Exploring Mérida, Mexico with Kids

Adventures await with our family! We took our kids on a two-month trip to Mérida, Mexico, to explore Mayan ruins and swim in cenotes. We practiced speaking basic Spanish, tried lots of Yucatan foods, and experienced a little of the local culture. Last but not least, I arrived in Mexico 36 weeks pregnant and planned to have our baby girl in Merida. I’m excited to share how we travel with kids, and our favorite destinations near Merida.

How We Travel with Kids

First, I should explain a little about how we travel with kids. We’ve homeschooled our kids for the entirety of their education, and only recently began traveling internationally. Furthermore, my husband is self-employed and can work from anywhere as a digital nomad. Finally and possibly most empowering, we rent out our personal family home as an Airbnb to pay for travel expenses. We essentially trade in our home (as a rental) so we can afford to go on trips with our kids!

Homeschooling has looked a bit different when we travel with our kids. At home we have fuller days, relaxed mornings, and occasional outings after school. While traveling, we get school done quickly so that we can go on adventures. We might take days off to go on a field trip or visit a museum. Worldschooling for us includes 50% workbooks and 50% experiences.

Speaking of workbooks, I’ve found it necessary to bring our kids math and language arts workbooks on our trips, as well as answer keys, notebook paper, and pencils. We also bring iPads, kindles, and laptops. I pack school workbooks because I think it would be too challenging to go fully digital, and still track my kids’ progress in their core subjects. I like the simplicity of them doing daily lessons on paper, checking their work, and talking through the things they don’t quite understand. My kids would have less accountability doing school fully on a screen. Additionally, I would be more hands-off and unaware of what reinforcement they need. Bringing the workbooks also allows us to keep school consistent on trips and at home. For streamlined packing, we have each child pack their own school books.

How We Afford Travel

Working virtually is something my husband already does at home, so not much changes when we change locations. He prioritizes his work while I do school with our kids.

Renting our home on Airbnb is a very empowering way to afford travel, especially since we live in a destination part of Idaho. We organize and store away our personal items, and turn our home into a family-friendly Airbnb. We’ve also used rental income to make our home look nicer than we may have justified for ourselves.

That being said, we booked our flights to take our kids to Merida, Mexico in January to March of 2024. We had a blast while there and learned a lot about Yucatan culture. We also welcomed our baby girl, Juliet, in a Merida private hospital. Here are some of the highlights of our trip to the Yucatan Peninsula!

Video: Merida Worldschool Adventure

Chichen Itza

One of our first outings with our kids was to visit the Maya ruins of Chichen Itza. Of course, Chichen Itza is a well known destination in Mexico since it’s one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. It was awesome to see Chichen Itza in person! This 1,500 year old Maya ruin is a sprawling city surrounding the central temple El Castillo. We saw the temple’s ascending stone steps up close and learned how immense serpent sculptures seem to slither down the temple due to their shadows changing as the sun moves in the sky. We also learned about some of the grim Mayan rituals and practices of their society. Ultimately, I wanted our kids to glimpse a bit of history central to the Yucatan Peninsula.

The Wallace family at Chichén Itzá ruins, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Yucatán Peninsula.

Like many other historic places, Chichen Itza is a World Heritage Site preserved to educate current and future generations. Because of this, Chichen Itza is one Mexico’s most visited archeological sites and tourist attractions. Although the temple El Castillo appears to be the centerpiece of the site, we also explored the nearby ruins of other temples, ceremonial platforms, and a ceremonial ball game field.

Traveling While Pregnant

As mentioned, I was 36 weeks pregnant when we arrived in Mexico, so we tried to do most of our excursions early during our trip. I appreciated a few things about finishing my 3rd trimester in Merida. First, the weather was beautiful, with temperatures between 80 and high 90 degrees. We left overcast winter weather behind in Idaho to enjoy the sunshine in Mexico. Additionally, I appreciated being distracted by our travel adventures during my last few weeks of pregnancy. My doctor helped us determine week by week if I could still go on destination outings. Finally, I got lots of exercise the last few weeks while going to Maya ruins and limestone cenotes. In Idaho, I may have been inclined to stay home and keep life simple. Overall, traveling while pregnant was a great experience!

Exploring Merida, Mexico with Kids

In addition to visiting Chichen Itza, we also took our kids to several cenotes. These are naturally formed limestone pools filled with ground water, which are commonly found on the Yucatan Peninsula. Our first and favorite cenote we visited was Cenote Ik Kil. We purchased entrance tickets, grabbed life jackets, and headed down stone steps to check out the cenote for ourselves.

Cenote Ik Kil

This clear aqua swimming hole draped with hanging vines was the first cenote I’ve ever seen. Cenote Ik Kil looked different than I expected because the water is 85 feet below ground level, and the pool is an additional 130 feet deep. Cenotes are essentially sink holes. They are often discovered when the ceiling caves in, or someone tries to dig a well and finds a cavern below.

Many people visit Cenote Ik Kil every day, and life jackets are required to swim. This made it fun for all of our kids to enjoy swimming in the cenote safely.

After walking down a long flight of stone steps, we were free to jump in the cool water. We saw tiny fish in the water, and beautiful views looking up out of the cenote towards the sky.

Following an afternoon in the heat and a swim at Cenote Ik Kil, we happily stopped by a local fruit market to buy mangos. Fresh fruit was very cheap in Merida, Mexico, and our family ate a lot of it! We mixed lime juice with chilled bottled water and enjoyed eating ripe mangoes, pineapple, papaya, and bananas. Furthermore, I liked the simplicity of buying fresh fruit and treats using Mexican Pesos from local shops like this one.

Pig Beach Progreso near Mérida, Mexico

Another day we visited Pig Beach near the city of Progreso. We swam in the beautiful Gulf of Mexico ocean, our kids played in the sand, and we tried some interesting snacks. These included toasted tortillas wrapped with peanut butter and cheese. This combination may sound strange, but it was pretty good. We also found a very fun beach swing. The ocean water temperature in March was amazing, primarily due to the temperature in Merida often reaching 100 degrees. Needless to say, our kids had a great time during our visit to Pig Beach.

Our kids swinging on a beach swing near Progreso, Yucatan

Celestun Flamingo Tour with Kids

Our day out at Celestun was another highlight of our trip to the Yucatan Peninsula. We hoped to see wild flamingos before they left the area. Evidently we visited during the tail end of the flamingo season, but we still glimpsed a flamboyance of flamingos, 40 or so.

At Celestun, we had a great full day adventure with our kids. We walked along the local beach and hired a boat for an excursion. This cost about 2,500 pesos, the equivalent of $150 for an 90 minute boat tour. We also saw Mangrove trees, and within them, a small crocodile. I thought it was amazing to see flamingos and a crocodile in the wild, safely from a boat.

Traveling with Kids

Traveling with kids offers so many opportunities to go on adventures, see nature in person, and learn new things! We often mix and match outdoor experiences such as seeing flamingos, with a stop for ice cream, and time spent playing at the beach.

We try to bring items we’ll use, while minimizing clutter. Of course, sunscreen, water bottles, and sunglasses are must-have items for our family travel adventures. We also bring supportive walking shoes and flip flops, and try to wear the right footwear for the right excursion.

Overall, we’ve learned that our kids are eager travelers and often resilient when problem solving and overcoming challenges.

Other Adventures in Merida

In addition to these adventures while visiting Merida, Mexico with our family, we went on several more outings.

We visited some of the shopping malls including La Isla Merida, the Harbor mall, and Gran Plaza. Each of these has a variety of fun stores, restaurants, and arcades. The Galerias shopping mall in Merida even has an ice skating rink.

Uxmal Maya ruins was another memorable day trip for our family. Like Chichen Itza, this Maya city includes temples, a competitive ball field, courtyards, and barracks. We saw iguanas scrambling over stones next to the ancient buildings.

Progreso Beach offered a day of sunshine and fresh tacos for lunch. Our kids picked up shells, built a sand castle, and ate gelato on the beach. Street venders sold us a sand bucket and shovel, and spicy Mexican candies.

Finally, we explored several more cenotes including Cenote Hacienda Mucuyche and the three Santa Bárbara cenotes. Each of these are unique and visually spectacular. Some cenotes are inside a cavern, others look like a channel open to the sky, and still others resemble natural rock swimming holes. We thought it was worthwhile to explore all of the cenotes we visited. Each had beautiful limestone walls, clear aqua water, and often stalactites or stalagmites near the edges.

Near the end of our trip, we welcomed our baby girl in a private hospital in Merida. We were very impressed with the hospital care we received. I’m excited to share more details soon about my birthing experience abroad!