AboutEllen Fields Expertise I can answer questions about Merida and the state of Yucatan regarding travel and moving there to live, as well as real estate practices and conventions, computer and internet availability and communications to the US from the Yucatan.
Experience My husband and I have lived in the Yucatan for over five years. We publish the www.yucatanliving.com website.
We are group of friends and we will be traveling to Mexico next week (staying till 28th June 2009)
I wanted to know, what would be the best way how to travel to Palenque from Merida. We will rent car in Cancun and then travel to Chicxulub, Yucatan (I have also question about car rental in Cancun). I wanted to how long does it takes to travel to Palenque. What is the best/fastest way (car, bus, train)?
We will will be group of 4-6 people and we wanted to stay for 1 night in Palenque.
What are the best places to visit in Palenque (close by)? Should we search where to stay when we reach Palenque or better to do it before?
Thank you!
Answer Hola,
If you have a car, that is by far the best way to go to Palenque. You can, of course, also take a bus. The bus will be cheaper and you won't have to do the driving, but you'll also be unable to make any sidetrips or stops, etc.
It takes about four to five hours to get to Palenque from Merida... it's not a quick drive. There is nothing much between Campeche and Palenque... a few small pueblos and the "big" city of Escarcega, which has a Burger King, a Pemex, an army installation, a power plant and a few residents. Nothing to write home about. Oh, there was a good chicken place there last time we went through also.
Palenque is lovely and it's all about the ruins. The town isn't much to write home about and we've never found much good food there. But the ruins and the surrounding area is absolutely lovely.
The hardest thing about being in Palenque is denying the siren call to go on down the road to San Cristobal de Las Casas through some of the most beautiful jungle we've ever seen.
There are lots of places to stay in Palenque... our favorite is (natch) the most expensive.. Chan KaH. Huge, boulder-lined pool, howler monkeys in the trees, TALL trees... and air conditioned rooms.
There are other, cheaper, nice places to stay also. We've never had trouble just walking up and getting a room... and probably right now there will be no trouble at all.
