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A quieter Maya ruin, a colonial town, and a cenote swim — a genuinely different day from the usual Chichen Itza route.
Explore the 8th-century ruins of Ek Balam, walk Valladolid's Spanish colonial landmarks, and finish with a refreshing cenote swim.
This private day trip covers real ground the standard Chichen Itza route doesn't: the ruins of Ek Balam, an 8th-century Maya city with real preserved roads and stone art, followed by Valladolid's old Spanish landmarks like the San Bernardino Convent. The day ends with a swim in a refreshing cenote.
A popular starting point — every Voyzo itinerary is fully customizable, so we'll shape the order and stops around your group.
Hotel pickup in central Merida.
Walk the 8th-century roads and see Mayan stone art at this real, less-crowded archaeological site.
See Valladolid's real Spanish colonial landmark.
Cool off at a natural cenote on the way back.
Back to your hotel, home, or the airport — whenever your day wraps up.
Explore the 8th-century ruins of Ek Balam, walk Valladolid's Spanish colonial landmarks, and finish with a refreshing cenote swim. This private day trip covers real ground the standard Chichen Itza route doesn't: the ruins of Ek Balam, an 8th-century Maya city with real preserved roads and stone art, followed by Valladolid's old Spanish landmarks like the San Bernardino Convent. The day ends with a swim in a refreshing cenote.
Ek Balam gets a fraction of Chichen Itza's crowds — by various visitor estimates, somewhere around 200 people a day compared with several thousand at Chichen Itza — despite sitting roughly the same distance from the coast. Its defining structure is the Acropolis, a massive stepped platform believed to hold the tomb of Ukit Kan Lek Tok', an Ek Balam ruler. Partway up, a doorway shaped like an open jaguar's mouth, framed by an elaborately restored stucco frieze, marks what archaeologists read as a symbolic portal to the underworld.
Unlike Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Coba — all of which have closed their pyramids to climbers — Ek Balam's Acropolis can still be climbed via a steep, rope-assisted stone staircase, making it one of the few sites left in Mexico where you can stand at the top of a Maya pyramid. Site rules can change, so this is worth confirming with your guide on the day.
Valladolid, the day's second stop, has its own cenote right in the center of town — Cenote Zaci, named for the Maya settlement the Spanish built the present-day town on top of in 1545 — along with the Convento de San Bernardino de Siena, a 16th-century Franciscan convent built directly over a second cenote, Sis-Ha, which once supplied the monks with water through openings in the floor.
The day closes with a swim at a natural cenote on the way back to Merida — a different kind of landscape from either of the day's two archaeological stops, and a cooling end to a day spent largely outdoors.
Every Voyzo tour is a starting point — tell us what you have in mind and we'll build it.
