See the video below, where Dan Prescher takes you on a tour of the main market in Merida, where he lives with his wife, Suzan Haskins.

Mérida is one of the safest and cleanest cities in Mexico. It is also hot, with temperatures often in the 90s and above. Depending on how many suburbs are included, the population of metropolitan Mérida is approaching one million.

But when you walk down the city’s tree-lined streets, some paved with hand-laid tiles, you feel as though you are in a city that is much smaller.

At sidewalk cafés, friends sit under the shade of awnings and leafy branches sipping tall glasses of iced coffee. On the main square, the oldest cathedral in the Americas stands as a testament to this city’s centuries-long attention to elegant detail.

The façade looks across an expansive, well-kept plaza to the city hall with its crisp paint job and a series of symmetrical arches.

Unlike many other cities in the world, Mérida is growing with both forethought and grace.

The local government is actively preserving the interior of the city, offering incentives for those who paint the fronts of their homes, and keeping the many plazas trash-free and inviting.

If you’re looking for an attractive, safe, and easy place to live that’s close to home and less than a half-hour from a beach…book a flight to Mérida.

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