While Merida is full of gorgeous and affordable Airbnbs, you have to book them quite far in advance to get the best options. Since my trip dates kept changing until right before I left, most of the best-but-still-cheap Airbnbs were booked. So I started looking at the best hostels in Merida instead.
I feel so far removed from this mindset that it’s easy for me to forget that there still exist people in the world (including many people I knew personally!) who hear the word “hostel” and picture prison-style cots crammed into unairconditioned rooms full of bed bugs, sexual predators, thieves, and misery. Or they picture either the horror movie Hostel or Taken. And while there are plenty of unpleasant hostels in the world (just as there are unpleasant hotels), it’s glaringly obvious which ones to avoid. If I accomplish nothing else by blogging about travel, I hope that I can convince at least one person to stay in a hostel who previously assumed they were gross. (Let me know if you are this person so I can rejoice!)
I started staying in hostels quite late compared to most budget solo travelers. During my first-ever solo trip to Venice when I was 21, I don’t recall even considering staying in a hostel. It wasn’t because I was afraid or had a negative association with hostels—it was just because I didn’t have a real awareness of them. There is sadly not much of a hostel culture in the United States, and I hadn’t known anyone who’d traveled in Europe and stayed in hostels and could enlighten me at that point. This was a time when I didn’t have a smart phone or a GPS, and travel influencers weren’t really a thing, so the information wasn’t as easy to come by.
It wasn’t until my late 20s that I realized what I was missing. I stayed in my first hostels on a trip to Portugal when I was 30 (just 4 years ago). The hostels in Portugal were nicer than most hotels I’ve stayed in in my life. Since then, I’ve stayed in over 50 hostels, and finding the very best ones has become a fun part of my trips. While the United States is severely lacking in high quality hostels, I was delighted to see that there was no shortage of them in the Yucatan.
The receptionist at one of the hostels in Merida told me that the hostel culture in the region is fairly new. A few decades ago, there was a negative association with the word, and they were thought to be sketchy rent-by-the-hour sort of places. But as tourism has grown, the perception has entirely changed. Now there are over a dozen hostels in the city, and several of them are boutique hostels with fantastic reviews.
I stayed in 3 different hostels in Merida. In part, this is because I wanted to sample a few different ones because each of them had different perks. In part, this is because I planned my accommodations around my work schedule. I made sure I was in private rooms for most of the days I had to work remotely, and I was okay with staying in shared rooms for the remaining days in order to save money. And in case you’re planning a budget trip to the Yucatan soon, I’ll give you my thoughts about each of them.
But first, some general thoughts about hostels in Merida.
Something I knew to expect was that Merida (and the entire Yucatan Peninsula) would be hot. I did NOT expect HOW hot it would be. I visited the Yucatan in mid-November, so this is nearly as ideal as the weather can be. (December-February are cooler, but also more crowded.) And I’d tell anyone that this is an excellent time to visit. I assumed that when people said Merida is “hot,” that this would mean “hot” in the same way that my home in New Orleans is still “hot” in October (which is to say, you can wear shorts and be pleasantly warm instead of a puddle of sweat).
This was a different type of hot entirely. For probably half the days I was there, it felt like New Orleans in July but also with a heat lamp placed directly over your skull. It wasn’t even that the temperatures were particularly high—some days it only reached the high 80s (Fahrenheit). In New Orleans, we had two straight weeks over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this past summer, and it didn’t feel like the heat of Merida in November. I’ve never been as close to the equator as I was in Merida, so I hadn’t realized how significant the power of the sun can be, especially in a city where there is very little shade. Mornings were quite pleasant, and there were even some cool evenings. But the middle of the day was fierce. And I wasn’t prepared for the sweat. Consuming and suffocating sweat. Sweat that makes you guzzle water and still feel dizzy. Humidity that makes some spaces impossible to ever feel dry. And I didn’t anticipate the way this would change my comfort level in hostels.
Do not let this scare you away from visiting Merida! It is a WONDERFUL city! Just take this as a warning to make sure that your accommodation has air conditioning that you can control. And make sure you pack the right clothes and bring a giant water bottle. Or several.
In Europe, I stayed in a mix of private and shared hostel rooms—private rooms in the Eastern European countries where they cost less than $30 USD, and shared rooms in countries where even a bed in a shared room cost more than that. I tried to stay in the smallest (typically 4-bed) shared rooms whenever I could, and most of the time I chose a female-only room if it was available. And though I needed to break up the shared rooms with some private ones (as introverts will understand), I was also perfectly fine in shared rooms. Even larger, co-ed rooms were perfectly fine. I think the largest I stayed in was a 12-bed co-ed room in Inverness, Scotland, and it was perfectly pleasant! I would go so far as to say that in winter, the shared rooms felt a bit like cozy sleepover parties. Not so in Merida.
I think it was the sweat that bothered me. In the heat and humidity of the Yucatan, shared rooms felt suffocating. I never felt clean. This had nothing whatsoever to do with the hostel’s cleaning practices and everything to do with me personally feeling gross. Rooms were air conditioned, but some hostels only turned on their air-conditioning after dark to conserve energy. The general dampness switched the hypochondriac in me on high alert. Sharing dorm rooms bothered me in a way it never had before. I made myself stay in several shared rooms, but I also knew I’d enjoy myself more if I splurged and swapped to more privates. I think it’s important to know these things about yourself and be able to adjust as you go.
A review of all the hostels I stayed in in Merida, Mexico. (A disclaimer—I do get a small commission if you book any of these hostels using my links at no extra cost to you!)
Che Nomadas Merida–the Best Location and Most Social
Cost me just $16 USD per night for the shared room and about $53 per night (including tax) for the private. (Prices vary a lot by season.)
This is the first of three Che hostels I stayed in in Mexico. (I also stayed in their Holbox and Valladolid hostels.) Che is a very popular local chain of hostels that are largely known as social, party hostels. I am NOT the right clientele for a party hostel. But Che had the best reviews in Merida, the cheapest dorm rooms, and a massive pool. Plus they advertised a lot of group activities and excursions. So I decided to give it a try. I stayed in a shared room for two nights and then a private room for three.
The shared room was supposed to be co-ed, but coincidentally it was only females in my room for the nights I was there. We had a bathroom in our room, and we had an air-conditioner that we could start using in the late evening. It took the room a long time to cool off once we were finally able to turn the air on, and I can’t imagine how hot those rooms would get in the summer months.
I had to work for a day and a half while staying in this shared room, and there was a co-working room at the hostel that never had more than one other person in it while I was there. The wi-fi was excellent.
BUT, it was definitely a place that would better suit someone who was into the social/party aspect of the hostel. I did participate in a free salsa class one night, and I was as awkward as you can imagine a person being. (Though it was the kind of awkward that it fun instead of painful. I’d do it again.) I did a free yoga class at the hostel one morning. They do a great job of making sure their calendar is packed with activities for all budgets, from the daily free activities at the hostel to the hostel-run day trips to cenotes. You could purchase breakfast at the hostel for an additional fee.
I thought my private room would feel like a welcome respite. My bed was huge, and I had my own bathroom. But the private room was better sealed than the shared room, and as a result, it was unescapably humid. I spent the first night in the room assuming that my bedding hadn’t been fully dried. By the second night, I realized that ALL fabric felt wet in the room because it was so humid. When I turned my air-conditioner higher, I felt like I was sleeping in a wet swimming pool. When I turned the air-conditioner off, I felt like I was sleeping in a warm bathtub. There was no escaping it. And it was loud. Very loud. All the Che hostels are loud.
You should definitely stay at Che if you want to have a fun and social time! You should perhaps not stay at Che if you are over the age of, say, 25 in either spirit or body. And I never even got in that excellent pool.
Hostal Boutique Casa Garza – Most Quaint and Beautiful
Cost me just $17 USD per night for the shared room. Privates are about $50 for the most basic rooms (before tax). (Prices vary a lot by season.)
I stayed in a shared room here for three nights, and I would have loved to have stayed in a private room, but they were a little out of my price range. My shared room was quite small, but it was mercifully air-conditioned (day and night) and had a private bathroom. (It also didn’t feel damp and humid in the room—a divine blessing.) This is a quieter, gorgeous hostel in a traditional colonial house just a few blocks from the Grande Plaza. I asked one of the receptionists about the space, and she told me that it was originally two historic homes that had been converted into one. The family who used to live there is still in touch with the hostel owners, and it wasn’t long ago that an elderly woman came by to visit who had lived in the home as a little girl.
The hostel truly felt like a home. It had two kitchens (one of them might be the loveliest hostel kitchen I’ve ever seen). Breakfast was free and included a ton of options. They decorated two Christmas trees before I left. They have a couple gorgeous courtyards and outdoors spaces with hammocks and tables and a small pool. They even have their own pet—a precious tortoise.
The workers were exceptionally kind. When I told one of them that I was thinking about going to Campeche on a day trip, she invited me to go with her and her friends who were going that weekend. I already had plans and had to decline, but that was a level of generosity that was not necessary for her job.
The people who stayed at this hostel seem to be a slightly older crowd, and the private rooms are closer to the price of reasonable hotels. I’d recommend it to anyone who isn’t looking for a party (which is to say—me).
Hostik
I paid $46 USD for a private room including $8 of tax. Shared rooms are about $20. (Prices vary a lot by season.)
I stayed in a private room at Hostik for 5 nights. It’s the newest of these three hostels and located a bit farther from the center, but it’s on the most gorgeous (and upscale) street in town where all the award-winning restaurants are located, so it’s still a fantastic location. Depending on what you hope to do in the city, you might even consider this the best location of the three hostels. It had a minimalist and modern atmosphere, and they have an eco-friendly focus and two free yoga classes per day on the rooftop. There’s a nice pool with lots of hammocks.
My private room was small but impeccably clean, well-air-conditioned, had a large bathroom, and somehow NOT HUMID. You cannot imagine my relief at having dry bedding. I could have wept. And somehow, the private rooms were shockingly affordable. These were the cheapest private rooms available at the three hotels I stayed in, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with them.
Hostik had several activities to choose from each night, but the activities didn’t turn into raucous parties the way they did at Che. I’d recommend this hostel for anyone looking for a quieter and comfortable stay but who still wants opportunities to socialize.
Hostal Barrio Vivo – For being lovely even though I didn’t stay there
And even though I didn’t stay in this hostel, a shoutout to Hostal Barrio Vivo. When I did my photoshoot with a local photographer, this hostel let us take some photos in their bar. It’s a little bit farther from the Grand Plaza than some of the other hostels, but it’s in one of the most gorgeous neighborhoods in town. I met someone who stayed here and loved it, and it has excellent reviews.
Hostel Excursions
All three of the hostels (and most of the hotels in town) offer tours through a local tour company called Edith’s Tours. You can book one of Edith’s day tours at the front desk, and the tour bus will come pick you up at your hostel/hotel. You can also book these tours even if you aren’t staying at the hostel—most of them will book the tour for you and you can wait in their lobby to be picked up that morning.
The only reason I was able to afford to do this Mexico trip was by saving money on my accommodations (so I could splurge on feasts and activities). I’m so glad that there are excellent options in Merida that make the city financially accessible to all types of travelers.
