Yucatán: Mérida, Chichen Itza, Cenotes and Tulum for three generations

Fly into Mérida International Airport (MID), about 20 minutes from the old centre, where a driver meets your family in arrivals and takes you to the hotel.

Temps libre : Free until the 5 pm briefing; most hotels we use have a pool

Mornings are the cool part of the day, so we start walking at about 8:30 and keep it to about two hours on flat pavements, with shade and café stops. Your guide takes you round the Plaza Grande: the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, finished in 1598 and built partly with stone from Maya temples; the carved facade of the Casa de Montejo, where children can spot the conquistadors standing on the heads of the conquered; and the Palacio de Gobierno, whose large painted murals tell the story of the Maya and the conquest. We walk through the Lucas de Gálvez market for tropical fruit and chiles, then drive the length of the Paseo de Montejo, the boulevard of mansions that henequen, the sisal fibre, paid for around 1900.

Option plus facile : Wait in a café on the Plaza Grande during the market walk and rejoin the group in the vehicle.

Temps libre : Afternoon free at the hotel pool; dinner is your own

Activité : About 2 hours on foot on flat pavements in the morning. The Gran Museo del Mundo Maya is closed on Tuesdays; on those days we visit the regional museum in the Palacio Cantón on the Paseo de Montejo instead (closed Mondays).

Option plus facile : See the Pyramid of the Magician and the Nunnery Quadrangle, then rest in the shade by the entrance while others walk on to the Governor's Palace.

Option plus active : Climb the broad steps up to the platform of the Governor's Palace for the view back over the site.

Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Mérida

Activité : About 2 hours on foot at Uxmal on uneven stone and gravel with little shade; the Pyramid of the Magician cannot be climbed. The chocolate museum path is about 1 km through the forest, with benches.

We check out at about 8:30 and drive about an hour east to Homún, a village surrounded by cenotes, the water-filled sinkholes that were the only fresh water in a land with almost no rivers. Most are run by local families, and we choose one with a staircase and handrail into the water, where everyone gets a life jacket and swims in clear, cool water under roots hanging from the rock ceiling. Then about 45 minutes north to Izamal, the yellow town, where almost every building round the main squares is painted the same deep yellow. The Franciscan convent of San Antonio de Padua, founded in 1549, stands on the platform of a Maya pyramid, and its huge arcaded atrium is flat and easy to walk; a few streets away the broad steps of Kinich Kakmó lead to a view over the rooftops.

Option plus facile : Watch from the platform at the cenote instead of swimming, and stay in the convent atrium while others climb Kinich Kakmó.

Option plus active : Climb Kinich Kakmó to the top platform for the view over Izamal's yellow rooftops.

Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Valladolid

Activité : No leg today is longer than about an hour and a half. Bring swimsuits and towels. Sunscreen and insect repellent are not allowed in most cenotes, so put them on after you swim.

We leave Valladolid at about 7:15 and are at the gate of Chichen Itza, 40 minutes west, when it opens at 8, well before the coaches from Cancún and the Riviera Maya. With a licensed local guide you have the first hour on the Great Plaza almost to yourselves. El Castillo, the Temple of Kukulcán, has four stairways and a top platform that add up to 365 steps, one for each day of the year, and if you clap in front of it the echo comes back like a bird's chirp, a trick every child tries. Then the Great Ball Court, about 168 m long, with stone rings set high in the walls, the Temple of the Warriors and El Caracol, the round observatory. Chichen Itza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Option plus facile : Rest in the shade near the entrance after the Great Plaza while others walk out to El Caracol.

Option plus active : Walk the old causeway out to the Sacred Cenote with the guide before we leave.

Temps libre : Afternoon free at the pool; evening free in Valladolid

Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot on flat, unshaded ground; El Castillo cannot be climbed. Hats and water matter more here than anywhere else on the trip.

We check out at about 8 and drive about an hour east to Cobá, a Maya city spread out under the forest between two lakes, with white raised roads, the sacbeob, running between its groups of buildings. The distances are long, about 2 km out to the tall Nohoch Mul pyramid, so instead of walking we ride: children and parents can rent bicycles at the entrance, and grandparents sit in the bicycle taxis pedalled by local men, a ride most children end up wanting too. The pyramid itself cannot be climbed, but its size from the foot is worth it, and there is a ball court on the way.

Option plus facile : Ride both ways in a bicycle taxi at Cobá, and watch the swimmers from the wooden decks at Gran Cenote.

Option plus active : Cycle the whole Cobá circuit, about 6 km on flat forest paths, and snorkel into the cave passages at Gran Cenote.

Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Tulum

Activité : Under 2 hours in the vehicle today. The Cobá paths are flat but rooty; bicycles come in children's sizes, and bicycle taxis seat two adults. Gran Cenote is busiest from late morning, so after Cobá we reach it at about 2 pm; turtles are often seen but not guaranteed, and last entry is about 4 pm.

Tulum's ruins open at 8 and are small and very popular, so we go first thing, a short drive from the hotel. With a licensed local guide we walk the flat paths inside the city wall: El Castillo on the cliff edge above the Caribbean, the Temple of the Frescoes with traces of its painted interior, and the Temple of the Descending God, where a carved figure dives head first over the doorway. Iguanas sit on every wall. By about 9:45 we drive 25 minutes south to Muyil, at the edge of the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, listed by UNESCO in 1987. A small boat run by local community guides crosses the lagoon to a mangrove channel, where everyone puts on a life jacket worn like a pair of shorts and drifts with the current in clear fresh water for about half an hour; anyone who prefers stays in the boat.

Option plus facile : Stay on the boat during the float and meet the group at the end of the canal, or skip Sian Ka'an and spend the late morning at the hotel.

Option plus active : Swim alongside the float instead of drifting, where the guides allow it.

Temps libre : Afternoon free on the beach before the farewell dinner

Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot at the ruins on sandy, level paths. The float needs no swimming: the current carries you and the life jacket keeps you up. Children float with an adult beside them.

Temps libre : Morning free in Tulum

Activité : Book a flight from Cancún leaving after about 2:30 pm.