The Palacio Cantón, on the Paseo de Montejo at the corner of Calle 43, is the finest surviving mansion of the henequen era and houses the Museo Regional de Antropología e Historia de Yucatán. If you visit one museum in Mérida, make it this one: the collections cover the full sweep of Yucatán's pre-Hispanic cultures, from Preclassic settlements through the Classic Maya florescence to the Spanish conquest, and are displayed with unusual intelligence. Stele, jade jewellery, obsidian blades, painted ceramics, and skeletal remains from cenote offerings are all here.
The building itself competes for attention with the exhibits. The Italian marble staircase, painted ceilings, and ornate ironwork were the deliberate display of a man who wanted the world to know he had more money than most European aristocrats. The garden at the back is a good place to sit and collect your thoughts after the galleries. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday; admission charges are modest. There is a useful bookshop with academic publications on Maya archaeology that are not easily found elsewhere.