DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Chichen Itza - mayan ruins

Im going on vacation to the Mayan Riviera with my wife.My question to my fellow dog talkers is that has anyone gone on the tour to Chichen Itza?Is it better to take the tour bus or rent a car and drive there ourselves? Also, if we do drive ourselves is there a fee to get in and how much? Any info or other ideas while im on vacation would be greatly appreciated.

Try this site:

http://www.differentworld.com/mexico/areas/yucatan-and-campeche/chichen-itza/guide.htm

I haven't done chichen itza, but have seen Tulum. It was kind of a cool thing to see, and a beautiful area. We did a tour, so I can't answer your question on which is better.

Enjoy the sun and fun!

Cant help ya,

But let us know how you liked it, Were going there next year, our cruise ports in Cozumel for a day and were thinking aobut taking a 4 hour shore excursion to some of those places.

Have fun....Hey spray paint a big Browns helent on one of the stone building so i can see it next year...

We went during our honeymoon, cool place to see!

We took the bus because you can usually get a great deal, and they also stop off at a couple other tourist areas. A car is okay, if you have a good map and know some spanish. I've heard a few horror stories of people getting pulled over and harrased out of cash by some of the police in Mexico (Then again, most those stories come out of Tijuana).

You do have to pay to get into the place, and I don't remember how much, but it's not exactly "cheap". A lot of the tourist areas in that area charge an arm and a leg for stuff because they know tourists will pay for it.

On that point, I have a suggestion for you ... Go out and get yourself a little spanish/english traveling dictionary and spanish traveling phrases book. I got two of these that were pocket-sized and learned quite a few phrases to use with the locals. This worked out great on our bus trip to Chichen Itza. The bus stopped at a tourist trap and let everyone out to buy stuff at this "market". Everything there was rediculously expensive. My wife and I just wanted a bottle of coke, and they were charging $2 each. I ran a block down the street and found a tiny little mom & pop store. I talked to them with my newly learned spanish phrases, and got the drinks for 50 cents each.

Oh by the way, the drive there is long ... 2 hours I think, so you might prefer the air conditioned bus, just so you can relax. Although, one of our best days when were were down there was when we rented a car for a day and drove down the Yucatan coast. We were able to get out and see all the "non-tourist" things ... which I tend to enjoy a lot more than the tourist things.

Any other question about that area, let me know.

I got to spend some time in the Yucatan. I don't know how much time you'll have, Chichen Itza is very cool but I also dug Uxmal and Izamal, and if you get the chance, you should check out a Cenote or two. Since you're on the Caribbean side, you'd spend some time on the road getting to Uxmal. The Yucatan peninsula is covered with interesting places to see. I personally found some of the lesser developed sites very interesting and obviously they were less tourist travelled. They are always discovering new sites down there and you can find places in various stages of restoration. We were in Merida so it was a little easier to branch out and get to the more famous sites. If you're interested in spending time visiting the ruins, you may consider basing there for a few days. I do know there are ruins along the Carribean coast, don't know what they're like though because we didn't make it over there. Couple points of note: They take their culture very seriously so respect that, (which I'm sure you will,) take plenty of bottled water and make sure you have a decent supply of insect repellant. Mosquitos are wicked. It's very hot and humid so stay hydrated and most importantly, have fun!

I've driven that trip from Playa del Carmen to Chichen Itza then onto Cancun.

My first question is do you speak spanish? If you don't, I would certainly not recommend you driving by yourselves.

If you do, you can rent a car and drive it yourself. If I were to do it again, I would have just taken a bus. There are all day tours (do this on the day it's scheduled to rain) and they'll feed you. They are worth it.

Do the timeshare visit so you get huge discounts on the tours.

I rented a car and everything turned out fine but I kinda wish I could have just sat back and taken in the scenery.

I think there is a fee to enter the park...it's a few bucks but can't remember how much.

Enjoy your time there!

You HAVE to go to a beach bar in Playa del Carmen called the Blue Parrot. Every hour on the hour starting at 11 pm, they do the fire shows. It's unreal.

Oh yeah, find the bus route that circles through Cacun and use it. Fifty cents per trip rather than getting raped by the taxi drivers in Cancun.

PM me if you have any other questions. Chichen Itza was incredible! Someone else recommended Tulum, that isn't that far away; it's a little smaller but it's on the ocean so it's beautiful there.

I actually used to live in the Yucatan, so my view might be a bit skewed. I think you're fine to rent a car if you want, but it's more of a hassle than it's worth. An nice air conditioned bus isn't going to break the bank and then you can just chill out. Besides, after you march around up and down pyramids in 100 degree plus heat, do you really want to have to drive a few hours back to the hotel?

I agree with anyone saying you should get a Spanish/English dictionary AND DON'T BE SHY ABOUT USING IT. Yucatecans are the friendliest people I've ever met and they LOVE it when you speak Spanish, no matter how poorly.

Also, if you're interested in History I'd either (a) shell out the dough for a guide to the site or (b) stand inconspicuously close to a group already on a tour.

Any other questions feel free to ask.

i just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the good tips.

and on a side note, the Mayans astrological calendar rivals our own today.

as you were.