Cancun - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Coach · 11-12-2009, 07:54 PM

So the lady friend and myself have booked a vacation to Cancun in January. She is very interested in seeing some Mayan ruins. Does anyone have any info on some good tours they might have had? Much appreciated

T@T · 11-12-2009, 08:04 PM

Tulum/thread for that part of Mexico

Edit: if you get a good guide you won't forget it, with 2012 approaching it could get interesting.

FlamesAddiction · 11-12-2009, 08:06 PM

Tulum is really nice.

Koba has an interesting pyramiad as well... and they still let you climb it.

carom · 11-12-2009, 08:09 PM

When I was in Playa del Carmen, we went to Chitzen Itza.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitzen_Itza

Very cool, but a whole day trip. It was a 3-4 bus ride each way through the heavy jungle. I think you can find tours set up by the hotel.

T@T · 11-12-2009, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Tulum is really nice.

Koba has an interesting pyramiad as well... and they still let you climb it.

Assuming you mean Coba,yeah they did let you climb it (rope assisted) 2 years ago, but it's not near the interest of Tulum or even Chitzen.

I've been to 7 ruins down that area, Tulum is by far the best IMO (Added bonus of a great beach) and as stated every hotel should have a tour going to the main ones. Cost should be no more than $100-125.

Temporary_User · 11-12-2009, 08:24 PM

I also did Chitzen Itza. My drunk self called it Chicken Pizza; I thought I was stupid until a year later my Archy prof told the whole class that remembering Chicken Pizza would be a good idea for the midterm

We decided on Chitzen Itza because if I'm not mistaken, it has the biggest area of ruins, and also is the official one of the seven man made wonders of the world.

I've heard there are more "activities" to do at the others (Tulem etc.)

FoxMulder91 · 11-12-2009, 08:43 PM

Im going with my parents and brother we are going from December 25th to January 1st..we are staying at the Rio Caribe..anyone know any cool things to do around there.

T@T · 11-12-2009, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

I also did Chitzen Itza. My drunk self called it Chicken Pizza; I thought I was stupid until a year later my Archy prof told the whole class that remembering Chicken Pizza would be a good idea for the midterm

We decided on Chitzen Itza because if I'm not mistaken, it has the biggest area of ruins, and also is the official one of the seven man made wonders of the world.

I've heard there are more "activities" to do at the others (Tulem etc.)

Problem with the Itza ruins is your exhausted from the trip into the middle of the jungle, another place thats fun is the Edsna ruins at Campeche made famous for Mel Gibsons film "Apocalypto". Massive temple and if you close your eyes you can see the heads bouncing down the stairs.

(assuming you have seen the flick) but thats a real long trip from Cancun.

FireInTheHole · 11-12-2009, 08:57 PM

I've been to the area many times, and I would rank the ruins:

1. Chitzen Itza
2. Tulum
3. Coba

With most of these tours, they will add on other attractions, such as taking you to a cenote (underground river/sink hole) to swim in, lunch, zoo, zip-line, etc. To me, Chitzen Itza was by far the most interesting of the Mayan ruins. Book the tour either at your hotel, or with a tour agency in town. Should be somewhere around $100 USD per person.

T@T · 11-12-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxMulder91

Im going with my parents and brother we are going from December 25th to January 1st..we are staying at the Rio Caribe..anyone know any cool things to do around there.

I think you mean "Riu Caribe" Huge hotel. You right on the sandbar in Cancun, I stayed at the Riu Palace Americas next door, tonnes of stuff to do, shows, plays, nightclubs..etc. Very difficult to get bored.

Can't go wrong with any Riu hotel, and your wristband will let you in most of the others if you like.. to have a few!

FurnaceFace · 11-12-2009, 09:14 PM

We were in Cozumel in 2001 and The Mayan Riviera (near Tulum) this September.

If you can spring for it, I'd recommend flying to Chichen Itza (I have no idea why that wiki site has it as chitzen itza). We flew from Cozumel to Chichen which was awesome. It was a domestic airline - I don't happen to remember the name. The pilots did a fly by of the site so we had a great aerial view. Best part was we were there first thing so there was basically nobody there. We were finished by noon and got taken to a nearby hotel for lunch. As we were leaving the buses from Cancun were arriving with the hoards of tourists.

Besides that, there are a billion things to do down there, it just costs money. When you arrive in the airport these helpful guys in blue shirts will whisk you over to their counter and give you a map and circle a bunch of sites and then try and sell you on visiting the timeshare resort they are pushing. It's all pretty low key from our experience and if you were wanting to do the various tours they package together their prices are good. They basically take Tulum, Xcaret, and one other site and give you enough off the rates you get one of the tours free. If you're not into that just politely decline, and they won't pressure you. Note, the various tour companies are situated outside the terminal so you can bypass the helpful guys completely.

Whoever your charter is with (Nolitours, Air Canada, Sunquest, etc) will have an on site coordinator at the hotel and will have packages to all the major sites. The coordinators are typically Canadian or at least one of them will be. They do have a bit of a premium over what you could get going direct but it's not horrible in our experience, it might be $5-10 bucks more.

If any of you dive, use vip-diving.net. Canadian operators, really good. They take max 6 per boat, not 20+ like a lot of the resorts do.

T@T · 11-12-2009, 09:17 PM

How much was it to fly there?

OBCT · 11-12-2009, 09:17 PM

I'm going to Cancun (actually Playa del Carmen) in a couple of weeks myself, so this thread is timely.

- Would you guys say that all 3 of the suggested ruins are worth paying a guided tour for on a single trip?
- If you only were to pay for a guided tour to one of the three ruins, which would it be? Chitzen Itza due to the long distance?
- How decent would self-guided tours to Tulum and Coba be?

What do you recommend for general transportation between towns/points of interest? What's the comfort/price difference between bus, taxi, car rental, etc?

One more question: What's the best area for (free?) snorkelling down there? Other than the rental equipment, of course. We're not interested in a guided snorkel tour, just an afternoon dip in some nice clear water (with some wildlife), hopefully.

Thanks for all the good advice already!

T@T · 11-12-2009, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OBCT

I'm going to Cancun (actually Playa del Carmen) in a couple of weeks myself, so this thread is timely.

- Would you guys say that all 3 of the suggested ruins are worth paying a guided tour for on a single trip?
- If you only were to pay for a guided tour to one of the three ruins, which would it be? Chitzen Itza due to the long distance?
- How decent would self-guided tours to Tulum and Coba be?

What do you recommend for general transportation between towns/points of interest? What's the comfort/price difference between bus, taxi, car rental, etc?

One more question: What's the best area for (free?) snorkelling down there? Other than the rental equipment, of course. We're not interested in a guided snorkel tour, just an afternoon dip in some nice clear water (with some wildlife), hopefully.

Thanks for all the good advice already!

Due to costs...Tulum,100% it's only 45 minutes or so from Playa del Carmen,Guided tour all the way.
Itza is nice but not better IMO...but it's all about how good of a guide you get from the hotel. $80 a head should do it.

FireInTheHole · 11-12-2009, 09:24 PM

For snorkeling I would highly recommend Xel Ha. Yes, it costs money, but it's a great day. You don't have to do Xel Ha as a tour - you can take one of the white vans from the main highway directly to Xel Ha for something like $3 - no need for a rental car, or taxi or charter bus. The other option would be bring your own gear and snorkel from Akumal beach - we saw a sea turtle there and it was a great experience.

Sparks · 11-12-2009, 11:53 PM

I thought Uxmal (sounds something like Ooosh-mal) was by far the best in terms of both the size and quality of the ruins, and the lack of other people there. In fairness, we were there relatively early in the morning.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uxmal

Chitzen Itza, at least IMO, was a bit Disney World - so packed with tourists and people trying to sell crap that it almost ruined the experience.

edit: I'm not sure how far Uxmal is from Cancun. Maybe too far.

_Q_ · 11-13-2009, 12:12 AM

Playa Del Carmen itself is awesome. Very nice beach and lots of shopping for trinkets and souvenirs. I went to Cancun in summer of 2008 with my good friend with the intent of picking up easy college girls, but ended up ditching our plan most of the time and spent most of the vacation in Playa Del Carmen. We rented a car and did the touring ourselves which ended up being cheaper. The highways in Mexico are surprisingly well built. Also, went to Tulum which was great. We didn't have time to check out Chichen Itza, but next time I go to that area I will be sure to check it out.

Coach · 11-13-2009, 01:07 AM

how long is the trip to Tulum from Cancun? On google earth it looks like a pretty good trek.

PS Thanks for all the suggestions. CP never fails!

FlamesAddiction · 11-13-2009, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattyC

how long is the trip to Tulum from Cancun? On google earth it looks like a pretty good trek.

PS Thanks for all the suggestions. CP never fails!

From what I recall, it is like an hour and a half... but it's well worth it imo.

wpgflamesfan · 11-13-2009, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OBCT

I'm going to Cancun (actually Playa del Carmen) in a couple of weeks myself, so this thread is timely.

- Would you guys say that all 3 of the suggested ruins are worth paying a guided tour for on a single trip?
- If you only were to pay for a guided tour to one of the three ruins, which would it be? Chitzen Itza due to the long distance?
- How decent would self-guided tours to Tulum and Coba be?

What do you recommend for general transportation between towns/points of interest? What's the comfort/price difference between bus, taxi, car rental, etc?

One more question: What's the best area for (free?) snorkelling down there? Other than the rental equipment, of course. We're not interested in a guided snorkel tour, just an afternoon dip in some nice clear water (with some wildlife), hopefully.

Thanks for all the good advice already!

When are you headed down. I might be there at the same time and maybe we could do a mini cp summit at the sports bar down there and catch a game.