Desire Resort Forums

We would like to see the famous Mayan ruins in Mexico.
Any suggestions on how to go about booking this trip? Should we book this when we arrive at Desire / Temptation?
Which location is closer to the ruins?

Also, any suggestions on tour operators? Please feel free to add any general suggestions.

thanks

LOL - there are a fair number of Mayan ruins in the area - the best known are:

Chichen Itza, the largest of all of them, but it is the furthest away and leaving from either of the Desire properties or TTR will take you one whole day (ie leave at 8am and back by 6 -7pm) - also the most expensive of the choices

Tulum is the closest of all the choices to either of the Desire properties or TTR and second in size to Chichen Itza - you can easily do it in half a day or combine it with another tour (ie Coba, XEL-HA, etc

Coba is smaller than Tulum and a bit further away you can easily do it in a morning or combine it with another tour (ie Tulum, XEL-HA, etc

Here is a link where you can book any of these tours using the same company that the forum supports for your transfers - further info on all the locations is available thru the link below
Book Mayan Ruins Tours

A very good combo is Tulum/Cobá. I'd suggest visit Cobá first (arriving there around 9:00 AM) because it's very hot and humid and you need to walk a lot. Then Tulum ruins (the only by the sea in all world) and finally a beach club at Tulum (the best beaches of the área), where you may be topless or even nude (south from the ruins) It will take almost a whole day, but it worths. Take in mind Tulum is 1:15 hours from Desire and Cobá is 30 minutes further.

Chichén Itzá are one of the most spectacular archeological site in Mexico (my favorite is Palenque). As CokeMan said, it's around 2 hours either from Desire or Temptations, and the tour inside the ruins takes around 3 to 4 hours.

If you feel safe driving in Mexico, that would be the best way to do those tours. That's we use to do, but we're Mexican.

Enjoy!

Thank you both! You guys are really awesome.
Would you know if I can book these trips at Desire / temptations ? Sometimes the hotels partner with travel companies and that helps with the pick up etc.

cancun747 wrote:Thank you both! You guys are really awesome.
Would you know if I can book these trips at Desire / temptations ? Sometimes the hotels partner with travel companies and that helps with the pick up etc.

Yes you can book at either of the resorts "tour desks" however most of the the tours they sell are public - ie you are grouped together with others going from various resorts - so just like public(shared transfers) you wait while others are collected from and dropped back to their respective resorts.

The link below where you can book any of these tours using the same company(USA Transfers) that the forum supports for your transfers and they are competitively priced with the resorts "tour desks"- you do have a choice with them however to do either a public or private tour(although the private is more extensive I would advise that choice) USA Transfers would of course handle pick up/drop offs if you do the private route
- further info on all the locations is available thru the link below
Book Mayan Ruins Tours

Last time we were at Desire RM, we booked a private excursion to Tulum with snorkeling at Cenote Do Ojos and in Yal-Ku lagoon through Edventure Tours (edventuretours.com.mx). We found them through Trip Advisor and opted to book a private tour guide for the day to guarantee that we weren't in a tour group with families (and we didn't want to risk a bus load of families or closed minded people pulling up to Desire to pick us up and give us looks all day). Plus the day was on our time and included lunch. The tour guide was incredible and we had such a phenomenal experience that we booked with them again to take us snorkeling with sea turtles at Akmul and zip lining when we come back in a few weeks. If you're interested in seeing some of the ruins, we would definitely recommend looking into Edventure Tours (you do need to book with them beforehand). Have a great time with whatever you decide to do.

We visited Chichen Itza & Ik Kil cenote a little over a year ago -

We got a group of 3-couples together, hired USA Transfers for a private van. It takes about 3hrs to get to Chichen Itza - its a long drive through the jungle, not much to see along the way. We all paid about $85 each for the van which included all the toll roads, tickets into Chichen Itza and a buffet lunch & swimming at Ik Kil Cenote.

Tips:
For $75 US you can hire a private tour guide once at the ruins - Pay the money, its worth it. They spend about an hour with you and explain everything like a Nat Geo special. Our guide had a Ipad with him and showed us tons of close up pictures while giving us a long tour.
Ensure your van has a radio - its a long drive!
Ask USA Transfers for a ice chest. have the restaurant fill it ice and bring along plenty of water, sodas, and beer. Its very hot & humid in the jungle with no breeze. Those drinks will be a life-saver and your driver will appreciate a cold beer once you stop at Ik Kil.
Add on Ik Kil - it's an amazing cenote, one of the best if not the best in all of Central America. Fresh water swimming in a giant underground cave. Its like $12 a person and includes a buffet lunch (drinks like water is not included)
Plan your trip by laving early, 8am and plan to be back to Desire around 6pm. Your not on a schedule even though your driver would like to leave each place faster, so take your time and relax and walk around after the tour and enjoy yourself.

It's something you have to do once!

C2C wrote:We visited Chichen Itza & Ik Kil cenote a little over a year ago -

We got a group of 3-couples together, hired USA Transfers for a private van. It takes about 3hrs to get to Chichen Itza - its a long drive through the jungle, not much to see along the way. We all paid about $85 each for the van which included all the toll roads, tickets into Chichen Itza and a buffet lunch & swimming at Ik Kil Cenote.

Tips:
For $75 US you can hire a private tour guide once at the ruins - Pay the money, its worth it. They spend about an hour with you and explain everything like a Nat Geo special. Our guide had a Ipad with him and showed us tons of close up pictures while giving us a long tour.
Ensure your van has a radio - its a long drive!
Ask USA Transfers for a ice chest. have the restaurant fill it ice and bring along plenty of water, sodas, and beer. Its very hot & humid in the jungle with no breeze. Those drinks will be a life-saver and your driver will appreciate a cold beer once you stop at Ik Kil.
Add on Ik Kil - it's an amazing cenote, one of the best if not the best in all of Central America. Fresh water swimming in a giant underground cave. Its like $12 a person and includes a buffet lunch (drinks like water is not included)
Plan your trip by laving early, 8am and plan to be back to Desire around 6pm. Your not on a schedule even though your driver would like to leave each place faster, so take your time and relax and walk around after the tour and enjoy yourself.

It's something you have to do once!

Leaving Desire from 8 AM to 6PM .....NO WAY !!!! IMposible to mix Desire and does kind of activities....LOL.

C2C wrote:Tips:
For $75 US you can hire a private tour guide once at the ruins - Pay the money, its worth it. They spend about an hour with you and explain everything like a Nat Geo special. Our guide had a Ipad with him and showed us tons of close up pictures while giving us a long tour.

Be sure the private tour guide is an authorized one. They have an INAH I. D.. Otherwise you may receive lots of false or imprecise information. The authorized ones speak perfectly your language and know their work.

We were able to hire a driver and a car at the resort but this was back in 06. The driver was bilingual, professional and took on the no toll road so that we could see some of the small towns on the way to the pyramids. We stopped off for a little while in Valliivoid (?) and walked around the village. Once we arrived at Chichen Itza we hired our own bilingual guide (Eddie) and got the royal tour. Yes it was a bit expensive but it was well worth the added expense to visit what I consider the 9th wonder of the world. On the way back to the resort the scenery, going into the towns and the professionalism of the driver got us interested in the possibility of retiring to Mexico

Before you book from a tour group check carefully on :

1. how many stops to other resorts you will be making to pick up other tourists and consider how much time that adds to the tour

2. how far out of the way these pick ups and drop offs actually are

3. how much time you actually spend at the ruins and if you will have time to see what you plan to see

4. how much of the tour time is dedicated to the "included lunch" (and be aware these type of stops in reality may offer good food / some entertainment BUT also include a high-pressure trinket shopping venue you must go through in order to get back to your bus or van)

5. ask if your transport includes restroom stops and bottled water, not just 'free' cervesa or sodas

We met a couple at Pearl in early June who were excited to "explore" Chitchen Itza. They were picked up at Pearl and found they would be driving first to Playa del Carmen then to Cancun to pick up other tourists before heading toward the ruins. They had a little over an hour to look around the ruins before being shuttled to the above mentioned lunch/trinket stop. I don't know what time this adventure began but they arrived back at Pearl long after dinner (as they were the last drop off) and furious they had such a short time to actually see the ruins.