One of the absolute best parts of traveling for me is eating. When I budget for trips, I always budget by category, and the food category is where I most frequently exceed my budget. I am simply helpless in the face of a fresh pastry—I can’t be held accountable for this. I knew that in Merida, I wouldn’t have extended access to a kitchen where I could make my own meals, which was an excellent excuse to justify eating out as much as I wanted. Based on my research, I knew that I didn’t need to budget a lot of money to enjoy the cheap eats in the city, but I also knew that Merida is a rising foodie destination where I would want to splurge one or twice on meals at pricier award-winning restaurants. Or three times. Or like every other night. Plus, I knew that food in a couple of other cities I was visiting in Mexico would cost way more, so I decided I may as well take advantage of Merida’s affordability.
I ended up budgeting $30 per day for food (including three meals per day, all drinks, travel snacks, and water—you can’t drink tap water in Mexico, so this included all water I drank and brushed my teeth with). This felt like such a small amount of money—back home in New Orleans, one fancy meal could easily cost double this. Still, I knew I could eat for way less, but I wanted to give myself permission for some splurges. And then I lost all control and forgot the budget and ate everything delicious in sight.
Merida has some remarkable restaurants. Mercado 60 is lively and fun and an excellent place to visit with friends so everyone can pick their choice of the different food stalls. (I went here twice.) I ate so much at Museo de la Gastronomia Yucateca (MUGY) that I had to waddle back to my room. It specializes in local Mayan food, which is very different than what you think of as Mexican food. For a crash course in what Mayan food is, MUGY is a great spot. Sure it’s for tourists, but it’s gorgeous, and nothing about it is kitschy. I had a dish where I got to sample a few different regional classics, and it helped me know what to order for the rest of my time in Merida.
I went to Pola Gelato so many times that they knew my order by the time I left. I truly must have gone every other night, but where else was I going to satisfy my constant craving for dark chocolate sorbet? At the peaceful coffee shop Sempere down the street, I sat for hours writing. It’s full of books and natural light, and I wished I could live there.
The famous Calle 47 is where you go to indulge in extreme gluttony. It’s often referred to as Merida’s Gastronomic Corridor. This is one of the trendiest, upscale streets in town, and it looks like it belongs on a postcard. It’s a very different look and vibe from the rest of the city—the buildings are all perfectly manicured and look like they’re given a fresh coast of pastel paint every night. To some people this might seem off-putting, but the vibrancy and life on this street make it impossible not to love.
On Calle 47, I had one of the best bowls of pasta I’ve ever eaten outside of Italy (and better than many pastas I’ve had IN Italy) at Oliva Enoteca. The chef-owner was raised in Rome, and I feel like it took me only one bite of carbonara to tell. I ate like a ravenous animal, and it wasn’t because I was particularly hungry. I was so impressed with beautiful Catrin that I visited twice to try different things on their eclectic menu. At El Lucero del Alba, I felt like I was in the middle of a giant party, and the waiters kept bringing me complimentary small plates of things as the 90s hits played over the speakers. Latte Quattro Sette is on the famous Calle 47 and a gorgeous place to have a pastry in the morning.
And it took me three tries before I finally got a table at Micaela Mar y Lena, but the effort was 1000% worth it for the best shrimp tacos I’ve ever tasted in one of the most gorgeous restaurants I’ve ever seen. (Despite being one of the trendiest and most popular new restaurants in town, my whole meal there, including dessert and horchata, cost only $22.) I think this was my favorite restaurant in Mexico.
Hostik Hostel is at the end of this street, and it’s the perfect place to stay if you’re looking to indulge in all the best food Merida has to offer before heading back to your room and doing it all again the next day.
One of my favorite experiences in Merida was visiting Malahat, the “secret” speakeasy. I’d read all about Malahat online, so I wasn’t naïve enough to think that this bar was a “secret” to anyone anymore. I knew it was only open three nights per week, so I had to wait until the weekend to try. But it ended being more challenging to find and get in than I assumed it would be. I knew where it was on a map, but I couldn’t find the entrance that google told me existed. Getting in meant asking restaurant hostesses of two different restaurants if they could point me in the right direction.
One of them escorted me around the back of the restaurant to a creepy back parking lot where they knocked on a door and deliberated for a while with the person who opened it about whether I could come in. (This wasn’t as sketchy as it sounds—there are just only 20 seats in the bar, and they were all reserved.) Luckily, they let me sit at the bar until the group it was reserved for showed up 45 minutes later. It was tiny and stunning, and even though anyone who wants to go can find it, the effort it took made it feel extra special. Plus, I felt like I was in a spy movie.
At the end of my trip, I was certain I must have spent double my food budget. Nope. I spent $27 per day on food—$3 less than I’d planned per day. A website that has been consistently helpful for me when planning trips is Budget Your Trip. They use cost estimates based on thousands of traveler’s reported costs, and you can get a good sense of how much you might spend in different cities depending on what type of traveler you are (budget, mid-range, luxury). I typically look at the estimated costs for budget and mid-range travel styles and aim somewhere in between the two depending on what type of accommodation I’m staying in. More often than not, this website ends up being accurate. (For Merida, the estimate for food costs per day for a mid-range budget is $29.) It consistently surprises and delights me how much more affordable travel can be than what I’m used to spending back home in the United States.
