The capital of Yucatán is the best place to start your tour and to explore the state. Founded in 1542 and built on the ancient Mayan city of T'ho, it stands out for its wide offer of cultural and artistic attractions, its colonial historic downtown with European architectural influence and an outstanding French style that we can admire in the large houses of Paseo de Montejo, the most important avenue of the city. It was recently awarded as "Best small city in the world" and "Best convention venue" by specialized tourism media.

The city is the most important distribution center for cultural tourism in the Yucatán Peninsula: offering more than 5,919 rooms in hotels for all budgets, congress and exhibition venues, more than 300 restaurants of all kinds of cuisine and, a wide range of cultural and tourist attractions.

La Mejorada "barrio" (neighborhood), has a seventeenth-century church, which served throughout its history as a hospital, women's prison and barracks. This church is currently the Faculty of Architecture of the Autonomous University of Yucatán. Here you can also find the park of La Mejorada that is an essential part of the city of Mérida, where the first railroad in the Peninsula was built in 1870.

It is one of the oldest and most traditional "barrios" in Mérida. In ancient times, it used to be a little Mayan village settled southwest of Mérida, and changed its name by the time of the colonization to San Sebastián.

Some people think Montejo's troops passed through it when they came to T'ho. In this traditional neighborhood we find the Ermita de Santa Isabel which dates from the 17th century; it was formerly called the Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Buen Viaje, possibly because of its location near the royal path of Campeche.

The now known as Paseo de Montejo, built between 1886 and 1905, was inspired by the Champs-Elysées in Paris and named after the founder of the city of Mérida, Francisco de Montejo y León, "El Mozo".

In this beautiful avenue you can find some of the most renowned historical monuments of the city such as the Twin Houses or Chamber Houses, the grandiose Canton Palace, the Minaret Pawn House, the Regil Pawn House, the Quinta Montes Molina, the monuments to Justo Sierra and Felipe Carrillo Puerto and, the famous Monument to the Fatherland that is one of the most important symbols of the city, made by the Colombian master Rómulo Rozo.

The oldest and most beautiful theater in Mérida is named after José Peón Contreras, an immortal novelist poet, playwright, essayist, doctor and politician from Yucatán, who was born in this city in 1843 and died in Mexico City in 1907.

Inspired by the French neoclassical style, this theater was inaugurated on December 21, 1908. The original project was commissioned to the architect Pio Piacentini, the technical direction was carried out by the architect Enrico Desserti, the sketch and painting of the dome is by Nicolás Allegretti and the façade of the building with a marked European style is the work of Fernando Ceicola. In December 2008 the theatre celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Its distribution and façade reminisce the great European theatres of the time. From the center of the dome hangs a chandelier which arms have prisms made of iridescent cut glass.

The architectural conceptualization of the building is based on one of the key elements to understand the mysticism of the Mayan people: the ceiba tree. The main building resembles the ceiba tree which represents the sacred tree of life for the Mayans. Based on this concept, an architectural design is developed including a parking lot, transit warehouses, main reception room, permanent exhibition rooms, temporary exhibition room, multi-purpose room, children's playground, film projection room with a Mayamax screen, terraces and gardens.

The Casa de Montejo, built between 1542 and 1549 commanded by Don Francisco de Montejo, conqueror of the Yucatán Peninsula, is one of the scant examples on the American continent of civil constructions in the Renaissance style known as Plateresque. It preserves the 16th century facade, being a representative masterpiece of that artistic style. It is one of the five Casas Señoriales Banamex, offered to the public by the Banco Nacional de México. These houses are historical-cultural spaces which purpose is to contribute to the cultural, social, ecological and educational development of our country.

Considered one of the oldest Mayan cities, it stands for "the place where there is writing on flat stones". Dzibilchaltún amalgamates in one place a pre-Hispanic city, an eco-archaeological park and the Museum of the Mayan People, which houses Mayan and Spanish remains, from clay objects to paintings, Spanish armor and weapons, several Mayan stelae, stones and carved lintels in excellent condition.

The city preserves 12 sacbés (sak bé oob) or white roads, most of which start from the center and go toward the constructions on the outskirts. One of them leads to the Xlacah cenote, which in Mayan means "old town", one of the largest and deepest found in Yucatán thus far, and from which a great number of archaeological pieces have been rescued, mainly pottery.

Xlacah is a kind of natural outdoor pond and is easily accessible, since it is at ground level. Its crystalline waters, covered with lilies floating on the surface, enhance their beauty as the sunlight goes through them, thus being eternal witnesses of the greatness of this place.

The Museum of the Mayan People is made up of 4 exhibition halls:

The Pergola of the Monoliths: where pre-Hispanic monolithic sculptures from Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo are exhibited at the edge of a path that runs through a garden of native plants.

The Room of Mayan Archaeology: dedicated to the pre-Hispanic era, it exhibits  a collection of ceramic, 

The archaeo-astronomical phenomenon of the equinox occurs in Dzibilchaltún, on March 21st and on September 21st. At dawn, when the door of the Temple of the Seven Dolls is illuminated by the sun glare that comes from the horizon, at a certain moment, the celestial sphere is in the center of the door and creates an amazing display of light and shadow on the western façade.

These days, you can observe the incredible precision of Mayan astronomy integrated into its architecture. The Mayans used the sun as the basis for planning their lives because they lived from the agriculture. During the spring equinox they started the sowing and in the autumn equinox they did the harvest.