Where locals go

Where locals actually go

Mérida residents do not spend their weekends on the plaza with the tour groups. Here is where they go.

Santiago and Santa Ana markets. Locals eat breakfast and lunch at the neighborhood market fondas rather than the big central market. The Mercado de Santiago is a favorite for cheap, honest cochinita and panuchos among people who live nearby.

García Ginerés and Colonia México. Leafy residential barrios north and west of the center where families walk to the park, get ice cream and eat at unshowy neighborhood spots. Parque de las Américas in García Ginerés fills with families in the evening.

Progreso on the weekend. When the heat peaks, meridanos drive 40 minutes north to the Gulf at Progreso for the day, eat fresh seafood on the malecón and drive home. It is a local beach day, not a resort.

Cenotes on a day off. Families head to the swimming cenotes around Cuzamá, Homún and Cenotillo to cool down. These are working-town cenotes, cheaper and less staged than the ones on the tour circuit.

What a friend here would tell you: eat where the office workers line up at 1pm, drink the agua fresca of the day, and get out of the center for anything after dark on a weekend.