Story 20: Mayapan and the Pixya Cenotes

See the Route Map at the bottom of this page! COVID and some big Real Life happenings combined to keep your YBR team off the backroads for a while! But we’re finally back with a day trip to one of our favorite places and two new ones! We started with a highway trip to Mayapan, … Read more

Story 17: Southeast Quintana Roo

Although Yucatan Back Roads really is all about places to visit around our home state, we may occasionally venture out further into the Mayan world This trip so some sites near Chetumal was fascinating, and also contains some very important information should you choose to travel there! Let’s start with a couple of maps! This … Read more

Story 16: Palapas Tepakan

This beautiful place is at the south edge of the village of Tepakan, a few miles north of Izamal. There are several routes to drive there; we prefer taking the coast road to Telchac Puerto and heading south to Motul, then east through Suma and Teya. (More topes, about 10 minutes longer, but completely avoids … Read more

Story 15: Chenché de las Torres

Chenché de las Torres is a hacienda that goes back at least to the 18th century. But what makes it a destination is the main house, built in the 1890s in the style of a European castle. YBR has been hoping to get there ever since first hearing about it in late 2021; today was … Read more

Story 14: Hacienda San Francisco Tzacalha

Nearly all of our trips so far have required driving to Merida and around the Periferico to reach the rural roads that we love. But not this amazing overnight adventure! I’ll lead this story right off with the map (go clockwise). Our trip began on the coast road east, way past the huge new condo … Read more

Story 13: Cuzamá Cenotes

We visited Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzamá during Christmas/New Years week 2021. Here’s a Google Maps link, and higher resolution versions of the photos are available on our Flickr page. Cuzamá is located just west of Homún, but these days is much less marketed. We chose the Los Tres Cenotes de Cuzamá. There would be … Read more

Story 12: The Convent Route

The Ruta de los Conventos is one of Yucatan’s mapped tourist routes. This one takes you south of Merida on the Chetumal highway with stops at Acanceh, Tecoh, Telchaquillo, Z.A. Mayapán, Tekit, Mama, Chumayel, Teabo and Maní. We hit several of those on our two-day overnight trip just before Christmas 2021. There is a long, … Read more

Story 11: Hacienda Santo Domingo de Yunkú

(YBR members can view a Facebook post from our very first visit back in September; this first trip was the inspiration for starting the group and this Website.) We finally got a weekend to return to the village of Yunkú and it’s beautifully restored hacienda. The folks at Camino del Mayab announced last week that … Read more

Story 9: Mayapan and Sabacche–a Day of History

Sometimes a day has a mind of its own; it takes you down its own Back Road and you just have to follow it. November 27 was a day like that. As we were driving south on the Chetumal Highway to visit Acanceh, we both suddenly got a hankering to walk around Mayapan again. I … Read more

Story 8: Dzibilchaltun (off the guided path!)

Our own local Maya archaeological site is open again! Although the museum and cenote are both still closed, the long, thin site offers a great chance to take an interesting hike of about 3 kilometers. Entry to the site costs MX$75, but is free if you show your INAPAM and Residency cards. Located so close … Read more