Is a trip from Coz to Chichen Itza worth it?

[UnderH2OView]

I went there last time with the wife. It was her idea as we have never seen it before. Personally the only thoughts going through my head were "I wish this was a dive boat" while on the ferry, and "I wish we were stopping here" as we passed by cenote's on the way to it. To make things worse I was hungry as hell not knowing there was no opportunity to eat breakfast. The bus went there, spent an hour or two on the grounds, then stopped at a local restaurant afterwards. Being so hungry I ate everything in site on the buffet and got sick from the food, only time the entire vacation. To rub it in, we stopped at a cenote for a swim at the end of the trip. Yes it was amazing to see these large stone structures but I would have much rather been looking at a reef. Guess it depends on what your trip goals and interests are.

 

[vlkr]

i love history more than most so it was a worthwhile trip for me. however, as dandydon has posted talum and coba are real nice too and not nearly as exhausting to get to.
if $ is no object, i believe there is a flight to c i from coz.

 

[vlkr]

danydon- nice photos, thnx

 

[greylion]

I loved it when I went from Coz on a bus trip. It is so interesting, I still can't believe their observatory, makes you wonder? It is a Longggggggg day though. by the time the bus I was on let off people at several hotels in Playa we got back to the ferry and after the ferry back to Coz we just made it into Prima's and wound up closing the place. I must have had 3 or 4 margarita's at dinner, I figured I earned them. heh, heh That was a bucket list must do for me and I'm glad I did it.

 

[DandyDon]

It wouldn't be too hard to drive a rental car there, as there is very nice toll road from Cancun airport to Valladolid. Depending on how much the bus was, I'd be tempted to drive it. A 4 door Nissan with auto-trans & AC would be $42 including all insurance plus gas. I like to go & leave on my own.

If one could do an overnight trip, not applicable for the original poster and his nanny I don't guess, but could come back by way of Coba and Tulum. European travel agencies seem to sell a lot of tours that take in several ruins as we encountered people from all over continental Europe at Coba.

Either way, I'd suggest a Can-Do Mayan Adventure map.

 

[cdreamer]

Just an interesting fact - the Chitzen Itza pyramid is actually built over another pyramid.
When we visited there was a little old guy that guarded the passageway between the two
pyramids. If you look for him and give him a tip, he will take you into the passageway.
I don't know that I would recommend driving on your own, some areas looked a little
scary.

 

[ibj40]

It wouldn't be too hard to drive a rental car there, as there is very nice toll road from Cancun airport to Valladolid. Depending on how much the bus was, I'd be tempted to drive it. A 4 door Nissan with auto-trans & AC would be $42 including all insurance plus gas. I like to go & leave on my own.

If one could do an overnight trip, not applicable for the original poster and his nanny I don't guess, but could come back by way of Coba and Tulum. European travel agencies seem to sell a lot of tours that take in several ruins as we encountered people from all over continental Europe at Coba.

Either way, I'd suggest a Can-Do Mayan Adventure map.

I agree with the rental car from PDC route.

We've done this a couple of times (in addition to Tulum, Coba, and this year, Uxmal - Uxmal is not a day trip, plan to stay overnight or more). For Chichen, Tulum, and Coba, the rent your own car option is the one to do. From PDC to the tollroad is four-lane divided concrete highway (you essentially go back to the Cancun airport), and then once you are on the tollroad, it is nearly vacant, and a straight shot to the Chichen turn-off (but be ready to be stopped at least once by some Federales at one of the toll booths. Once at Chichen, I also strongly recommend you hire your own guide. We did that this year at Uxmal, and learned so much more than the last time we went self-guided. In terms of food, see if you can get your hotel to fix up a simple breakfast and/or lunch for you in advance.

Enjoy!

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, I chuckled when I read...

I don't know that I would recommend driving on your own, some areas looked a little scary.

The only thing scary when I drove was my driving. The only cops I saw were flashing their reds to get people to slow down at we approached PDC as we were all 20 mph over the limit, whatever that was in Kph. I was thrilled with the toll road until I learned that I could not exit for Holbox. :sad: The Can-do maps now explains that I think. The local roads have speed bumps and/or chug holes but the main roads don't have many bumps or any holes. I can drive a standard shift fine, but with the speed bumps on local roads, never again.

 

[ggunn]

Just an interesting fact - the Chitzen Itza pyramid is actually built over another pyramid.
When we visited there was a little old guy that guarded the passageway between the two
pyramids. If you look for him and give him a tip, he will take you into the passageway.
I don't know that I would recommend driving on your own, some areas looked a little
scary.

A friend of mine and I made the drive from PdC; it makes for a very long day, that's for sure. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive each way.

When we went (several years ago), they were taking groups of 10-15 at a time up inside the big pyramid to the top of the inner one. It's when I discovered that I am claustrophobic. The passageway is barely over 6 feet high, about 30 inches wide, and up a long and very steep set of stairs - your face is about butt level to the person in front of you. Once your group starts up the stairs, there's no stopping or turning around until you get to the top, and no one can start down until everyone is at the top. I think it was about 104 degrees that day.

I was the first one down the stairs and OUT of there! I'm getting a little short of breath just writing this.

The rest of the site was fantastic, but now I've been there, done that, really glad I did, and probably won't be doing it again.

 

[driftwood]

One tour group that we have used is Yucatreks. You can find them on the Playa del Carmen info site . Mitch is a super nice guy who really knows the area and found he could make more money running tours that teaching scuba. He uses vans instead of a bus, so your group is a lot smaller. After visiting CI they hit Valladolid for lunch, the prison for shopping and a cenote.

One company that used to fly guests to CI was Aerosaab. I googled them but the site appears to have been taken down. You might see if Mayair flys there. Flying is the way to go. We left at 8 and were back by 2.