Description: For years Santa Clara was a quiet fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico with 80 - 100 full time residents. originally many of the homes in Santa Clara were occupied only during Semana Santa (Easter Break) and summer holidays. Recently, however, there has been a significant amount of construction in town. Many of the homes off the beach have been renovated or rebuilt. Many brand new beachfront homes ( owned primarily by ex-pats) have been recently completed and most of these people live in Santa Clara year round. There are three restaurants in Santa Clara offering seafood dishes, two small grocery stores (tiendas) and a beer outlet.
Location: Santa Clara is located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 70 minutes northeast of Merida, the capital of Yucatan state (population 750 000), 3 ¼ hours west of Cancun and two hours from the Mayan gems of Uxmal and Chichen Itza.
Arriving via Cancun:
If you are planning on staying overnight in Cancun either before or after your flight, we recommend the Courtyard by Marriott ($$$) which offers free shuttle service to the airport or the El Rey de Caribe ($) as an alternative to the expensive accommodation available in the Hotel Zone. The hotel is an oasis
From Cancun you can rent a car (we strongly suggest that you do this in person upon arrival as there are many options both inside and outside the terminal). Don’t hesitate to negotiate the price. Another option is to take the ADO bus to Merida or we can arrange pick up service from the airport ($$) directly to the house or from Merida to the house. You may also want to drive
Arriving via Merida:
Two excellent hotel options for those arriving via Merida are the Hacienda Inn ($$) which is located minutes from the airport or the Doralba Inn which is located in Centro near the main square.
Car rentals are significantly cheaper in Merida as it is not a tourist destination like Cancun. You can even negotiate to have your car delivered to or picked up from Santa Clara for a small fee. Pick up service from Merida to Santa Clara is an option which we can arrange for you ($).
Hotels on the Yucatan Peninsula (this does not include beachfront locations from Cancun to Tulum) are generally quite inexpensive. when booking accommodation on the Yucatan (or anywhere else) we recommend that you use Trivago.ca or Trivago.com to get the best available prices.