Chichen Itza is great! I've been twice and plan to return. you can set the trip up through the Lomas guys at your hotel. it's a pretty good deal, for about $100 you get the round trip flight right into Chichen Itza on a twin prop that seats around 30-40, sort of like what American Eagle flys. then they taxi you from the "airport", more of a landing strip really, to the archeological site and a guide meets you and give you the tour of the site. It's pretty much a full day trip. bring money to buy lunch and water, you'll need the water, it's hot in the jungle! there is also a gift shop and some souvenir shops on site. trying to drive or take a bus from Playa del Carmon is really a waste of time, because you have to drive clear up to Cancun and then head to the site so it takes over 1/2 a day just to get there and if it's your first time you really want to have a tour guide take you around.
It's really awe inspiring, the second time we went, we spent the weekend in Cancun and drove ourselves to the site, about a 3 hr drive from Cancun. we had a little more time to explore as at that time I had spent much more time studying the Maya.
Although Tulum is not as impressive as C.I. it is also a really nice site right on the coast, you can either rent a car and drive yourself from Playa del Carmon or get a tour on a bus that inlcudes lunch through your hotel, it also leaves from PDC, but do Chichen Itza first, it's well worth it.
after going to those two, on later trips try Coba, you'll have to drive, it's about 40 Km into the jungle once you get down to Tulum, but it is also a very nice site. not as excavated at the other 2 but it was one of the largest cities on the Yucatan and has the tallest temple on the Yucatan, Nohoch Mul, at almost 140' high. you can hire a tour guide there for about $25, my wife and i had our own personal guide, it was wonderful.
any other questions, just let me know,
thankx
marc
crum:
Has anyone taken a trip from cozumel to Chichen Itza for a day? Where is the best place to set up arrangements to do this. I am going to cozumel Dec 17th - 25th and have one day I am not diving. Chichen Itza looks like the best of the ruins to see both on the peninsula and cozumel.