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

1. Day 1: Arrive in Mérida

   Mérida International Airport to your hotel in the old centre

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Mérida
   Day 1 details

   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. Plan to land by about 3 pm so there is time for a rest or a swim in the hotel pool before the evening; the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary. Mérida is the capital of Yucatán state, founded by the Spanish in 1542 on the site of the Maya city of T'Hó, and its grid of low, pastel colonial houses still runs out from the Plaza Grande. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the week, with a few Maya and Spanish words for the children to try out. Then we walk the few blocks to the Plaza Grande as the heat goes out of the day, and sit down at about 6 pm to an early welcome dinner of Yucatecan dishes such as sopa de lima, with plainer choices for younger eaters.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Mérida International Airport (MID)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Short evening walk to the Plaza Grande
   • Early welcome dinner

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

   

2. Day 2: Mérida on foot, and the Maya museum

   The Plaza Grande, the market and the Paseo de Montejo, then the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Mérida
   Day 2 details

   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. Late in the morning we reach the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, air-conditioned and full of carvings, a good grounding for Uxmal and Chichen Itza. The afternoon is free for the pool; in the evening we buy marquesitas, rolled crisp crepes, from a street cart.

   Included

   • Walking tour with your guide: the Plaza Grande, the Cathedral of San Ildefonso, the Casa de Montejo and the Palacio de Gobierno murals
   • Lucas de Gálvez market
   • The Paseo de Montejo by vehicle
   • Gran Museo del Mundo Maya
   • Marquesitas from a street cart in the evening

   Easier option: Wait in a café on the Plaza Grande during the market walk and rejoin the group in the vehicle.

   Free time: Afternoon free at the hotel pool; dinner is your own

   Activity: 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).

3. Day 3: Uxmal at opening, and a chocolate museum

   Mérida to Uxmal in the Puuc hills, and back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mérida
   Day 3 details

   We leave Mérida at about 6:45 am, with breakfast boxes for the children, and drive about an hour and a quarter south into the Puuc hills to be at Uxmal when it opens at 8, while it is still cool and quiet. With a licensed local guide we walk past the Pyramid of the Magician, rounded at its corners and about 35 m tall, which a legend says a dwarf built in a single night, into the Nunnery Quadrangle, four long buildings covered in stone lattices, serpents and masks of Chaac, the rain god, and on to the Governor's Palace. Iguanas sun themselves on the stones and children enjoy counting them. Uxmal is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and much quieter than Chichen Itza. By about 10:30 we cross the road to a chocolate museum in the forest, where the story of Maya cacao ends with a cup of hot chocolate whisked the old way. A sit-down Yucatecan lunch follows nearby, and we are back at the hotel pool by about 3 pm.

   Included

   • Uxmal at opening with a licensed local guide: the Pyramid of the Magician, the Nunnery Quadrangle and the Governor's Palace
   • Chocolate museum near Uxmal, with a cacao drink
   • Sit-down Yucatecan lunch near Uxmal

   Optional experiences

   • The Uxmal light and sound show in the evening (we do not stay for it, so families keep an early night)

   Easier option: 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.

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

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Mérida

   Activity: 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.

4. Day 4: A cenote swim, Izamal and Valladolid

   Mérida to a cenote near Homún, then Izamal and Valladolid

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Valladolid
   Day 4 details

   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. Lunch is in Izamal. The last leg is about an hour and a half to Valladolid, where we check in by about 4 pm, with time for the pool before your own dinner.

   Included

   • Cenote swim near Homún, with life jackets
   • Izamal: the convent of San Antonio de Padua and the Kinich Kakmó pyramid
   • Sit-down lunch in Izamal

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

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

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Valladolid

   Activity: 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.

   

5. Day 5: Chichen Itza at opening

   Valladolid to Chichen Itza and back, then a free afternoon

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Valladolid
   Day 5 details

   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. We leave at about 11, when it gets hot and full, and are back in Valladolid for a sit-down lunch. The afternoon is free at the hotel pool, and late in the day your guide walks anyone who likes down the Calzada de los Frailes to the convent of San Bernardino de Siena.

   Included

   • Chichen Itza at opening with a licensed local guide, federal and state entry fees included: El Castillo, the Great Ball Court, the Temple of the Warriors and El Caracol
   • Sit-down lunch in Valladolid
   • Late-afternoon walk on the Calzada de los Frailes with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • A swim in Cenote Zací, a short walk from Valladolid's main square

   Easier option: Rest in the shade near the entrance after the Great Plaza while others walk out to El Caracol.

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

   Free time: Afternoon free at the pool; evening free in Valladolid

   Activity: 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.

   

6. Day 6: Cobá by bicycle taxi, then a cenote and Tulum

   Valladolid to Cobá, then Gran Cenote and Tulum

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Tulum
   Day 6 details

   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. Lunch is a sit-down meal by the lake in Cobá village. Then it is about 40 minutes to Gran Cenote, just outside Tulum, for a swim and snorkel in clear water where small turtles live in the shallows, with life jackets and snorkel gear. We check into the hotel in Tulum by about 3:30 pm, with the rest of the day for the beach or the pool.

   Included

   • Cobá archaeological site with your guide, with bicycles or a bicycle taxi between the groups of buildings
   • Sit-down lunch in Cobá village
   • Gran Cenote near Tulum: swim and snorkel, with gear and life jackets

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

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

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Tulum

   Activity: 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.

7. Day 7: Tulum's ruins and a float in Sian Ka'an

   Tulum archaeological site, then Muyil and the lagoons of Sian Ka'an, and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tulum
   Day 7 details

   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. We are back in Tulum for a late lunch together and the beach, and at about 6 pm we meet for an early farewell dinner.

   Included

   • Tulum archaeological site at opening with a licensed local guide, national park fee included
   • Boat across the Muyil lagoon with community guides
   • Float down a mangrove canal in Sian Ka'an, with life jackets
   • Late lunch in Tulum
   • Early farewell dinner

   Optional experiences

   • Bike rental for the Tulum beach road

   Easier option: 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.

   More active option: Swim alongside the float instead of drifting, where the guides allow it.

   Free time: Afternoon free on the beach before the farewell dinner

   Activity: 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.

8. Day 8: Tulum to Cancún airport

   Tulum to Cancún International Airport on the coast road

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 8 details

   The last morning is free. Have one more swim, walk to the beach, or sit over a long breakfast in the shade; the hotel keeps your bags after checkout. Late in the morning our vehicle takes the group north on Highway 307, the coast road of the Riviera Maya, past Akumal, Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos to Cancún International Airport (CUN), about 130 km and two hours away, with a rest stop on the way if anyone needs it. Your guide rides with you, sees your family into the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. Book a flight leaving after about 2:30 pm; if yours is earlier, we arrange an earlier transfer timed to it. If you are flying from Tulum's international airport (TQO) instead, or want to stay on by the sea for a few more days, tell us when you book and we arrange the transfer or the extra nights. The trip ends at the airport.

   Included

   • Group transfer to Cancún International Airport (CUN) with your guide

   Free time: Morning free in Tulum

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

Wildlife and weather: December to April is the dry season. December to February has warm days and mild evenings; March and April are hot, often in the mid-30s °C inland, which is why the big sites are visited at opening and the afternoons are at the pool. Sargassum seaweed can reach Tulum's beaches from spring; the cenotes and the Sian Ka'an lagoons are not affected. Iguanas are everywhere on the ruins, and small turtles live in Gran Cenote.

• Mérida3 nights
• Valladolid2 nights
• Tulum2 nights