Not so long ago, if you wanted to hit up all the top destinations around the Yucatan Peninsula, your choices were to drive or piece together your trip using various buses and shuttles.
There’s now one more option to add to that list: Train!
The peninsula actually has a long history of passenger rail service stretching back over a century. But it’s been many decades since tourists and residents have been able to make their way around the region by train.
When we started planning our little jaunt around the Yucatan, I had big dreams of being some of the first passengers to do the entire loop, stretching from Palenque to Merida, Cancun, Chetumal, and all points in between.
That’s before we saw the ticket prices for foreigners (no discounts for temporary residents) AND where the stations are located (most stations are quite a ways out of town, adding to the cost).
So…we thought we’d start with the journey from Merida to Valladolid and see how it goes.
We opted for an afternoon departure, which meant we had some time to kill with our luggage after checkout. Some quality time at a coffee shop seemed like a good idea.
From central Merida, we caught an Uber to the station (about a 30 minute drive).
The Merida-Teya station is modern and pretty impressive.
The Maya Train’s got no shortage of merch.
The Tren Maya project broke ground in 2018 and completed a few weeks ago in mid-December. Additional stations will be coming online in the coming months and years, but the entire loop is now finished.
There was a bit of confusion finding our seats, as the different cars don’t seem to be numbered.
Also, we chose forward-facing seats, which ended up facing backward (the train doesn’t turn around, but goes backward and forward within its respective section—you can’t take the same train around the entire loop.
Minor issues in the end. Overall, it was a great experience.
The train is smooth and quiet and flies along between towns at a maximum speed of around 100 mph (though I only clocked it with my phone at a still impressive 85 mph).
Honestly, there wasn’t a ton to see along the route between Merida and Valladolid. Most of the Yucatan Peninsula is flat, undeveloped tropical scrubland and forest, and the stations are a ways outside of urban areas, so the scenery is a bit monotonous. Still, it beats riding the bus any day.
This train even serves the world-famous UNESCO-designated pre-hispanic pyramids of Chichen Itza, as well as the Yellow City of Izamal.
Noe made sure to wear his favorite train shirt for the occasion.
When you get to Valladolid, there aren’t many options for getting into the city. Taxis outside of the station are pretty much it (and they aren’t exactly cheap).
We’re overnighting in Valladolid before continuing on to Isla Holbox tomorrow. We’ll return to Valladolid in a few days for a longer stay, but tonight, this hostel suits our purposes just fine.
We couldn’t resist getting out and about to see a bit of Valladolid tonight, in spite of the stormy weather and bit of rain. Our first impressions are very positive. It’s a very appealing little colonial city.
Local craft beer at Idilio was a Christmas gift from Lori (provided that we also sampled their famous deep-fried, bacon-stuffed, cheese-wrapped jalapeño poppers…it wasn’t a tough sell).
Dinner prices were a bit higher than we wanted to pay this evening, so we saved dinner for the Asian fusion place down the street.
We don’t see the boys doing this as much these days (they were excited more for the novelty than anything).
Seems like not so long ago that we were frequenting coffee shops and bars with these sorts of setups in Phnom Penh before Covid some five years ago.
