Hacienda Santa Cruz Palomeque is located in the Mérida Municipality in the state of Yucatán in southeastern Mexico. It is one of the properties that arose during the nineteenth century henequen boom. It is part of the Cuxtal Ecological Reserve which was set aside in 1993 to protect both the man-made and natural history of the reserve area of Mérida.

The Cuxtal Ecological Reserve is located in the southern zone of Mérida Municipality, between 20° 47' and 20° 55' of north latitude and 89° 33 and 89° 40' of west longitude. The Reserve limits to the north with the city of Mérida, south with the commissariats of Yaxnic and Texán Cámara, east with the municipality of Kanasín and west with the commissariats of San José Tzal and Ticimul. It provides 50% of the water in the City of Mérida and is home to 168 bird species, most of them migratory, as well as plants, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates and amphibians. It contains 7 historic haciendas, archaeological sites, cenotes as well as a nature preservation and the Biological Sciences campus of the Autonomous University of Yucatán.