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Valladolid combines distinguished colonial architecture with the easygoing atmosphere of a Yucatán market town. Whitewashed arcades and 17th-century houses surround the main plaza, and among the town’s many churches is a fine Franciscan monastery (seeManí Monastery). Right in the middle of the town is a huge cenote, which once provided all Valladolid’s water, and nearby at Dzitnup are some of the Yucatán’s most spectacular cenotes for swimming.

The name comes from the Mayan tsimin , a kind of demon, which was also used to describe the Spaniards when they first appeared on horseback. Today it’s the capital of Yucatán’s “cattle country,” between Valladolid and Río Lagartos. The pleasant twin plazas in the center are divided by two huge monasteries, which give Tizimín a distinctly Mediterranean appearance.

Known as La Ciudad Dorada, the Golden City, because of the ocher wash of its buildings, this is the most complete and unchanging of Yucatán colonial towns. At its heart is the largest of the Yucatán’s Franciscan monasteries (see Maní Monastery), and a short distance from this are the glowering pyramids of a much older Mayan city. Horse-drawn carriages, victorias , are a favorite way of getting around.

The Yucatán’s capital, founded by the Spaniards in 1542 on the site of the Mayan city of Ti’ho, has a seductive appeal. Whitewashed Spanish houses with shaded patios provide delightful places to stay. Despite the bustle of its market (and traffic), amid the city’s old squares life still proceeds at a leisurely, friendly pace.

Tiled icon at Santa Lucia, Mérida

An extraordinary little town in which over 2,000 years of time are expressed, from its ancient Mayan edifices to a fine 18th-century Spanish church.

The epitome of the slow-moving, unfussy, friendly atmosphere of a small Yucatán country town, Ticul also makes an excellent base for visiting the Puuc ruins (see The Puuc Cities). Shoes are the town’s traditional product, and it also has the Almendros Restaurant, credited with presenting Yucatán country cooking to the outside world (seeLos Almendros, Ticul).

The south of Yucatán near the Puuc hills is a fertile, fruit-producing region. Oxcutzcab has a huge market, where Mayan women in huípiles (white dresses with bright embroidery) preside over stalls stacked with succulent mangoes, papaya, oranges, watermelons, and more. Above them is the lofty tower of the town church, finished in 1645.

Now wonderfully sleepy, this town was important at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and contains the oldest Franciscan missionary monastery in the Yucatán, the scene of dramatic events in 1562 (seeManí Monastery). The town was the seat of Tutul Xiu, the first of the Mayan lords to accept Spanish authority in 1542. The monastery and town square occupy the top of an old Mayan temple-platform.

With an air of tranquility, this remote town clusters around its grand and lofty Franciscan church, built in 1650–95. In the sacristy are rare murals of saints, discovered by accident in the 1980s. Teabo is also known for its fine embroidery.

The most complete Spanish walled city in Mexico, Campeche is full of reminders of the era when it was a trading hub of Spain’s empire and looked upon with greed by Caribbean pirates. In recent years the old city – with its churches, patios, Andalusian-style grill windows, and façades in delicate pastel colors – has been restored to refresh its distinctive charm.