In 2012, we took an organized tour to see the Mayan ruins of Palenque, Tikal, Copan and other famous sites. (Pictures from that trip are posted here). On that trip, I talked with a number of the fellow travelers; most of whom had seemingly been to half of the known world. When I told them that I would love to see the ruins of Chichen Itza, they all assured me that it was the easiest thing to visit them - just rent a car and drive around the Yucatan! It was safe and easy and relatively cheap. The people are friendly, many speak English, and there are many glorious Mayan sites to visit.
I took their advice and we planned a self guided tour around the Yucatan to many of the famous Mayan sites. It was indeed incredibly easy and lots of fun. I don't speak Spanish, but we had no trouble at all. I recorded some of the details of what we learned from traveling on our own in the Notes page here. The Mayan sites are wonderful to see. We had great weather and everything went perfectly well. This set of webpages documents our trip and everything we saw. Hopefully it will inspire you to make a similar, equally successful, journey to Mexico.
Saturday: Feb 9Fly from Seattle to Cancun Pickup Rental Car BBQ chicken dinners at La Terraza Stay in Puerto Moreles at Cabanas Puerto Morelos Trip Advisor 20 min south of airport |
Sunday: Feb 10Drive 135 km from Cancun to Tulum Drive 340 km from Tulum to Becan 8 km side trip to Kohunlich Spaghetti dinners at Rio Bec Dreams Stay in Xpujil at Rio Bec Dreams Trip Advisor |
Monday: Feb 11Fajitas for dinner at Hotel Calakmul Stay in Xpujil at Rio Bec Dreams Trip Advisor |
Tuesday: Feb 12Grilled chicken dinners at Mirador Maya Restaurant Stay in Xpujil at Rio Bec Dreams Trip Advisor |
Wednesday: Feb 13Drive 220 km from Xpujil to Edzna Drive 55 km from Edzna to Campeche Fuerte de San Miguel and Museo Arqueologico de Campeche Checken / beef dinners at Marganzo Restaurant Stay in Campeche at Best Western Del Mar Trip Advisor |
Thursday: Feb 14Drive 150 km from Campeche to Uxmal Side trip to Ruins of Oxkintok (50km from Uxmal) Walk back to Uxmal for evening light show Dinner at Cana-nah Restaurant Stay in Uxmal at Hacienda Uxmal Trip Advisor |
Friday: Feb 15Ruta Puuc Grilled chicken and Puc Chuk dinners at Hacienda Uxmal Stay in Uxmal at Hacienda Uxmal Trip Advisor |
Saturday: Feb 16Drive 80 km from Uxmal to Merida Drive 160 km from Merida to Chitzen Itza Dinner at Hotel Mayaland buffet Stay Chitzen Itza at Hotel Mayaland Trip Advisor (Moon 311) |
Sunday: Feb 17Chitzen Itza Dinner at Las Mestizas Stay in Chitzen Itza at Hotel Mayaland Trip Advisor |
Monday: Feb 18Drive 110km from Chitzen Itza to Coba Domino's Pizza for dinner in Valladolid Stay Valladolid at Hotel El Meson del Marques Trip Advisor |
Tuesday: Feb 19Drive 180km from Valladolid to Puerto Morales Snorkeling trip at Puerto Morales Reef National Park Chicken dinners at El Pirata Stay in Puerto Moreles at Posada El Moro Trip Advisor |
Wednesday: Feb 20Drive 20 km to Cancun airport Return Car at airport Fly to Seattle |
Thursday: Feb 21 |
Friday: Feb 22 |
The textured background for this web page is taken from a site, EOS development, that offers non-profit users free use of their graphics. Click below to visit their site.
