Hacienda Tours at
Sotuta de Peon

There is a new tour option in the Yucatan. Sotuta de Peon has been opened as a tourist destination, giving you a chance to visit a restored working hacienda. You can go on your own or hire a tour with Turistransmerida. The choice is yours.

Haciendas are to the Yucatan what ranches are to Texans, plantations to New Orleans and estates to the English countryside. When you visit a hacienda in the Yucatan, you will feel as if you have stepped back in time.


In the early 1900’s these magnificent land holdings were the source of the green gold of the Yucatan – sisal – that made many a millionaire in Merida. It is said that there were more millionaires in Merida at the turn of the 20th Century than anywhere else in the world. Then in the 1940’s, with the development of synthetic fibers, the haciendas slowly lost business and gradually fell into disrepair, wreck and ruin.

In the early 1990’s a Mexico City banker bought up many haciendas, enhanced them through major restorations and turned them into upscale hotels. Then the Yucatecan people, who had these haciendas in their families, started looking at these land holdings with different eyes. They also started pouring money into them with the idea of using them for tourism. Today, some haciendas are hotels, some are private homes, some are still working to make henequen and some are still deserted and lying in ruins.

The hacienda Sotuta de Peon is a hacienda that has just been restored by the Shrangri-La Group and is now open to the public. Located 35 kilometers (30 minutes) south of Merida, off the Convent Route, this working hacienda offers an opportunity to see how henequen is processed while experiencing the grandeur and magnificence of the hacienda buildings.

The tour starts with a ride into the henequen fields on the rails used one hundred years ago by the mule-drawn carts. You will visit the main house, the Mayan house, the plantations, and the machine house with its small museum.

The casa de maquina at
Hacienda Sotuta de Peon.
Cover photo by Juan Manuel Mier y Terán

You will then have the opportunity to bathe in the crystal clear cenote or in the swimming pool. There is a restaurant for lunch. Don't forget to bring your bathing suit and a towel, as well as sunscreen.

Sotuta de Peon is open daily. Turitransmerida (tel: 924-1188) offers their tours on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (9 AM–5 PM) for $450 pesos with hotel pick up and drop off included.

If you go on your own you will need to make a reservation 24 hours in advance directly with the hacienda. They can be reached at tel: (999) 941 8639 or cel (999) 121 1862. The cost is $250 pesos per person. Tours at 10 am and 12 pm

If you are coming to the Yucatan, don't miss any opportunity to see with your own eyes this piece of history brought to life!

More interesting articles
 Haciendas
 Hacienda Hotels
 Hacienda Route
Transportation in the Yucatan

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