ARTE CATEDRAL PLAZA — Local services in Mérida

Interesting that absolutely all the "local" guides give the place 5 stars in the reviews. Wanna bet if the "local" guides get a big kick back for taking people there? You pay that kick back when local guide convinces you this is the best place to buy. And by the way, I would stay away from a guide that directs you to a rip off place, they should be helping you find the best deal. Keep an eye on the names of the guides that give this 5 stars. They don't have your best interests at heart. That said, It does have some beautiful stuff. They do almost immediately offer to come down on the price which tells me it is way overpriced to begin with. Interesting place nonetheless. I wouldn't buy much there as I think they are a tourist trap deluxe. If they want to sell to me they need to give me the best price when I start out, if they start dropping the price as soon as you show interest you know they were trying to rip you off by offering the original high price. If they can rip you off, they have already proven they will. Go look, it's interesting, but buy elsewhere. It's all just recreational tourist stuff, nothing there is an investment so don't go crazy buying there. I will guarantee you can find the same thing at a better price if you look. ...

I am so upset that I fell for this scam. My son nearly tripped on the plaza and the “nicest” man approached to make sure he was okay. Short conversation had us going to this Mayan marketplace. I selected a few tops and dresses. I believe they are all hand embroidered. And don’t doubt the work that went into them. My husband got two shirts. Our 2 boys got one each plus carved animals.

I had a man trying to convince me to buy a hammock while my husband somehow handed over his credit card and $2400. No questions asked. (And he’s Mexican , I’m the grenga.) I was absolutely sick when I realized we paid 3-4X’s of what others were paying for similar made and quality. I don’t think for a minute that the people who made these benefited from it either.

On top of that. At home I realized one of them has ink marks where the design should have been. And there’s a lot of Missed flowers and transfer marks. And I’m unsure if I can...

Me and my dad went to go buy a bottle of Xtabentún. We are also Mexican (from the US) and speak Spanish so they did not think we were tourist so they gave us a $700 MXN on the bottle. As soon as we were checking out my dad took his Amex card out (they realized we’re also American) and they blatantly changed the price to $1450 MXN. MORE THAN DOUBLE THE PRICE. We went back the next day when there were different employees to ask for a price and the different employees quoted the bottle at $600. These people are rats. Every other place has this same exact bottle for $250 MXN. NOTE: The tourist guides will try to guide you to this scam operation if they see that you are American or European, telling you that everything else besides this store is cloned, fake, or replica. Which may be a bit true but there are OTHER places that sell the same exact authentic things...