentic Yucatecan cuisine. It’s also a good idea to have cash on hand to tip people who work at gas stations, guides and waiters.
Note: if you’re traveling further afield you MUST have cash for the toll booths. Sometimes they accept credit cards BUT sometimes the card reader fails . . .
Cute shops and restaurants are found all over Valladolid – approximately 2 hours from Mérida.
Of course, if your day plan includes the beach and/or a cenote then this will already be in your bag. We highly recommend including swim gear regardless. There are usually cenotes dotted around close to archeological sites and haciendas. You might find that you want to dip in crystal clear water to freshen up. Don’t forget an extra towel (we may have dropped ours in the dirt once or twice), a change of clothes and maybe some wet wipes to feel a little cleaner after your dip.
You might think we’ve got the young ones in mind when we suggest taking pillows. But, this is for all you adults too. A day out from Mérida generally involves a journey of a couple of hours (or more) so a little nap on the way back is not unheard of. Keep your head and neck happy and throw a pillow in for comfort. You’re more likely to enjoy your evening back in Mérida if you’ve not suffered on the car or bus journey back to town. Don’t forget to be comfortable dear readers . . .
San Mateo Church in the village of Santa Elena, between Uxmal and Ticul.
First aid kits are easy enough to buy either on Amazon, Walmart or Chedraui in Mérida. And just for peace of mind, it’s totally worth having one in your car. Particularly for cuts and scrapes from climbing into cenotes, the occasional blister on your foot from exploring the Ruta Puuc in your new walking shoes, grazes from brushing up against a particularly prickly cactus… just us? Well, you can never be too prepared!
You might have seen a lot in the Facebook groups, YouTube channels and online news recently that the Government is cracking down on visitors who are outstaying their welcome in Mérida and the state of Yucatan. There’s no need to be alarmed. However, make sure when you set off on your travels you have all the correct documentation. From visa info to car rental documents, have all of these on hand. There are police checkpoints at pretty much every entry/exit point to Mérida and while it’s unusual to be pulled over, best to be prepared.
View of Santa Lucia Church and the grounds of Hotel Casa Lucia, a great place to stay in Mérida Centro.
Are you a backpack kinda traveler? A bumbag/fanny pack user? Or maybe a pocket lover? Well, whichever works best for you, we recommend throwing an extra bag into the car. We bet that you’ll want to use it. For carrying your water, snacks, sun protection, guide book and everything else, obviously a backpack seems like the best option. Notably, maybe take a couple of tote bags for any purchases you make along the way such as souvenirs, snacks or extra bottles of water. Take a disposable bag for any rubbish too. Remember to leave no trace on your travels and avoid buying unnecessary plastic.
There is no other place in the world that has captured my heart as much as Mexico. I grab every chance I get to spend time there and explore the country poco a poco – bit by bit – and, above all, to take a look behind the scenes of tourism. With this in mind, I visited five small businesses and organisations that have struggled greatly during the pandemic in the last two years. They were very lucky to participate in an innovative programme to get new ideas and motivation. And how they fared and what the result is, you can read here in this blog article.
Every trip to Mexico touches and affects me in a very different way. I have been travelling there regularly since 2011 and even in this short time, a lot has changed. My last pre-pandemic trip to Mexico was in January 2019 – and the first during the pandemic in winter 2021/22. Not only has a lot changed in the more than ten years since my first visit, but the last two years in particular have left hardly a stone unturned.
During this trip along the Caribbean coast on the Yucatán peninsula, I painfully realised through conversations with small family businesses and organisations that it is absolutely not a given to receive public Corona aid, as was the case in Austria. In a country where the minimum wage per month for a 6-day week is around €205¹, and in Yucatán almost every job is directly or indirectly related to tourism, it is a disaster when the country’s borders are closed or entry is severely restricted.
Still, there was a spark of hope for some small businesses that make their living from tourism alone. The TUI Care Foundation together with enpact have launched a programme to support such businesses in five countries. The Tourism Recovery Programme project is the third programme of the Empowering Entrepreneurship Initiative and is implemented by enpact and the TUI Care Foundation in cooperation with the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ).
Mexico was or rather is one of these countries that received support. 105 tourism businesses throughout the country were selected after an application process and went through the programme together.
How do I, as a travel blogger, get involved in such a programme and write about it? The two organisations approached me and were keen for me to visit some of these companies in person and get a first-hand impression. They left it completely up to me which region and which companies I wanted to visit. Since I myself have a strong connection to Yucatán, the choice was quite easy. Because of the long distance and also because I am becoming more and more concerned about my ecological footprint, I did not just spend one week there, but added a workation before and after this assignment. In conversations with friends who have either always lived in this region or have called it home for years, I learned what the last two years have been like for them and how much has actually changed.
Now I’ d like to take you with me and introduce you to five really unique companies, what they do, why you should know them and what their biggest challenges were or are:
Marlone and I spent a whole day together in Cozumel. He is about my age and, together with his sister, already fully active in the family business, which has been around for more than 25 years.
You and I would not have any direct contact with Fantasy Travel Experts, as their focus is on B2B. In other words, they arrange and organise trips in Cozumel for other tour operators. So they are active behind the scenes.
The island of Cozumel is 100% dependent on tourism. Besides the cruise ships, but also the day trippers or those who stay here longer – everything has to do with tourism in some way.
Before the pandemic, Fantasy Travel Experts brought charter flights from other North American countries directly to Cozumel or even to Cancun. This was completely cancelled with the entry regulations and also all other tourist activities.
During the Tourism Recovery Programme, they received input from various international mentors on different topics on how to expand their business and thus open up new markets. This also led to the decision to develop offers for end customers – i.e. directly for tourists. They are still working on these points at full speed. As soon as they have launched them, I will add to this blog article and let you know.
What truly fascinates me about Marlone and his family is the fact that they saw and see these two years as an opportunity to create something new and to develop themselves and their business.
Another organisation that was supported is the Cooperativa Ruta del Coco in Laguna Guerrero. Not many (international) tourists actually stray here and so this spot in the southern part of the state of Quintana Roo is still very untouched and unknown. I didn’t know it before either, and I am really grateful that I ended up here.
Those responsible on site mainly want to develop a sustainable form of tourism. No day visitors or hotel towers, but a deep connection should be built with the turquoise blue lagoon.
The soul of the Cooperativa Ruta del Coco is Ruty Carlos, who works as a teacher in Chetumal during the week and passes on his knowledge to the next generation. A few years ago, he bought a piece of land near Laguna Guerrero. It’s not a particularly idyllic piece of land: It is a lot in the jungle, without electricity or network reception. Here, together with a few other visionaries, he is building a small centre dedicated entirely to coconuts. Soon it will be possible to visit the centre and book various experiences.
I also felt particularly welcome in Sujuy Ha. It may be a little difficult to describe this place – it is definitely a piece of paradise. Located between Chetumal and Bacalar and 15 minutes away from the highway on a dirt road, Sujuy Ha is a well-kept secret. And yet I want to share with you, because it’s a true oasis.
Sujuy Ha is located directly on the lagoon and offers a variety of options for overnight stays: Private rooms, small cabañas (huts) and camping is also permitted here. If you wish to really switch off and let the world pass you by, this is the place to be. In Sujuy Ha there is a simple restaurant, sun loungers directly on the water and kayaks are also available for free use.
The mornings and evenings are particularly magical, when day guests have left again and the sun’s rays move across the jungle and the lagoon.
Of course, I also talked to Gabriela about her experience with the Tourism Recovery Programme. The motivation to apply for the programme in the first place was the fact that it was organised by another country like Mexico. Above all, she wanted to learn and see what she could learn from other cultures in terms of tourism and the hotel industry. And thanks to the programme, she has succeeded in doing so, because more structure has actually moved in at Sujuy-Ha: there is now an inventory management system and the restaurant guests’ orders are no longer placed with paper, but with mobile devices that send the requests immediately to the kitchen.
My next stop on my little Yucatán road trip was the Bacalar Lagoon. This place is already a star on Instagram and no longer an insider tip. It wasn’t really crowded on my trip there, but I was also travelling in the low season. Insider tip or not, it really is magical here. And one of the top experiences in Bacalar was definitely the sailing tour with Sailing Colibri.
The fact that these tours exist today is due to a chain of coincidences. In 2017, Alex came to Mexico from Romania and bought his first sailboat – without even knowing how to sail. He spent the following two years learning how and also getting to know the Laguna with its special characteristics.
Then Grecia joined the endeavour and the two continued to build and expand Sailing Colibri. In the beginning, their sailboat could only be powered by wind power, but over time – and due to the ever-changing winds – they also had to get a motor. What many people don’t know – and what the two also had to learn – is that there is hardly any wind here in the summer months. However, they did not want to buy a conventional motor that runs on fossil fuels, but an electric motor. These cost a solid three times as much and so the two of them saved for a longer time.
Important to know: There is no regulation for the Laguna regarding sunscreen. For this reason, Grecia and Alex have drawn up their own guidelines if someone wants to go on tour with them. Why is that so important? Sunscreens are not only harmful in the sea and accelerate coral bleaching. Sunscreen also has serious consequences in still waters, such as the lagoon of Bacalar. A thin film forms on the surface, which then no longer or hardly allows sunlight to pass through. This light is essential for the survival of organisms in the water, as otherwise they cannot photosynthesise. The colour of the lagoon also depends on it and is endangered by sunscreen.
Sustainability is a major concern for both of them – not only in terms of the environment, but also in their everyday lives and how they treat their employees. In conversation, Grecia told me the following: Sin turismo sostenible, no hay turismo. Without sustainable tourism, there is no tourism.
They run excursions on their sailing boats several times a day with different emphases. The tours are now well booked and last-minute bookings are usually no longer possible. In order to meet this demand, the goal is to purchase a larger boat for up to 15 guests in the next few years.
Grecia and Alex have developed their knowledge in leadership and delegation thanks to the Tourism Recovery Programme. Through the 1:1 mentoring, they have also found new ways to retain their current employees and to convince new ones of their ideas.
Yucatan, Mexico 
