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Which Mayan Ruins?

krispi921krispi921 member
5 Love Its First Comment
in Honeymoon Discussions
We will be at the Valentin Imperial Maya in just over 2 weeks! We would like to see some ruins while we are there, probably either Tulum or Chichen Itza. Those of you who have been, which would you recommend? I know Tulum is closer, and I think the resort offers a fairly inexpensive shuttle there, but I don't get the impression they are as impressive. Do you think the drive to Chichen Itza would be too long/costly to be worth it on this trip. (Neither of us have ever been to Mexico before.)
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Re: Which Mayan Ruins?

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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    edited July 2013
    We've been to all three of the more known ones (Chichen Itza, Coba and Tulum).

    Our ranking would be: Chichen Itza then a toss up between Coba and Tulum. I liked Tulum better (scenery) but Dh liked Coba better (he climbed to the top of the highest pyramid and back down).

    I have reviews (including our excursions) and pics (including all three ruins) in the link above my siggy pic if you would like to check them out.

    A few tips:

    We booked our tours online.

    The first time I used Best Day Travel (expensive) the second time I used Cancun Vista (a lot cheaper then Best Day).

    Do Not do a combo tour (Tulum and Coba), it would make for a very long day. I am so glad we did Coba one day and Tulum the next day (we did chitzen Itza our first time to Cancun).

    If this is your first time to the ruins either a group tour or private tour is fine. However, if you've already been to one and have heard the history on the Mayan culture then do a private tour. I wish we had done the private tour of Tulum as the day before we had just done Coba and at Tulum we had to stand around with the group and hear the same things about the Mayan culture we had just heard the day before. We really just wanted to go and explore on our own.

    Take hand wipes or sanitizer with you (especially to Tulum) as the water is not filtered. Therefore, when using the restrooms it would be counter productive to wash your hands.
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    alithebridealithebride member
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    i liked the sites for different reasons. CI is large and there's tons to see. yes it's further but imo worth it. tulum is lovely but smaller and can be paired with xel-ha (snorkeing park). coba is great-large, shadier than CI and lots of fun. ek balam is also great-newly excavaed.  i was in chichen itza about 8 years ago and we climbed the largest pyramid-it was closed for climbing shortly after. they also have a great light show at night.

     

     

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    TravelingJenTravelingJen
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    I've been to Chichen Itza, Coba, Tulum, and Ek' Balam. All are impressive but my favorite is definitely Ek' Balam followed immediately by Chichen Itza. I've visited Chichen Itza twice (once by myself and once with a tour guide) and enjoyed the site much more with the guide. On the same tour we also visited Ek' Balam which I highly recommend. We used a company called Mayans' Explorers (http://mayans-explorers.com/). I've got lots of photos on all four sites in my travel blog here: http://wanderlusttraveler.blogspot.com/2013/01/riviera-maya-mexico-sightseeing.html 
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    latefortheballlatefortheball member
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    edited July 2013
    I would definitely recommend Chichen-Itza. Also be sure to visit Il Kil while you're there too! 

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    MoonlightSilverMoonlightSilver member
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    Chichen-Itza is a must do. We stayed at the VIM and booked a trip to Chichen-Itza through one of the travel groups on property. The bus ride was long, but on the way back we also stopped at a cenote and restaurant which worked out well. 

    Tulum is nice too, and I love that you can swim in the water there if you have time. We did a Tulum and Xel-Ha trip which spent the morning in Tulum and then the afternoon at Xel-Ha, which wasn't enough time at either place but was nice if you had a limited budget.
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    SJM7538SJM7538 member
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    First I just want to say how much I love the Valentin imperial maya. We went two years ago and are going back for our honeymoon in October for nine days.

    Last time we did Tulum and it was great. We did a combo tour and did snorkeling and zipping first and then did Tulum. OP is right, it was a long day but we got to experience a lot and I love that Tulum has the market place to shop around.

    We didnt do chichen itza last time bc we were advised it is a full day excursion just to visit the ruins. We only went for five days so we wanted the opportunity to do multiple things. Going to Tulum allowed us to do that without having the entire week filled with excursions. I think we will be doing chichen itza when we go back in October
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    krispi921krispi921 member
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    SJM7538 said:
    First I just want to say how much I love the Valentin imperial maya. We went two years ago and are going back for our honeymoon in October for nine days. Last time we did Tulum and it was great. We did a combo tour and did snorkeling and zipping first and then did Tulum. OP is right, it was a long day but we got to experience a lot and I love that Tulum has the market place to shop around. We didnt do chichen itza last time bc we were advised it is a full day excursion just to visit the ruins. We only went for five days so we wanted the opportunity to do multiple things. Going to Tulum allowed us to do that without having the entire week filled with excursions. I think we will be doing chichen itza when we go back in October
    That's a concern of mine too - we are going to be there for five nights. I'm not sure I want to spend that much time off the resort to get to Chichen Itza.
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    SJM7538SJM7538 member
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    krispi921 said:
    SJM7538 said:
    First I just want to say how much I love the Valentin imperial maya. We went two years ago and are going back for our honeymoon in October for nine days. Last time we did Tulum and it was great. We did a combo tour and did snorkeling and zipping first and then did Tulum. OP is right, it was a long day but we got to experience a lot and I love that Tulum has the market place to shop around. We didnt do chichen itza last time bc we were advised it is a full day excursion just to visit the ruins. We only went for five days so we wanted the opportunity to do multiple things. Going to Tulum allowed us to do that without having the entire week filled with excursions. I think we will be doing chichen itza when we go back in October
    That's a concern of mine too - we are going to be there for five nights. I'm not sure I want to spend that much time off the resort to get to Chichen Itza.
    If that is your concern then I would go to Tulum. It's not as far out so it won't take up an entire day . And if you don't mind being out for an entire day then they offer combo excursions and you can get multiple experiences into one day. We ziplined, snorkeled and did Tulum all in one day. Left at 7 am and got back around dinner time I believe. We just ordered room service that night. Then the rest of the time we just relaxed on the beach or by the pool. I think for only being there five days one full day of excursions was perfect.
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    muenginerdmuenginerd member
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    krispi921 said:
    SJM7538 said:
    First I just want to say how much I love the Valentin imperial maya. We went two years ago and are going back for our honeymoon in October for nine days. Last time we did Tulum and it was great. We did a combo tour and did snorkeling and zipping first and then did Tulum. OP is right, it was a long day but we got to experience a lot and I love that Tulum has the market place to shop around. We didnt do chichen itza last time bc we were advised it is a full day excursion just to visit the ruins. We only went for five days so we wanted the opportunity to do multiple things. Going to Tulum allowed us to do that without having the entire week filled with excursions. I think we will be doing chichen itza when we go back in October
    That's a concern of mine too - we are going to be there for five nights. I'm not sure I want to spend that much time off the resort to get to Chichen Itza.
    I've only done Chichen Itza and it was a full day trip, but I would say it's definitely worth it.  But worth it more if you have a guided tour.  We booked through our resort and it was a nice trip, the tour guide was of Mayan decent and really provided an amazing background of the people and the ruins.  It is alot to take away a day of vacation, but I've gone to the Cancun/Mayan Rivera area alot and Chichen Itza is the best thing we've ever done there.   Our trip also included a swim at an underground cave/lagoon area so that was a nice added adventure off the resort.
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