On our tour through Yucatan, we are especially looking forward to getting to know some of the most famous Mayan ruins of Mexico. These definitely include Chichén Itza, Uxmal, Tulum and Edzna – but today we start with the slightly lesser-known Mayan town of Kohunlich and a subsequent visit to the old town of Campeche.
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The Mayan site Of Kohunlich
The Mayan site Of Kohunlich was only rediscovered in 1912 by an American. The former city was settled around 200 BC, with much of the remaining fragments of buildings dating from 250 to 600 AD. When we arrived at the site at around 9 o’clock in the morning, there were not many people there – just a small German tour group. In total, it took us a good 1.5 hours to walk through the facility.
It is believed that about 10,000 inhabitants lived in Kohunlich. This is somehow hard to imagine when you stand in the middle of the site and look at the facility. The most famous building in Kohunlich is the Temple of Masks – a pyramid that is equipped with three masks on each side of the stairs.
The city of Campeche on the Gulf of Mexico
After the visit to the Mayan site, we had the 370 km long route to Campeche. In the late afternoon we reached the city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Campeche is located on the Gulf of Mexico and has about 220,000 inhabitants.
Our Hotel in Campeche
After checking in at our hotel H177, we strolled a bit through the city center of Campeche.
The hotel is located in the heart of Campeche’s old town. There are many small restaurants in the surrounding area, which invite you to linger. In the streets around the hotel you can park for free. The first room we got was unfortunately without daylight. Since we didn’t want to, we got another room on the ground floor – with windows and a view to the street. It was still ok in terms of volume. We had a twin room, i.e. two separate beds. Unfortunately it smelled a bit musty, since even the strongest level of the air conditioning did not help. The bathroom was clean, everything was right here. However, we had to borrow a hair dryer at the reception.
Our room at Hotel H177
The Tourist Attractions in the old town of Campeche
The highlight of the old town is the Plaza Grande with cathedral, the completion of which took 200 years. In the cobbled streets of the city centre you can see colourfully painted cottages everywhere, which looks quite pretty. In the pedestrian zone, which was stocked with all sorts of whimsical art objects, we then looked for a place in a pizzeria and let the evening end comfortably. Since 1999, the city of Campeche has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
All travelogues from Yucatan (Mexico)
For Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula we put together a nice self-drive route, which we could drive on our own with a rental car. We absolutely wanted to see the many famous Mayan sites like Chichen Itza, Tulum, Uxam, Edzna or Kohunlich, get to know some cities like Merida or Campeche and finally relax a few days on the beach in Cancun. All in all, a beautiful route of over 1,400 kilometres, which can be ideally explored in 10-14 days.
» Day 1: By ferry from San Pedro (Belize) to Chetumal (Mexico)» Day 2: he Mayan ruins Of Kohunlich & the Old Town of Campeche (Mexico)
» Day 3: The Mayan Ruins of Edzna & Uxmal on Yucatan (Mexico)
» Day 4: The city of Merida & the flamingos of Celestun (Mexico)
» Day 5: Chichen Itza – The ruins of the Mayan site on Yucatan (Mexico)
» Day 5: Cenote Samula – The Underwater Cave in Valladolid (Mexico)
» Day 6: The Mayan site Tulum & Snorkeling with turtles (Mexico)
» Day 7: Cancun – Wreck Diving in the Caribbean with Aquaworld (Mexico)
» Day 8: Cancun – Relaxing at the All-Inclusive Resort (Mexico)