Cancun Things to Do

Enter to win 2 tickets to see Chichen Itza on a small-group day tour from Cancun!

Among the most impressive of the ancient Mayan cities, Chichen Itza is well known for the sophisticated detail of its architecture. Embedded in the spectacular stonework are myriad references to Mayan cosmology, from the 365 steps climbing the main Pyramid of Kukulkan, tracing the annual path of the sun, to the 13 ball courts believed to represent the lunar calendar.

Splendid Chichén Itzá (600AD–1000AD), one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is quite rightly the most famous of Mexico’s pre-Columbian cities. Just two hours from Cancún, the awe-inspiring Classical Mayan masterpiece is a must on any Yucatán itinerary. Many travelers have also heard of stunning Tulúm (1200–1450AD), a Mayan resort town right on the white Caribbean beaches, famed for the lovely freshwater cenotes nearby.

If you’ve tried to research anything online about the Mayan Empire in recent years, you’ve had to wade through pages of apocalyptic prophecies, all promising the end of the world before Christmas 2012, for the price of a few page views. You aren’t the only one who has noticed that virtual snake oil sales were eclipsing actual information about Kukulkán, the Feathered Serpent and patron of the Mayan priesthood.

Chichen Itza is one of the archaeological most spectacular sites of the Mayan Culture located at a relatively short distance from Cancun and Riviera Maya. Today we can admire what was their impressive religious civic complex: a great plaza surrounded by elegant decorated buildings; to the east the “Warriors Complex”, named this way for the multiple elements in the stonework representing the two warring breeds: the jaguars and the eagles…

Evocative and impressive at any time of year, the massive, well preserved ruins of Chichen Itza make for an unforgettable day trip into the world of the ancient Maya. The site upon which Chichen Itza stands has been occupied for millennia, thanks to the deep “cenotes,” or natural limestone wells, that provide a city’s worth of water during the long, dry, Yucatán summer. By 600 AD, it was one of the most powerful cities, planned along astronomical lines, in the Mayan Empire.