The Rough Guide to the Yucatan UPDATE

Earlier this year, I posted a bit about Mahahual and Xcalak after Hurricane Dean. I just got a note from a hotel owner down that way confirming what I said, and even saying the beach is actually bigger now, and there’s a new malecon. I’m looking forward to seeing the place next spring.

And for anyone who might still be hesitant to visit the area following the hurricane (which was more than a year ago now), I can’t emphasize enough that the area is fine. Mexico has an exemplary hurricane-response system, and people work hard and fast to rebuild.

I’ve filed all the old update notes under “1st edition,” paving the way for the new edition, now available in stores for your winter trip planning.

If you’re planning a shorter trip focused on the Riviera Maya (the coast from Cancun south), check out the trimmer Cancun & Cozumel Directions, a new edition released in October.

Sadly (and typically) one restaurant is already shut: El Manati on Cozumel. Too bad–it had a good bar scene too.

I’m always on the lookout to good maps of the Yucatan peninsula. Rough Guides actually publishes a good one, but I know that it hasn’t gotten a really solid updating in a few years, and because there’s so much growth all over the peninsula, even a few years makes a difference.

But today the good people at MapsGoneTomorrow.com sent me a copy of a Yucatan map from German carto company Borch. The scale is 1:1,000,000, so not crazy-detailed, but it has everything you need on it. It cuts off just west of Villahermosa, so it covers pretty much everything that’s in The Rough Guide to the Yucatan.

More important, though, it’s current: recently improved roads are actually shown properly (I’m thinking of the one north from Xpuhil), all the biosphere reserves are on there, and the bypass around Muna is actually drawn in. I haven’t seen this on any Yucatan map. It also very clearly distinguishes between super-highways and toll highways. Oh, and there are even small maps of Merida, Cancun, Campeche and Cozumel, plus several of the big archeological sites.

I’m not a big fan of the big icons to mark ruins and the like, because the placement is so imprecise. (In fact, the map does repeat one error I see on a lot of maps: Comalcalco ruins are on the east side of the road, not the west.) But it’s still very legible.

And it’s laminated and water-repellent.

Best of all, it’s reasonably priced: US$10.95, or 7.90 euros. In fact, it’s even more reasonably priced for Rough Guides readers, who are entitled to a 10 percent discount at MapsGoneTomorrow.com–email me (see link in sidebar) for the details.