Food & Hotels

Casa de Celeste Vida

Without a doubt, this is THE best place to stay in Celestun!  Run by the Canadian trio of Wanda Folden and Kenn & Karen Strass, Celeste Vida offers three self-sufficient rooms right on the beach just on the north end of Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico.

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Wanda Folden

Karen & Kenn Strass

Check out their website Casa de Celeste Vida and read the great TripAdvisor reviews posted there.  Phone and email is on their website.  Their popularity has resulted in being very busy and bookings well in advance are recommended.

Hacienda San Jose Pachul

Jose Fernandez

Richard Fuller (on left)

We discovered a great new restaurant the other day near Kinchil; Hacienda San Jose Pachul.  It is owned by Jose Fernandez and Richard Fuller.  Both lived in Vancouver, BC, Canada for about 34 years before buying about 35 acres of an old Hacienda property just north of Kinchil.

Hacienda San Jose Pachul

They've done an incredible job of building and renovating and now have two beautiful rooms to stay in, private gardens, swimming pool and a great bar and restaurant in the old Hacienda building.  Seating is very limited so reservations are a MUST.  Be prepared to stay a few hours as the hosts are great conversationalists, the bar is comfortable and each course is a work of art and something you will want to take your time with.

Tomato and Gorgonzola salad

Jose is the Chef and a Somalier so expect something great and you will likely not be disappointed.  Check out the website Hacienda San Jose Pachul then call or email to reserve your room or just a table for lunch or dinner.

hotel Luz en Yucatan

Our very favourite place to stay in centro Merida.  Beautiful, boutique hotel run by Tom (Canadian) and Donard (Irish).  Their rooms are large, comfortable, many with private terraces and the atmosphere is retreat like.  Their hospitality is warm and friendly and the location is ideal for walking around the tourist district in downtown Merida.  The prices are very reasonable and there is free wifi and free parking right across the street.  Check out their website and contact them as early as possible as the popularity of this little hotel has people booking well in advance.

Restaurant at Hotel Gutierrez

As neither the hotel or the restaurant have a website, the link above is for their tripadvisor reviews.
A weekly ex-pat dinner party has developed on Friday nights at the restaurant at Hotel Gutierrez.  Peter, the chef at the restaurant, is a wonderful host, speaks English, Spanish, German and possibly some other languages from living and working in 66 different countries since leaving his native Switzerland.

Fri. night ex-pat dinner.  You can see part of the menu & prices.

The meals are large, served quickly and very reasonably priced.  And somehow, even with about 20 of us there last night, he always manages to have all of the meals hot and ready at the same time.  Peter is open for breakfast 7 days a week and also late for dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

El Palmar

Although El Palmar is open only limited hours, it enjoys a great location next to the town hall facing the square.  Their website info says they open at 6pm and stay open til 1AM in the low season and 3AM in the high season.  In reality, although their doors are open around 6PM meals are not normally available until around 8PM and in low season they are usually only open Friday through Sunday.

They have a large Mexican menu and are best known for their pastor meat.  My favourite item on the menu is Tacos Pastor.  These are very small so usually about 6 of them makes a meal.  They also make great Nachos in addition to a wide variety of other very moderately priced meat and seafood dishes.

It's especially fun to sit outside on a warm evening if anything is happening in the square, and there is usually some kind of activity going on.  Last night we enjoyed watching the various food and souvenir vendors, kiddie rides from the fair, a drum group practicing, and a modern dance class in the middle of all of this other activity.  Click on the link above to see the tripadvisor review and check out the video clip below from last night.