Lets take a walk through the five Mérida neighborhoods we have lived in Mexico! Is there a correlation that all these neighborhoods are in North Mérida? Let’s look at our pros & cons of each – as a senior couple who walk everywhere – as well as cost of each.
Lets look at the pros & cons of the five Mérida neighborhoods that we have lived in at some point during our visits to Mérida. The neighborhoods are in chronological order based when we lived in that neighborhood. At the end we will share our absolute favorite! Are you with me?
Lets compare five North Mérida neighborhoods!
1] Xcumpich
To me, this neighborhood is residential & close to Gallerias Mall, Mayan Museum, Costco, Samsclub & restaurants.
Although the stores are within walking distance, I would highly recommend a car for this area. Ubers & InDriver are very handy but I think these services can get costly if used frequently.
Street noise was not noticeable in our residence. Quite peaceful.
Pricing for the short three week stay was about $900 USD. Since we planned on staying in Mexico for six (6) months this was a bit pricey for us & that is what lead us to look for another place to live, which is the next neighborhood that I will be discussing. We were staying in an extended stay hotel that included a full kitchen, paid laundry area, exercise gym and pool area. The location allowed us to get what we believed to be a taste of the culture in Mérida.
2] San Ramon Norte
We spent one month in the San Ramon neighborhood in a place called the Luxury apartments.
San Ramon Norte is a very busy local business district close to City Centre Shopping Center & really has everything a long stay tourist could want. San Ramon is filled with a variety of touristy style restaurants, bars grocery stores, bakeries, & etc.
This apartment location was located in a safe very walk-able area. Occasionally we used Uber for larger grocery shopping, trips to down town/Centro Mérida & etc.
The luxury apartment at that time was about 16,000 pesos monthly, which included all utilities, cable, internet (not-so-great), drinking water – this small apartment was cost effective and within our budget. We met some friends that told us that San Ramon was a little less of a tourist area than Xcumpich. They also liked hanging out with us & wanted us as a closer neighbor. This is how we moved into the next neighborhood that I will be discussing.
3] Montecristo
Our friend sent us a picture of a house in the Montecristo neighborhood with the homeowners telephone number & told us to contact the owner about a short term lease. We scheduled an appointment to visit the home in Montecristo & happily to our surprise this home was in the middle of a nice residential neighborhood that offered the full Mérida cultural experience. The homeowners lived downstairs & only spoke the Spanish language. The home consisted of 3 full bathrooms, 2 extra large bedrooms with both a front & back oversized outdoor balconies. The home was located directly across the street from an International school that had soccer fields, & tennis courts.
This was a local working class neighborhood within walking distance of Altabrisa Mall, which contained a wide variety of businesses, restaurants & cocinas (small kitchens with home delivery)! This neighborhood was extremely walk-able & Uber/taxis were never a problem. Buses were also very available.
Traffic was heavy at times but many an evening we would sit out on the front terrace watching traffic, soccer teams playing, etc. What I’m saying traffic noise was not a problem inside apartment.
The best part of the deal was the owner was renting this large fully furnished apartment for $10,000 pesos a month, plus we paid the electric bill. We soon became friends with the homeowners & were invited to join them for coffee and bread, a cultural tradition in Mérida, that soon became part of our routine.
4] Miguel Aleman
We stayed in this beautiful apartment for just one week upon our return to Mérida this year.
This was a local working neighborhood with a large park & locally owned restaurants.
This neighborhood is away from any real shopping areas so we had no choice, but to use Uber but it was very iffy if they would show up late or at all….Very disappointing.
No traffic noise other than neighbors coming & going.
We were there one week with a beautiful apartment & courtyard. We found this on AirBnB so was a little expensive in my eyes for $250 for one week.
5] Campestre
We have spent two of the four months of our stay here in Mérida in this beautiful neighborhood called “Campestre”.
This apartment is located over a great coffee shop & bakery in the Campestre neighborhood. Campestre is a working class neighborhood with assorted businesses, schools & restaurants to choose from.
Lovely streets with homes displaying beautiful flower decorations hanging over their fences along sidewalks that are extremely walk-able! Beautiful large casas to view in your walks & close to one of the most popular tourist streets in Mérida named Paseo Montejo!
This is a busy street but the noise is minimal inside our apartment upstairs.
We are paying $7,000 pesos a month & electric. Our bill for two months was not much more than the price of a meal! Very happy.
Our Favorite Mérida Neighborhoods – Drum Roll Please….
If I had to rank these five neighborhoods in North of Centro Mérida it would be an easy choice – a tie between Montecristo & Campestre followed by San Ramon, Xcumpich & Miguel Aleman at the bottom. Each, Montecristo & Campestre, would be an extremely good choice for living for a short or longer period.
