Chichen Itza From Riviera Maya

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75 reviews by the users

• Mary R On 20-Sep-2017

  My experience at Chichen Itza was amazing! Our tour guide was so knowledgeable!

• Samuel V On 05-Jun-2017

  Transportation was great and as efficient as it could possibly be. Moro was very informative and an amazing tour guide. Would highly recommend this tour

• Paula R On 11-May-2017

  Absolutely brilliant tour. definitely recommend it.

• Les.mcadam On 22-Mar-2017

  Excellent trip with a very witty tour guide called Beto.

  The other members of the team on the day were Jesus, Miguel and the driver Jose.

  Very interesting historical trip.

  It was a long day but the coach was very comfortable with drinks and refreshments served frequently.

• DAVID B On 17-Feb-2017

  From start to finish this tour is absolutely awesome. The guides Beto and Norma were fascinating. Top quality sites, great atmosphere. Would recommend the tour to anyone looking for an indepth and cultural tour of Chichen Itza.

• Kathie B On 05-Jan-2017

  This was a really nice tour and the description was very accurate. We were picked up promptly at 8am from our hotel in a van, then taken to a waiting bus. The tour guide asked how many French speaking and English speaking passengers there were, then talked constantly, always alternating between French and English. I was in the back of the bus and could barely see him. After a while, I stopped listening, as he was switching between the 2 very quickly, and frankly, it was not relaxing. The information was not that interesting. After a 40 min shopping stop, we arrived at Chichen Itza about 11:30. Once there, another guide on the bus took the English speaking group. He was great. And from then on, everything was fine. The buffet was delicious. As you have already read, this is a 12 hour trip. But well worth it.

• Ben Holmes On 31-Oct-2016

  We almost nearly didn't get to go on the trip. The tour company asked us to confirm our booking with them twenty-four hours before the tour. We didn't think much of this as we assumed that we could use the hotel's wifi to confirm the booking and that would be it. However at the Grand Bahia Principe Coba there was no phone signal, and the wifi was quite frankly, terrible. We then had to get the hotel to ring the tour company and tell the tour rep to come and meet us, which meant waiting around in the lobby for the rep to arrive. However, it must be said the rep Gabi or Gaby was really nice and very clear about what we needed to bring and what time we would be getting picked up.

  Our tour picked us up from our hotel on time, and we were put onto a mini van which then took us to a big coach to begin our tour. The tour guides were Gaytan pronounced 'guy tan' and Ramon. Gaytan began our tour introducing himself and perhaps giving us a talk about the Mayans, their culture, and their descendants today. He said to us, When you think of Mexico, what do you think of? Sombreros? Mariachi music? Tequila? Well we don't wear sombreros and we don't listen to Mariachi music. We have our own music, and we don't drink Tequila, because we simply don't like it. We have our own drinks. We don't speak Spanish at home, we have our own language. We are Mayans, not Mexicans. He then gave us an example of what the Mayan language sounded like, saying the same sentence in Spanish, Mayan and English.

  The drive to Chichen Itza was about two and a half to three hours I think and the time was well spent listening to Guytan and Ramon talk about the history of the Mayan people and the appalling treatment they received from the Spanish, and even today how the Mayan people struggle to fight to protect their culture. We stopped off to a place where Mayans make genuine Mayan crafts to sell, Gaytan warned us that pretty much everything sold at the Chichen Itza site is fake and wanted to take us to a place where we could meet genuine Mayans and see their crafts up close and personal. Needless to say we bought a few things, and it felt good knowing our money was going to people who genuinely appreciated it. On top of that, the Mayan people were incredibly friendly and polite, and weren't pushy when it came to selling things.

  When we got to Chichen Itza, it took me a few minutes to fully comprehend where I was. This place that I had wanted to visit for so many years was finally here in front of me! Gaytan took us around and once again provided us with incredibly detailed information about each part of the site, explaining to us what it was used for and what occurred there. It was truly amazing to be there and when we were hearing about the activities of the Mayans you could almost imagine being there with them. After going round all the parts of the site, we were given refreshments and some free time to wonder and explore.

  The site is quite large, and although The Temple of Kukulkan gets the majority of the attention, there are other nice bits to explore. It is quite easy to get caught up taking pictures on one part of the site and not have enough time to wonder and explore the whole thing. However, you do go around most of the site with your tour guide, so you can use your free time to go back to get some extra photos of something you liked or go see some of the less visited parts of the site. As you can imagine, Chichen Itza is very busy and sometimes it was frustrating trying to get photographs because people kept walking in front of us! However, it is possible to get a people-free picture of The Temple of Kukulkan if you are quick! Perhaps if I were to say one negative, it would be that there were venders that sold these things that made fake jaguar sounds, and needless to say they got annoying very quickly, particularly when you are trying to listen to your tour guide.

  After Chichen Itza, we went for some lunch at a restaurant and had a choice of international or regional cuisine. I asked for regional cuisine and asked for un poco de todo a bit of everything to which they happily obliged. The food was amazing, it was not stereotypical Mexican food, but regional Mayan food. After lunch we went to the cenote, not being a confident swimmer I decided not to swim as there was no shallow end although life jackets are provided however this didn't stop appreciating how beautiful the cenote is.

  I would 100 recommend you come on this tour, even if you are not a huge history buff, the history to do with the Mayans is really amazing, the way their calendar works, how that links into the construction of the Temple of Kukulkan, and so many other things as well. This was definitely the highlight of my holiday in Mexico.

• Stephanie K On 18-Oct-2016

  this trip was amazing! Visiting the ruins was not only great but the tour guide and others helping on the tour were awesome! You should definitely book this.

• Yvonn M On 06-Sep-2016

  Very informative. Could have had more time on the second sight. Strathmore friendly and professional.
  Excellent experience.

• Josue M On 09-Jul-2016

  great tour with the great tour guides. They provide you with the water, corona beer, coffee, fresh bread from local bakeries, and they provide a great experience. I would highly recommend for anyone. If you speak Spanish or want to learn go with the Spanish guided tour its more smaller and more personal rather than the English one which is mostly about 20 people. I would also buy any items at the local shops in cancun or any other place the place the guides take you is a bit expensive and the places in Chichen Itza its also expensive.

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