Yucatan in 9 days
- Irene
- Feb 5, 2024
- 8 min read
Updated: May 20, 2024
Yucatan is famous for its’ tropical beaches, spectacular wildlife, ancient Mayan ruins, small villages, and adventure activities. It’s a place that should be on your Wishlist and that is not going to disappoint.
Best time to go: mid- November to February is the perfect time to go as it doesn’t rain much and it is not too hot either.
General advice: rent a car! We found Yucatan is a very safe area to move around, obviously being careful and trying not to drive during the night.
For this trip you will stay overnight at 3 places: Tulum (3 nights), Valladolid (2 nights) and Holbox (4 nights).
First time I went to Mexico 10 years ago I loved Tulum, this time in 2023 not so much. So you might want to consider staying the first 3 nights outside of Tulum, for example at "La Casa de la Playa Xcaret”, which it is closer to Playa del Carmen but not too far from Tulum, around 45 min drive. Options in Tulum are: "Mezzanine a Colibri Boutique Hotel-Adults Only” if you want to stay in the beach area, and "Una Vida” if you want to stay in Tulum city centre.
In Valladolid the recommended hotel is “Le Muuch boutique hotel”, a very cute hotel and very well located. Another good option is "Colonté Hotel Origen”.
In Holbox, you have to stay at "Villas Flamingo", an incredible place and one of the nicest hotels I have ever been in.
Day 1: Tulum and Tulum beach
On your first day you can drive to Tulum Ruins early in the morning, ideally around 8 am or 9 am so you can beat the crowds. If you are staying in Tulum city centre the drive will only take around 10 mins and if you are staying on the Beach area probably around 15 mins.
Tulum ruins are small in comparison to Coba or Chichen Itza but the location is impressive, poised on the fifteen-meter-high cliffs above the Caribbean Sea. This walled city served as a major port for Coba. Tulum was one of the last cities built and inhabited by the Maya and achieved its greatest prominence between the 13th and 15th centuries. Maya continued to occupy Tulum for about 70 years after the Spanish began occupying Mexico, but the city was abandoned by the end of the 16th century. As this is located close to Cancun and Riviera May don’t expect to be by yourself. As mentioned before, I would recommend going in the early morning as it can get very crowded and dealing with the midday heat can be challenging. Also try to avoid Sundays as locals have free entrance to most of the archeological sites and therefore it gets very crowded.
As of Dec 2023, the prices are as follows: ticket per person 155 pesos, parking 100 to 200 pesos all day.
After going to visit the ruins you can go to Tulum beach or Playa Paraiso, eat at one of the lovely restaurants by the beach like “Fresco’s Tulum” and spend the afternoon relaxing here.
For dinner you can go to "Yaax Ik”.
Day 2: Coba and cenotes
On your second day you can visit Coba archeological site which is a 45min drive from Tulum city centre.
Coba is an ancient Maya city which contains many engraved and sculpted stelae that document ceremonial life and important events of the Late Classic Period (AD 600–900). Coba was estimated to have had some 50,000 inhabitants at its peak of civilization, and the built-up area extends over some 80 km2. The site was occupied by a sizable agricultural population by the first century. The bulk of Coba's major construction seems to have been made in the middle and late Classic period, about 500 to 900 AD, with most of the dated hieroglyphic inscriptions from the 7th century. However, Coba remained an important site in the Post-Classic era and new temples were built and old ones kept in repair until at least the 14th century.
Coba is probably my favourite of the archaeological sites of Yucatan/ Quintana Ro. Even though it’s not as well preserved as others, it’s really cool in that it is in the middle of the jungle and you have to cycle around to see the different structures. We arrived there around 10.30am and it was not very busy.
As of Dec 2023, the prices are as follows: ticket per person 190 pesos and 65 pesos per bike.
After Coba you can come back to Tulum city centre and have lunch at "Taqueria Honorio”, which is so good! Probably the best tacos we had in Mexico.
In the afternoon you can either relax at the hotel swimming pool or you can try to visit one of the cenotes. In my opinion the cenotes near Valladolid area are better, less crowded and cheaper but if you want to explore different options these are some famous ones which are all very close to each other. Important to note that the road to go here is horrible and full of holes with no tarmac:
Cenote Dos Ojos: 400 pesos for entry
Cenote Jaguar: 250 pesos for entry - this is the only one that we went to as we knew we were going to visit more the next day. It was fun because it had platforms to jump from and it was open so a bit different from others.
Cenote Nic Te Ha: 300 pesos per person
You can also do a combo and do Jaguar, Nic Te Ha and Dos Ojos for 600p/person. In the same area you can also find others like:
Cenote Taak Bi Ha - 350 pesos per person
TaakBi Luum - 350 pesos per person
Cenotes Sac Actún
For dinner you can go to “El Camello”.
Day 3: Ekbalam and cenotes
This is the day that you will make your way to Valladolid, but on the way you will do 2 stops.
First stop will be Ek’ Balam which is 1hour 45 min drive from Tulum. Ekʼ Balam was a city occupied from the Middle Preclassic through the Postclassic. It eventually became the capital of the polity that controlled the region around the beginning of the Common Era. It was during this height that the Late Yumcab ceramic complex (750-1050/1100 CE) dominated the architecture and pottery of Ekʼ Balam. Ekʼ Balam provides a rich resource of information for understanding northern Classic cities, due to the poor preservation of many other notable northern Maya sites (e.g. Coba, Izamal, and Edzna).
You can find this archaeological site just a 30 min drive from Valladolid. It takes around 1 hour to 1.15 to visit the complex. The cool thing about this place is that it is one of the only few places in Mexico which lets you go up to the top of the pyramids which is amazing! Also, this is not a very touristy spot and it was quite empty when we arrived around 10.45am.
As of Dec 2023, the prices are as follows: parking 100 pesos, ticket per person 531 pesos.
Once you finish you can go to explore the cenotes in the area which are all about 20 to 30 min drive from the archeological site.
My top favourites that we went to were Cenote Palomitas (25 min drive from Ek’ Balam) and XCANAHALTUN (15 min drive from Palomitas). Note that in the same area of Centote Palomitas you can find cenote Agua Dulce, but this one can be booked by private tours so if you want to visit this one as well you should go beforehand, early in the morning.
As of Dec 2023, the prices are as follows: Cenote Palomitas 180 pesos and XCANAHALTUN 200 pesos. In both of them we were almost alone and with only 2 more people at times, which was incredible. We arrived at Palomitas around 12pm and to XCANAHALTUN around 2pm.
After this, you will get to Valladolid in 35 minutes.
During your first night you can have dinner at "Atrio del Mayab” where they offer some special dishes from the area and it is very nice.
Day 4: Chichen Itza and Uayma
On your next day you will have to wake up early to go to one of the new 7 wonders of the world!
Chichen Itza is a city which was built by the Maya people of the Terminal Classic period. The main Mayan Ruin is the Chichen Itza Pyramid or El Castillo, but there are other equally important ruins such as El Caracol or Observatory, The Temple of The Warriors and the Mayan Ball Game.
The best thing is to stay in Valladolid so you can get to Chichén Itzá in just a 45 min drive. I would highly recommend arriving there between 8 and 8.15am. If you arrive at 8.30am or later you might struggle to find a parking space, also the queue to buy the tickets could be quite long. It is important to mention that the buses and tours tend to get here around 10 am so the best thing to do is to arrive early!
I would advise getting a guide; it is definitely not the same to do the visit without a guide as you will feel like you are just looking at some old rocks. The story behind it, the maths they used to build it and all the interesting facts that the guide will tell you about Mayan culture are key to truly appreciating the site. Our guide was from the company ‘Maya Quest’ and they were recommended by our hotel. Our guide was just fantastic and super knowledgeable, highly recommended! The visit with the guide plus some time to explore on your own will take you between 2 and 2.30 hours.
As of Dec 2023, the prices are as follows: entrance ticket per person 614 pesos. The private guide in Spanish is 1,400 pesos and 1,600 pesos in English, the price includes the ticket entrance.
After this, you can drive to Uayma, a little town near Chichén Itzá which has a very original church and is nice to stop for a quick look. Uayma is just 20 min driving from Valladolid and 40 min from Chichén Itzá. When we were there, we saw a couple of other buildings in the town being restored that were very cute as well.
As it has been an early morning you would probably get back to Valladolid right on time for lunch. I would recommend to go to "El Meson del Marques” where we had super nice fajitas and cocktails.
After lunch you can either go to the swimingpool to relax or visit some of the points of interest of Valladolid such as Iglesia de la Candelaria, Calzada de los Frailes, Convento de San Bernardino de Siena, Templo de San Servacio and Parque Francisco Canton Rosado.
For dinner you can go to a very informal place but really authentic "El Habanero taqueria”. Lastly, to end on a high note go to one of the roof terraces around the Parque Francisco Canton Rosado. You can try the roof bar at the Hotel María de la Luz.
Day 5: Drive to Holbox
The next day you will drive to Chiquila, which takes 2 hours, and leave the car here before getting the ferry to Holbox. In Chiquila there are many parking options near the port which cost around 100 pesos a day for leaving the car there. The ferry to Holbox takes around 25 minutes to get to the island and runs every 30 min. The ferry ticket cost is $220 Mexican pesos.
Once you get to Holbox, you will have to take a taxi to go to your hotel that will cost between 150 to 200 pesos.
Day 6 to 8 : Holbox
Holbox, even though going through a lot of development, still has that paradisiac vibe which is amazing! It feels relaxed and chilled but also a bit hipster at the same time. As getting to Holbox is a bit more complicated, I believe this is part of the charm and the reason why there are fewer tourists here.
These 3 days can be spent chilling by the beach and walking around the shore.
In Holbox, we ate very well at Barba Negra.
Day 9: Back to airport
From Chiquila to Cancun Airport will take around 2 hours.