Unless you’ve spent some time in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, you may not be so familiar with a little town named Valladolid. I wouldn’t go so far as to say the place is secluded or off the beaten path as it’s directly en-route to Chichén Itza from Cancun and Tulum, but if you head there yourself the distinct lack of swaths of other travellers wont go unnoticed.
Like Mérida not too far away, Valladolid is full of brightly painted colonial buildings and with a similar history of the Mayan people and their culture from past to present day. And it has a cenote in the middle of town. For those reasons it is recognised as one of Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos (aka magical towns). While small, Valladolid is definitely worth staying for a couple days to explore.
This is what we got up to one of those days.
9:30am – Coffee time at Café Ruá
A short walk from our hostel in Candelaria square we found a cute outdoor cafe serving Justin-approved espressos and iced coffee. He had one of each and I struggled to decide on a flavour for my frappe. They offered fun flavours like Oreo, chocolate chip cookie, marzipan, and marshmallow, so it took a lot of restraint to ask for simple mango. But it was great, because mangos are great. We’re not big breakky people otherwise we could have ordered omelettes and delish-sounding breakfast sandwiches and wraps too. So it was over an espresso (and iced coffee), some fresh pastries, and a mango frappe we chose our next move.
10:30am – A walk about town
From the cafe we made our way to Calzada de los Frailes, a quiet street that’s mostly closed off to cars and lined with tiny restaurants, cafes, fancy boutiques, and spas. We didn’t see many people around, save for a couple taking photos in front of the pastel coloured walls. It didn’t take long (Valladolid isn’t a huge place) before we ended up in Parque Francisco Cantón Rosado, the main square. A massive fountain is at the centre, surrounded on all sides by ornate white park benches. Around the perimeter of the square is Iglesia de San Servacio, the iconic cathedral Valladolid is most known for, as well as a handful of museums including one containing Mexican folk art. There are also many carts and stalls in the area, either vendors selling souvenirs or sweet and savoury snacks.
11:00am – A snack break
One of the many stalls lined up along the plaza was serving marquesitas, which are essentially a fresh crepe filled with cheese and other flavours or your choosing. This one in particular had a sign saying the Nutella and cheese flavour was the most popular. I was tempted to try it, but instead settled on a paleta (an ice lolly, or popsicle depending where you’re from) from the next place over since it was about 30 degrees. Another time I’d consider trying a bite of hot cheese and Nutella smooshed together just to say I did, but at the time there were bright blue paletas calling my name. I asked about the flavour and was excited to hear it was non-dairy chicle (bubblegum). Yum.
12:30 – Cooling off in a cenote
When you spend the day outside under the hot Yucatan sun, next to a chicle-flavoured paleta, there’s nothing better than going for a swim. Even better when you can swim in a cave. Cenote Zací is right in the middle of Valladolid, just a couple blocks east of the main square. For 30 pesos we descended the stone steps carved into the side of a cave. We saw people jumping from a couple different platforms into the cool blue waters. I didn’t join them but took the stairs to the bottom like a non-crazy person. Also of note was the school of bite-y fish that would make a beeline for your feet once you got into the water. What makes fish want to eat feet? I’m not sure I want to know.
There’s a breezy looking restaurant next to the entrance/parking lot we passed on our way out that we opted to skip. I could see a couple enjoying some tacos and cervezas in the shade and soon after we walked away my stomach started growling.
3:00pm – (An attempt to find) lunch
Back out on the streets we sought to find lunch outside of the main square where we had already spent some time today. In search of tacos (as one does in Mexico) off the beaten path in Valladolid proved difficult. We tried to venture outside of the plaza area but most places we found were closed, presumably for an afternoon siesta only to reopen around dinner time. Or maybe they were just closed altogether. It was hard to tell. Eventually we came across a tiny restaurant that served delicious tostadas and tacos with all kinds of toppings and fillings.
5:00pm – Time for a siesta
After our late lunch we walked back to our hostel and had a siesta of our own. The common area is down a leafy path and has a few hammocks and there was a nice breezy rooftop patio to chill on while we waited for the sun to finish setting and the temperature to go down before going out again.
7:00pm – More walking
After we felt sufficiently rested, we headed back to the main plaza for a walking tour. We met a man with a tour group aptly named ‘Free Walking Tour Valladolid’ and followed him around town with his red umbrella, into the cathedral and a small gallery across from the plaza, down Calzada de los Frailes and into some shops that specialised in traditional Mayan clothing.
The tour ended in front of the Convent of San Bernadino, built by Franciscan missionaries in the 1500s, and where a light show was supposed to happen later that night. As it wasn’t open for viewing, and the light show wouldn’t start for a while, we decided it was time to get something to eat and drink.
8:30pm – Empanadas and an early night
We ended up back at Calzada de los Frailes and found an Argentinian cafe with a small dinner menu. They only served empanadas with a few different fillings and healthy smoothies. Not quite the drinks we were looking for, but the empanadas were amazing, in particular the one with the Malbec-marinated beef.
We were able to wash them down with some micheladas after stoping in a cervecería a few doors down soon after. We lingered on the patio, enjoying some mezcal and a few more micheladas (but not too many, because we had an early start the next morning) before heading back to our hostel.
Many travellers see Valladolid as a means for getting to someplace else — more often than not that place is Chichén Itza. I’ll admit that was originally why we’d decided to stop there too. That, and we were told by more than a few people that it was a place with a great vibe we should visit. But it was worth staying in Valladolid for an extra day rather than simply passing through. In fact we spent almost three days there (though one was technically spent visiting those ruins in Chichén Itza) and had a great time. There’s a lot to do outside the city also, so it would make for a good base if you wanted to extend your time in town — there are many more cenotes around besides Zací, and the same day trips to ruins and other interesting sites you can make from Mérida can be done from Valladolid as well.
Not too bad for what many would call a “sleepy town” with not much to do. Have you been to Valladolid? Let me know what you got up to!
