A living tree grows straight through this house.
The architect who designed Casa del Árbol refused to cut it down, and built the house around it instead. It's the first thing guests photograph and the reason they remember the place. Below it: a walled garden with a chukum pool — the traditional Maya bark plaster that gives the water its milky turquoise, lit from within after dark.
The house is 1,900 sq ft in Mérida's historic center, restored with a lot of care and no showing off. Sleeps six.
THE LAYOUT
Downstairs: a bright living room open to the garden, a fully equipped kitchen with island seating, a dining area, a BBQ, handwoven hammocks, and a half bath. Everything opens outward.
Bedroom 1, upstairs: king bed, private bathroom, and a private terrace that looks into the tree canopy and down over the garden and pool. This is the room people ask for.
Bedroom 2: two queen beds, private bathroom. Works for children, teenagers, or a second couple traveling with you.
Two and a half bathrooms in total, which matters when six people share a house.
WHAT'S HERE
Air conditioning in every room. Starlink internet at 100 Mbps, genuinely stable, video calls hold. A dedicated desk. Washer. Netflix and international cable. Board games, pool toys, and full baby equipment. Free parking on the property, which is rare in the historic center and changes everything if you rent a car.
WHO IT SUITS
Families with young children, we're a family of four who have traveled with our own kids for fifteen years, and the house is set up the way we'd want one set up for us. Couples traveling together who need two real bedrooms with two real bathrooms. Remote workers who need a desk and silence. Older travelers who want a ground-floor living space and no stairs to the kitchen. And anyone who has decided that a hotel room in Mérida is not the way to see the Yucatán.
LGBTQ+ guests are warmly welcome.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD — honestly
We're inside the historic center but on the quiet side of it. This is a street of real Yucatecan houses, corner shops, and neighbors who bring chairs onto the sidewalk in the evening. You will not hear bars at 2am.
That does mean a walk to the postcard sights rather than a step outside onto them:
Centenario Zoo and park — about 10 minutes on foot Parque Santiago and its market — about 11 minutes Mérida Cathedral and Plaza Grande — about 19 minutes Merida English Library — about 19 minutes Santa Lucía and its restaurants — about 23 minutes Mérida airport (MID) — about 10 minutes by car
In practice: a pleasant morning walk to the Zócalo, or a three-minute ride for a couple of dollars when it's 95°F. We think the trade is worth it, and so have most of our guests.
THE YUCATÁN, PROPERLY
We live in Mexico, and we'll share the list we actually use: the haciendas still off the tour circuit, the cenotes without buses in the parking lot, the Saturday organic market, the restaurants worth the drive. Tell us what you're interested in before you arrive and we'll put together a plan for your days.
PRACTICAL NOTES
Mérida is hot year round. Every room is air conditioned and the pool is usable twelve months a year. From May through October, expect short heavy showers in the late afternoon, then clear evenings.
Self check-in is available at any hour with help from the building staff, and a trusted local contact is reachable throughout your stay in Spanish, English, or French.
Stays of a month or longer are welcome and priced accordingly.
We have hosted for eight years across our two Mexican houses, with a 4.95 average over 245 guest reviews. We take that seriously.