Activities & Spas

Excursion Chichén Itzá

By Jeff Borg

Now a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, Chichén Itzá has drawn millions to the state of Yucatán, one of three states on the peninsula. The city was restored meticulously in the 1920s. Now more than 1.5 million people visit that state’s archeological sites each year. At the heart of Chichén Itzá, three buildings define a grand central plaza: the Castillo, the Grand Ball Court and the Temple of the Warriors.

El Castillo is the most iconic structure in the Maya world, striking dumb even the worldliest of travelers. At the vernal and autumnal equinoxes each year, huge crowds gather as afternoon sun and shadows transform carved architectural ornaments into diamondback rattlesnakes.

At its height in the 11th and 12th centuries, Chichén Itzá exerted political and economic power over the entire Yucatán Peninsula. In the 14th century, the site was abandoned. In the early 20th century it was rediscovered and restored. Now rental cars and tour buses bring day-trippers from Riviera Maya, which takes about three hours to drive by modern expressway.

While visiting this site, you are also within easy reach of one of the most highly regarded of Yucatán’s 3,000 cenotes, or sink holes.  Known as The Sacred Blue Cenote is only 2 miles from Chichén Itzá, especially worth the trip to cool off and photograph the location’s surrounding vegetation and waterfalls.