A variety of Chichen Itza trips are available through Thomas More Travel, however, you can also rent a car or arrange a private tour and explore this huge archaeological site at your own pace and spend the morning discovering more historical sites and natural wonders in eastern Yucatan.
Start your tour in the colonial city of Valladolid. This peaceful pueblo magico is full of history and traditions. Stroll around the main square to the 17th-century San Servacio Cathedral and along Calzada de Los Frailes, the street leading to San Bernardino Church and Sisal Convent. You’ll pass restored casonas or mansions, some of which have been converted into boutique hotels, restaurants, craft shops and galleries, a workshop where cacao is transformed into chocolate using traditional techniques, and even a perfumery.
If you are interested in Mexican handicrafts, take the 10 a.m. guided tour of Casa de Los Venados, a 17th-century restored mansion just off the main square. Each room of this private home is full of exquisite ceramics, carvings, textiles and paintings from the owners’ collection of more than 3,000 pieces of Mexican folk art. For more Mexican color, MUREM, the Mexican Ethnic Clothing Museum on Calle 49 in front of San Juan Park offers a glimpse of the colorful world of traditional Mexican garments.
As an alternative, you could visit two ancient Maya cities in one day, Ek Balam in the morning and Chichen Itza in the afternoon, staying on for the evening video mapping show.
Located 20 minutes to the north of Valladolid, Ek Balam (“black star jaguar in Maya”) was inhabited from 600 B.C. and reached its peak between AD 600 and 900.
Excavation is still underway at the site and in an area of 12 square kilometers archaeologists have already unearthed over 60 structures ranging from temples and palaces to a ball court and tiny shrines. They have discovered hieroglyphic inscriptions, a royal tomb with offerings of jade, pottery and copal incense and proof of the links Ek Balam once had with rival city states in the Yucatan such as Chichen Itza, on the coast of Quintana Roo and the Peten region in northern Guatemala.
The central plaza is dominated by the Acropolis, a multi-tiered building of palaces and temples. Its crowning glory is an intricate frieze of stucco masks featuring bas reliefs of mythological creatures and the statues of richly attired nobles in feather headdresses.
After a morning exploring Valladolid or Ek Balam, a dip in the cold, clear waters of a cenote or sinkhole is a great way to cool off. Zaci Cenote in Valladolid has an air of mystery and there are more cenotes on the outskirts of town including Dzitnup or Xkeken, the Yucatan’s most famous sinkhole, Samula, Cenote Oxman in Hacienda San Lorenzo Oxman, Suytun, Hubiku in Temozon and Ik-Kil near Chichen Itza.
Explore eastern Yucatan
If you decide to combine your Chichen Itza trip with visits to other sites of interest in the eastern Yucatan, Thomas More Travel can help you plan a private tour and your sightseeing itinerary.
