We spent 20 days in the Yucatan and the five nights at Cascadas de Merida were definitely our favorite accommodations. Our directions said to look for a simple terracotta building-- that the beauty would be found behind he walls. We found that to be true in every sense-- from the courtyard pool (an oasis in the city), to the lovely room, to the hosts themselves: Cascadas is most definitely beautiful. Chucho and Ellyne are fantastic hosts who made us feel completely welcome and comfortable.

Merida is a fun and safe city to explore with lots of interesting history as well as a great location from which to adventure into more of the Yucatan. Cascadas de Merida is the perfect place to stay in Merida. Truly and indescribable experience.

We are passing the word and extolling the virtues of Cascadas and the story of how it came to be to all our friends who love or are interested in Mexicp. The design, setting, breakfasts, and open hospitality were special and made us grateful that our "first choice" didn't pan out; Cascadas is and will remain our first choice for a B & B whenever we return to Merida. Chucho and Ellyne Basto
are caring and wonderful hosts. Ellyne helped us choose tours and made arrangements. She even drove us to a special bookstore to buy books on Mayan civilization for our grandchildren.

We stayed at Cascadas de Merida for two nights at the end of March (2008) and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The room was well appointed with very comfortable beds, nice linens, plush towels, great AC, good water pressure, complementary bottled water, very good lighting (both artificial at night and ambient during the day via the “skylights” in the coffered ceiling), TV, phone, safe and clock radio. We didn’t have a laptop so we can’t speak to the WiFi but I’m sure it worked as well as everything else. Everything was in good condition, worked well and was sparkling clean.
Cascadas is very well located. It is in a residential section of the old part of town, not on a busy street, and yet within easy walking distance to great restaurants and the main plaza. The neighborhood has a lot of families and my wife and I felt safe walking back from the plaza at 11 o’clock at night.
The overall design is well laid out so as to create a very peaceful and quite environment. The first thing you encounter from the street is the garage with two secure parking spaces for midsize vehicles. Our small rental car fit quite easily. Next comes the kitchen and office area followed by the dinning room and the common living room. Only after that do you reach the first two rooms followed by the great pool/patio and then the final two rooms at the back of the property. All four rooms are stand-alone structures (no common walls) and are well removed from the street so it was very quiet. You can read other reviews on this site to find out about the unique cascades, hammocks, etc.
As good as all this is, the best part about this B&B is the owners. Ellyne and Chucho truly care about the experience their guests have at Cascadas and in Merida (and the entire region for that matter). In addition to starting your day out with a great breakfast, they provide a wealth of information about the area. They have stocked the living room with lots of reference material and they can answer almost any question one might have. They live on the premises so they are readily accessible and their recommendations are based on personal experience, not hearsay. They have worked very hard at making your experience tranquil and fun. There are a lot of little touches that are provided that further enhance the experience. Kudos to Ellyne and Chucho!
This B&B is very reasonably priced for all the amenities that are included. It is definitely well worth the money spent. We will definitely plan to stay at the Cascadas B&B on our future visits to Merida.
We spent 15 nights in the Yucatan on our trip, and stayed at 6 different places. We can see why Cascadas is rated #1: Ellyne and Chucho earn it.

Great place to stay, the cleanest rooms ever! Breakfast is awesome, try dinner down the street at Villa Marie's. Stayed there during a business trip. Ellyne and her husband are the best. Why would any one want to stay anywhere else? Quiet & comfortable, laid back, great wireless connection and my verizon worked there as well. Would highly recommend, if we're ever back in the Merida, we'll be hoping they have a room open for us.