If you spend any significant amount of time in Cozumel, even if you’re only here for a week or two, you sometimes get the urge to leave the island and go exploring. Sure, you can visit Playa del Carmen or Tulum, or even Cancun, but to really get off the beaten path we recommend Valladolid, an old colonial city established by the Spanish in the mid 1500s. The city is quaint and everything you would expect from an old colonial outpost – colorful buildings, a grand cathedral, and a beautiful square. But it’s also what is around Valladolid that makes the experience of spending a day or two in the area so interesting.
Getting to Valladolid from Cozumel is easy. The city is located about 2.5 hrs from Playa del Carmen, almost exactly half way between Cancún and Mérida. If you rush, you could certainly get to the city and back to Cozumel in one day, but we recommend that you make at least a 2-day trip out of it.
Once in Valladolid, park your car and enjoy the city on foot. All the major attractions are within a 15 min walk of each other. The cathedral, located in the central plaza, is a must, as is the convent located a short walk from the plaza. There is a cenote in town, the cenote Zaci, and it’s worth visiting if you’ve never seen a cenote. If you have, skip it and instead visit the cenotes outside of town.
When you’ve taken in the city, get out of town and visit the grand cenotes and Mayan ruins within a 1/2 hr of town. The X’kekén and Samulá cenotes, located about 15 min from town in Dzitnup, are right next to each other and worth visiting on any day but Sunday, when they are both crowded with local families. Both cenotes are underground; you’ll have to crawl down a narrow set of steps to visit either. Arrive early (both open at 9am) and enjoy a refreshing dip all by your lonesome!
Either before or after your cenote adventure, take a trip to the grand Mayan city of Chichen Itzá, followed by the smaller but more accessible city of Ek’ Balam. Both ruins are located within 1/2 hr of Valladolid, and impressive in their own right. Chicen Itzá is huge and immensely impressive from an architectural standpoint. The main pyramid, the balls courts, the sheer size of the city will leave you breathless.
Ek’ Balam, on the other hand, while a smaller city than Chichen Itzá, is more accessible and intimate. You’ll be able to climb the main pyramid, as large as the one in Chichen Itzá and – this is the best part – you’ll get a chance to cool off in the incredible cenote located within the city after your sweat-inducing tour through it. Walk, rent and ride a bike, or hitch a ride on a rickshaw to the cenote (about 1 mile from the main part of the city) and you’ll be rewarded with a refreshing dip in an entirely open to the sky cenote. Do this right before it closes (4:30pm) and you’ll have the entire cenote to yourself.
Directions
1) From Cozumel, take the ferry to Playa del Carmen.
2) Rent a car in Playa and drive north on the main highway towards Cancún. You will be driving along toll roads so be prepared to pay about 300 pesos in tolls, each way.
3) As you get close to Cancún, you will start seeing sign towards Mérida. Follow the highway towards Mérida.
4) You will see an exit for Valladolid approx. 1 hr after passing Cancún.
Where to Stay
El Meson de Marques – 770 pesos/night. Slightly on the expensive side, but located right on the central square, well-appointed, and with a tasty restaurant on-site.
And here are some more pictures of Valladolid, Chichen Itzá, Ek’ Balam, and the various cenotes close by:
We love it when a traditional industry gets an infusion of talent that leads to new ideas, new concepts, and new businesses. There was an article recently in the New York Times describing three companies that are doing some neat things in the vacation rental industry: Airbnd, iStopOver, and crashpadder. All three companies are seeking to provide a place where people can go to rent a vacation accommodation, whether it’s a room in somebody’s house or the entire house or condo. The sites fill a void that exists in the industry between sites like CouchSurfing which focus on, literally, finding a couch to crash on during your vacation and sites like VRBO and TripAdvisor, which cater to owners of second homes or their property managers. The latter group, such as our company, often list multiple properties on the same site.
What’s different about Airbnd, iStopOver, and crashpadder is that they offer rentals of people’s actual apartments, condos, or houses, at lower prices than could otherwise be found on second home sites like VRBO or TripAdvisor. At least that’s the idea, and it’s true in most cases. But what’s starting to already happen is that even these sites are getting “infiltrated” by owners of second homes. We wonder how long it will be before even sites like these, some of which are venture-backed, get snapped up by the 600 pound gorilla in the rental vacation business, HomeAway, and wither away into yet another uncharacteristic vacation rental site?
Until that happens, cudos to the people behind the sites. It’s great to see such innovation in this otherwise somewhat staid industry.
The Temazcal, or Aztec/Mayan sweat bath (the word temazcal comes from the Nahuatl word temazcalli (“house of heat”) is one of those Cozumel experiences you shouldn’t miss. Like the Punta Molas tour we wrote about earlier, it’s an off-the-beaten-path activity the island needs more of.
The Cozumel Temazcal is an experience that takes you – physically, mentally, spiritually - away from the daily hustle and bustle of downtown, away from any stress that you may be experiencing in your life, and into the deep jungles of Cozumel. For the experience, you will drive for 15 min along a singe-lane jungle road, scraping the deep jungle overgrowth, trudging through gigantic puddles of thunderstorms long gone, finally arriving at a clearing where Petrus, and his Mayan-descended assistants, will welcome you to begin the journey.
For the first hour, you will relax in a hammock, hummingbirds buzzing in the background, the smell of lava rocks warming, while Petrus takes you through the history of the Temazcal and it’s importance to the Mayans that still inhabit the Yucatan peninsula and Cozumel. Following your history lesson, you will go into the sweat lodge itself, where Petrus will take you through four stages of lava-stone induced sweating. In each stage, you will focus on a different part of the cleansing process – chanting, singing, focusing on releasing the toxins that have built up in your body over time. You will emerge after an hour for what is perhaps the hi-light of the entire experience: a cool bath in a jungle cenote, or fresh-water sing hole.
And, if at the end of your experience, you’re still up for an adventure, Petrus will take you on a short jungle walk to rarely seen Mayan ruins.
If you want to learn more about the Temazcal, Dr. Horacio Rojas Alba has written a great article on the custom here.
For more information about the Cozumel Temazcal visit: http://www.temazcalcozumel.com/
And here are some more pictures of the whole experience:
One of the things missing in the tourism industry of Cozumel is the promotion of the island’s Mayan history. The island has many tours and attractions, yet very few of them explore the island’s rich history as a Mayan trading port and sacred pilgrimage point. San Gavasio, the sanctuary of the Goddess Ix Chel, the fertility goddess, is really the only Mayan ruin on the island that is promoted in any way. There are others – El Cedral, Castillo Real, and El Caracol, to name a few, discovered sites – but none are widely known or visited.
Adrian’s Punta Molas tour is one of the rare tours on the island that seeks the Mayan part of the island’s history. Adrian is the owner of Especias restaurant, Cozumel Kite Boarding, the Puro Mar Surf/Kite shop, and a several generation resident of Cozumel.
On the tour, you will not only get to visit the far north part of the island (snorkeling, relaxing, hiking), a place where you will typically only find local fisherman, but you will also get to see a rarely seen Mayan sound house, a structure built to signal an upcoming hurricane. Hats off to Adrian for providing a much needed service on the island. If you would like to go on the tour, contact us.
Here are some more pictures of Adrian’s tour.
Our friend Emily at www.cozumelchef.com has posted a great review of El Pique, one of our favorite taco/torta places in Cozumel. Here’s the review, and if you ever need a fantastic fine dining private chef in Cozumel, Emily is a chef you absolutely must contact.
“When you think of traditional Mexican cuisine what can be better than tacos? Cozumel is strewn with taquerias of all different shapes and sizes. From street vendors to full-blown restaurants with cantinas, taquerias are on every corner like Starbucks are in New York.
Friday night has been donned as “Taco Night” where my fiancé and I try new taco places. We have tried places where tourists frequent but do they really know what tacos are all about? Who better than to trust than the local Mexicans? We may be taking a risk to eat of the beaten path, but we have yet to be disappointed with our decisions. If you think you have a weak stomach just pack the “pink milkshake” (a.k.a Pepto Bismol) to go, some of these places are a must try and should not be missed! Or, drink Horchata that is served at most taco places, as I swear this chalky, almond tasting substance is meant to settle the stomach while eating greasy food.
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