Today we made our way to our last Mayan site of our Yucaatan tour early in the morning. The ruins of Tulum can be found directly on the beautiful Caribbean beach of the Riviera Maya.
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By bike to the Mayan ruins
Since the site was only two kilometers from our hotel and the weather was bombastic, we just left the car and turned on the bikes (which you could rent for free in our hotel iTour Mexico).
Travelling by bike
Tulum – The Mayan site by the sea
The Mayan site Tulum (unlike all other Mayan sites) is located directly on the sea, which makes the complex special. In addition, the famous Mayan calendar was probably created here.
A map of the Mayan site of Tulum in Mexico
Settled since about 1200, Tulum was 13. and 14th century one of the largest cities of the Yucat anpeninsula. The site itself is very small compared to the others and unfortunately – for conservation reasons – not all buildings are accessible anymore.
The most famous building El Castillo
The most famous and tallest building is the “El Castillo”, which is located directly on the coast side.
Unfortunately, there is not so much left of the other buildings in Tulum. The special charm of the site is simply the magnificent location on the beach. The other buildings had quickly expired, so we left the facility after just over an hour.
Our current route along the Mexican Riviera
The return journey by bike to the hotel took only about 10 minutes. After checking out, the journey with our small rental car then continued north. The next stop was after only a few kilometers the small town of Akumal, a small tourist resort on the Mexican Riviera. From there we went on to Cancun.
Snorkeling with turtles in Akumal
“Acumal” means “place of turtles” in the Mayan language – and that was the reason for our stop. By the way, about 200 other people probably thought the same thing 😉 We parked at a diving center in the village and borrowed fins. You also have to rent life jackets here, as these are mandatory if you want to go snorkeling in the bay. From the diving center you can get directly to the beach. Then we grabbed our snorkeling equipment and went into the water. And it didn’t really take long for us to see the first turtles. We snorkeled in the bay for about an hour and it was really a great experience.
A video of the turtles in Akumal
So we quickly put on our bathing suits and jumped into the crystal clear water – that was refreshing. And by the way, there are many of the “Garra Rufa” cleaning fish here. Just swim in the middle of the cenote and put it on a stone and it doesn’t take long for the plaster columns to lay their feet and do their work diligently.
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)