Desire Resort Forums

We are thinking about our first trip to Pearl this summer. In addition to the resort, we also want to do tourist things like see the Mayan ruins.
Any suggestions on tourist attractions - what to see, how to get there, etc?

Also - any safety concerns with traveling outside the resort? I saw the advisory about the increase cartel and murder activity in Cancun. I'm wondering how much of that is visible in the tourist areas.

We are going to Pearl for our first time in a few weeks. We both really wanted to see Mayan ruins, so we have a day trip planned through alltournative.com which had great reviews on Trip Advisor.

To be honest though, I'm a bit nervous about the increased cartel violence in the area as well, and I'm rethinking traveling outside the resort area.

There are lots pf things to see on the Yucatan, however my recommendation would be to not waste your valuable and expensive Desire time going off campus - if you are really serious about doing some of the tours that will take you the better part of a whole day then on your next Desire trip come down a couple of days early, book an inexpensive resort in the hotel zone and use that as a base for your tours.

We've been traveling to the Yucatan for over 15 years and as recently as last November still have no concerns about our safety when traveling outside the resort .

however my recommendation would be to not waste your valuable and expensive Desire time going off campus

DITTO!
Go a couple of days early or stay a couple days after the Desire trip, but DO NOT pay for "Desire Time" and waste a day seeing Mayan attractions. BTW -- Evidently all the Mayans ever built were "ruins". Nothing else to see.

Life is Good!

Dunno we went to Chichen Itza once, while a long trip there and back, it was worth every minute there, really awesome to see. Got to swim in a Cenote too, that was fun. We left early around 9, and back by dinner. The temp in the interior of the Yucatan was incredibly hot, then again this was July. Be prepared if you go in the summer. Would do it again.

Went to Chichen Itza in February last year. Left early morning, and by 10:00 am it was hotter than Hell.

Go early if you're going and bring hats and water - there's not much shade.

Fantastic trip - but hot.

Chichen Itza is great, the main pyramid is very well preserved and the whole area is filled with very interesting ruins. As the previous poster said it can get really hot there, so be prepared.
We also went to Cobà three years ago and while the pyramid there is in worse shape than CI you can still actually climb it which makes for a very different experience. Once at the top the view makes you feel like you're lost in the jungle. We really enjoyed it. Tulum is the closest one to Puerto Morelos, if I remember correctly. Very beautiful place, the view of the ruins against the sea background is fantastic. It was also very hot when we visited, and there is no shade to speak of, so don't forget sunscreen and a hat.
In all three cases we chose to do the visits while staying at a vanilla resort nearby. Leaving Desire is heartbreaking enough, no need to do it twice in one stay.