FEBRUARY 2023
One of the locations that was high on my Mexico roadtrip list was Izamal! A colonial style town that is completely painted in yellow, sounds like a photographer’s dream. When I discovered that it was possible to stay in a colorful Hacienda, I knew this was going to be a highlight of our Mexico trip. In this blogpost I will take you along on our time in Izamal.
Izamal, the yellow city
Though I had seen a fair share of pictures of Izamal on Instagram, I was surprised that the town actually was really quiet in November. If you had a bit of patience it was really easy to take unobstructed pictures. The center of Izamal is dominated by the beautiful yellow Convento de San Antonio de Padua. The convent is free to visit and I highly recommend to spend some time exploring this sight. All the streets surrounding the convent are yellow too, it was super magical to wander around. There are some horse carriages parked in front of the convent, which can add an interesting layer to your pictures. Apparantly, Izamal was painted yellow in 1993 for the visit of Pope John Paul II. They have kept it yellow ever since and now it is the town’s trademark. Besides the convent you can also visit archeological sights in Izamal, the piramids are located close to the city center. Izamal is very small and can be visited on a daytrip, but we loved to stay here for one night.
The restaurants in Izamal offer very good value. We loved the food at Restaurante Los Arcos so much, that we had takeaway food for them for on the road.
Hacienda Sacnicte
In some countries in South America you can stay in renovated haciendas (large estate in the countryside). Near Izamal you can find several haciendas which offer an overnight stay. We chose Hacienda Sacnicte as it was such a colorful building and also featured a restaurant. We paid € 100 per night for a large room with two beds including breakfast. Hacienda Sacnicte is a so-called boutique hotel and has ten rooms, so it never gets crowded. The pool area is super lovely and features a tropical style garden. The whole estate is just super beautiful, artsy and well maintained. Hacienda Sacnicte is mainly a good choice if you are looking for a quiet stay. Breakfast doesn’t get served until 8.30AM and the restaurant was only open in the evenings in November. Besides it being super beautiful, we felt like it lacked a sort of coziness, which we did experience in other hotels in Mexico. If you are looking for a romantic stay, it is a very good option though! Breakfast was good and the drive into Izamal is only 5 minutes.
