Yucatan is a state full of pleasant surprises, a very diverse state. You will find modernity, culture, warm weather, and access to excellent medical care, education, quality of life, kind people, traditional and trendy restaurants, beautiful beaches, ruins, haciendas, cenotes, old colonial and modern homes, diversity of local and international food and the most important SAFETY! Yucatan is one of the safest states to live in Mexico.

Yucatan is located in southeastern Mexico in the Yucatan Peninsula. Yucatan has a population of 1,955,577 inhabitants according to the census of 2010. Borders the states of Campeche and Quintana Roo. Yucatan has a hot and humid climate. During your stay, you can visit the State capital, Merida, where you can take a stroll down Paseo Montejo, the city’s main avenue, which is lined with beautiful palaces, old buildings and 19th-century mansions. All that and much more makes the so-called White City.

Yucatán is one of the 32 states of the Mexican Republic where more foreigners have chosen to retire, start a new business or just to own a second home. Yucatan has the perfect combination of colonial and contemporary, it is a safe city with warm and friendly people. It is one of the most visited destinations in the country. In the surrounding areas, you can visit old henequen haciendas, many of which have been converted into luxurious hotels with museums, restaurants and spa services. You can also visit the town of Valladolid, where you’ll find numerous sinkholes (ponds connected by underground streams), the ideal spots to go swimming or cave diving. There’s also the magical town of Izamal, where you can check out the magnificent Ex-Convent of San Antonio de Padua, which has the largest atrium in the Americas.

Yucatan was home to the mayan people, and thus houses an important number of archaeological sites, such as Uxmal, Kabah, Labna, Sayil, Dzibilchaltun and the impressive ceremonial grounds of Chichen Itza, which was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO. Among the notable sights you will find the Observatorio (Observatory), also known as the Caracol, the Juego de Pelota (Ball Court) and the Piramide de Kukulcan (Pyramid of Kukulcan), where you can witness the shadow image of a feathered serpent descend on the pyramid’s stairs every spring and fall equinox.

Yucatan also offers beautiful natural environments, such as Celestun, the natural habitat for hundreds of pink flamingoes, or Rio Lagartos, where you can kayak through mangroves. During your visit, don’t forget to try Yucatan’s famous regional cuisine.

Mérida was founded in 1542 by Spanish conquistadors. Francisco de Montejo and his army dismantled the Mayan structures that were there and used the stone to build a cathedral and other buildings that still surround the Plaza Grande (Main Square). According to Forbes Magazine , the city of Mérida, Yucatán is in the top 3 places to live in all of Mexico, next to San Luis Potosi and Leon. According to a report, Merida has a style of life comfortable and relaxed, and in turn, offers good alternatives to doing business in the region.

Merida’s historic center is one of the largest in Mexico and laid out on a grid pattern. Many of the buildings here, including those on and around the central plaza (Plaza Grande) were built the colonial period through the 18th and 19th centuries.

Foreigners are not only buying and rehabilitating real-estate in Mérida’s central district, they are also snapping up decrepit haciendas in the surrounding countryside. From the 1880’s to around 1945, many of these haciendas were the leading exporters of Sisal, a fibrous material used to make rope and twine, which is extracted from henequén, a spiky plant similar to agave; however, when synthetic fibers came along, the once-grand haciendas were abandoned and became inhabitable.

At least a dozen haciendas within a 30-mile radius of Mérida have been restored. Some are private residences, and others have been turned into beautiful resorts. If you love culture you will be breathing it in every corner of the state!