Well, first of all, there are the pools. Sometimes, it's enough to just float or play in the pools all day long. Our pools are lovely, cool and deep. One is surrounded by old stone walls, citrus and palm trees. The second is located next to our outdoor restaurant.
But when it's time to get out and see the sights, Hacienda Santa Cruz is centrally located so that nothing you came to see on the Yucatan Peninsula is very far away.
Hacienda Santa Cruz is a mere 20 minutes from the Centro Historico of Merida. When the peace and tranquility become too much to bear, hop in your rental car (you will need one to stay here) and take the easy drive to the center of town. There you can enjoy Domingo en Merida, the lively Sunday market that takes over the Zocalo and Calle 60. You can go in on any evening to enjoy a myriad of restaurants on Paseo Montejo, Merida's new world version of the Champs d'Elysees. Or you can go in any day to visit churches, museums, shops, cafes, the zoo or just stroll the colonial streets.
In every direction from Hacienda Santa Cruz there are Mayan ruins of beauty and historical import that can easily be visited as a day trip. Uxmal is only 1 hour away, a 40 minute drive will take you to Dzabilchaltun and in an hour and a half you'll be at Chichen Itza. In addition, smaller sites such as Mayapan, Acanceh, Edzna, Kobah, Sayil, Labna, Xlapak, Oxkintok and others are all within an hour's drive.
Perhaps what is most unique about touring the Yucatan Peninsula is the ability to visit colonial towns and Mayan villages that you never knew existed. For many of these, the only intimation that you are still in the 21st Century might be a young man talking on a cell phone, or the packaged food at the little tendejon on the corner. The architecture, the markets, the costumes and the otherwordly small-town atmosphere of places like Oxcutzcab, Mamá, Izamal, Santa Elena, Uman, and what seems like a million more are a pleasure to discover.
About 30 minutes north of Merida is Progreso, the largest of the not-very-large beach towns that dot the southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. One of life's greatest pleasures could be sitting under a palapa on one of those beaches, sipping a cold local beer and dipping fresh chips into a big bowl of freshly-made guacamole. Or maybe it's rising early and taking a little boat out of Celestun to see the flocks of flamingos. All these beach experiences and more are just a few minutes away from Hacienda Santa Cruz.
Unique to the Yucatan Peninsula are cenotes, those ubiquitous holes in the limestone shelf that are filled with fresh, clear, clean and cool water. Some are above ground, like the Xlacah cenote at Dzabilchaltun, and some are underground, like the Dzitnup cenote in Valladolid. These are just the most famous. Don't miss a chance to take a swim in these refreshing natural pools while you are visiting here.
Though we think Santa Cruz is the best, there are many other restored haciendas that you may want to visit. Hacienda Yaxcopoil, for instance, has been preserved as a museum that can give you a real feel for what life was like during the boom days of henequen production. Sotuta de Peon is a working hacienda, where tours demonstrate to tourists how sisal is produced from henequen plants.
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