Things to Do in Yucatán, Mexico: City Guides

The best things to do in Yucatán include discovering Maya cities, exploring colonial towns, learning about a living indigenous culture and tasting one of Mexico’s most distinctive regional cuisines. The peninsula is remarkably flat, but its history is layered: ancient Maya civilization, Spanish colonial rule, struggles over political identity and the continuing presence of the Yucatec Maya language all shape the region today. Neywo has free audio guides for 3 cities in Yucatán, covering 26 narrated places in total, with narration available in 11 languages.

What to see and do in Yucatán

Follow the Maya story

The Maya are the starting point for understanding Yucatán. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the peninsula was a major centre of Maya civilization, with cities including Chichen Itza, Izamal and Ichkanzihóo. Ichkanzihóo was also known as T’ho and is now Mérida, the state capital.

The older name for the region was Mayab, a Yucatec Maya word meaning “flat”. The name reflects the landscape: Yucatán is extremely flat, except for the Puuc hills in the south. Across the peninsula, the ancient Maya world remains closely connected to present-day life rather than existing only as a distant archaeological past.

Visit Mérida, the state capital

Mérida grew from the site of T’ho, one of the cities founded by the Maya. Its history makes it an important place to include in any Yucatán travel guide: the city connects the region’s pre-Spanish past with its colonial and modern identity.

Neywo’s Mérida audio guide covers 20 narrated places, including Casa de Montejo, the Korean Immigration Museum, the Museo de Historia Natural and the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya. The city is also a place to notice how the region’s history continues through language and everyday culture.

Explore Izamal

Izamal is another city with Maya origins and one of the places that helps explain the depth of Yucatán’s early history. Its most prominent Neywo stop is the Convento de Izamal, included in the city’s audio guide.

With one narrated place available through Neywo, Izamal offers a focused introduction to one of Yucatán’s historic cities.

Discover Progreso and its museums

Progreso gives the region another perspective. Its Neywo audio guide includes five narrated places, with stops such as the Museo del Meteorito, Museo del Meteorito El origen de la nueva vida, Callejón del Amor and Progreso Lighthouse.

The two meteorite museums point to a subject that reaches beyond local history, while the lighthouse and Callejón del Amor add distinctly different points of interest within the city. Explore the available stops through the Progreso city guide.

Learn about the Yucatec Maya language

Yucatán’s Maya heritage is also alive in language. Yucatec Maya remains the most widely spoken indigenous language in the state, particularly in rural areas. Around 800,000 people speak it across Yucatán and the neighbouring states of Quintana Roo and Campeche.

The language has not disappeared despite the inequality and prejudice directed towards native Maya people after the Spanish conquest. Even the Spanish spoken in the region carries Mayan words and sounds. Travelling through Yucatán therefore means encountering an ancient culture that continues to shape communication, identity and daily life.

Taste Yucatecan food

Food is one of the most direct ways to experience Yucatán’s distinctive cultural mix. Local Maya traditions combine with Caribbean, Spanish, North African, Middle Eastern and other Mexican influences. Many dishes bring together corn tortillas, fresh limes and habanero chiles.

The region’s best-known speciality is cochinita pibil, a marinated pork dish. Poc chuc is another Maya and Yucatecan pork preparation, made with barbecued pork. Turkey is also central to the local cuisine, appearing in dishes such as pavo en relleno negro: a turkey stew prepared with a black paste made from roasted chiles. The meat and dark broth can also be served in tacos, sandwiches, panuchos or salbutes.

Sopa de lima is a lime-flavoured soup made with turkey, chicken or pork and tortilla chips. For lighter everyday dishes, try salbutes and panuchos. Salbutes are soft cooked tortillas topped with lettuce, tomato, turkey and avocado. Panuchos are fried tortillas filled with black beans, then topped with turkey or chicken, lettuce, avocado and pickled onions.

Together, these dishes show the character of Yucatecan cooking: sharp citrus, heat, beans, corn, meat and rich sauces in combinations that are recognisably local.

Understand Yucatán’s changing political history

Yucatán’s history also includes a long and complicated relationship with Mexico. The peninsula’s distance from Mexico City meant that it was not militarily affected by the Mexican War of Independence, although the movement influenced the region.

After Mexican independence, the local governor proclaimed Yucatán independent. The region then joined the First Mexican Empire. When that empire collapsed, the first Republic of Yucatán voluntarily negotiated its annexation to the Federal Republic of the United Mexican States.

Political and cultural disputes around the federal pact led Yucatán to declare independence again in 1841. The second Republic of Yucatán lasted until 1848, when it was forced to rejoin Mexico. The Caste War brought another long period of conflict. During that war, Campeche separated from Yucatán, and a later division created the federal territory that became Quintana Roo.

These changing borders tell a story of independence, conflict and reunion. They also explain why Yucatán’s identity cannot be reduced to a single period: Maya heritage, colonial history and the region’s changing place within Mexico all remain part of its character.

Explore Yucatán with Neywo

Download Neywo to explore Yucatán with a free audio guide covering 3 cities, 26 narrated places and 1 walking tour. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages.

Use the guides to discover Mérida, Izamal and Progreso, then continue exploring with Neywo’s audio stories as you walk.