For Canadian Expats, its Hard to Beat Yucatan

Date: 11/09/2009

Canadian expats have been living part- and full-time throughout Mexico’s Yucatan Penisula for decades.

What’s the draw?

First, warm weather. When the snow is flying up north, average temps in Yucatan are in the high 20s Celsius.

Second, beaches. The Yucatan Peninsula is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico to the north and the Caribbean to the east. The Yucatan coast is essentially one long tropical beach, with hundreds of likely spots to park an RV, rent a condo or beach house, or own your own private stretch of world-class beach.

Third, more than beaches. It may be the sun and sand that get the press, but Yucatan has a huge interior that is just as, if not more interesting, than miles of beach.

Yucatan was the northern heartland of the Maya empire, and fabulous ruins abound throughout the area. The city of Merida, capital of the state of Yucatan, is a modern metropolis that appeals to anyone who wants affordable and gracious living with everything a modern city has to offer, and is itself just 30 minutes from the Gulf coast.

Many Canadian expats have chosen to live in Merida, Vallodalid, Izamal, and other cities and town in the Yucatan interior rather than at the beach.

Fourth, services. With cities like Merida and international playgrounds like Cancun, Cozumel, and Playa del Carmen, the Yucatan is definitely on the map as far as internet, banking, communications, entertainment, and other infrastructure goes. If you want to live in the back of beyond, you certainly can in the Yucatan… but you don’t have to go far to be back in civilization.

Fifth, cost. Mexico is inexpensive compared to Canada and the U.S., and the Yucatan is inexpensive compared to many other places in Mexico. And for some of the most affordable beach living in the hemisphere, the Gulf Coast of Yucatan is unbeatable… excellent beaches, beautiful water and weather, excellent infrastructure, but at a fraction of the cost of more famous and trendy Caribbean beach locations. This is one reason why northern Yucatan communities like Progreso, Chelem, Telchac Puerto, and others along the Gulf coast have large enclaves of Canadian expats enjoying the sun and surf either part time or year around.

Any way you look at it, Yucatan’s appeal to Canadian expats is obvious.

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