GUIDE TO VISIT CHICHÉN ITZÁ: THE MOST FAMOUS MAYAN RUINS IN MEXICO

The Chichen Itza set It is probably the main and most important archaeological zone of the entire Yucatan Peninsula. Not surprisingly, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 and its famous Kukulkan Pyramid is one of the new Seven Wonders of the Modern World. But the archaeological site hides many other fascinating corners. In this post we tell you everything you need to visit Chichen Itza for free:

Brief history ofChichen Itza

The city of Chichen Itza was founded by the Itzaes Maya in the sixth century and dedicated to the god Kukulkan: "the feathered serpent." The meaning of the name Chichen Itza is “mouth of the itzaes well“, Referring to the Sacred Cenote that can still be visited today, and which was considered the entrance to the underworld. It is in this precise place where the majority of sacrifices were made to the gods.

The development of Chichen Itza as great power center of Yucatán It was quite late, as well as many of its most important buildings, which have marked influence of the Toltec people.

Although the beginnings of the city were calm, the more the power grew the more the conflicts with neighboring towns. The continuous struggles resulted in the fall of the city and the abandonment of it. However, the impressive legacy was already up and would withstand the passing of years and new invaders, to this day.

* Video from inah.gob.mx

If you stay in Valladolid it is perfect, it is about 40 minutes on a road in good condition and without traffic. It is only somewhat more congested in the last part before arriving at the parking lot. Right there you will see guides beckoning you to stop and offer their services, you can also hire them in the entrance hall. By the way, the price of parking is 30 pesos.

After going through the box office and paying the 254 pesos of the ticket (2019-2020 update: 481 pesos), start your visit to the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza! And you'll be so excited that you want to go straight to the Pyramid of Kukulkan, right? Do not worry because it is the first thing you are going to find. In the enclosure there are several zones or sets of structures, then we propose a optimal route to visit:

- As we said, you will start in the Pyramid of Kukulkan (or also called Castillo). If you arrived very early, take advantage that there will not be many people to surround it and contemplate every detail. Do not be shy and take a few hard pats in front of the north facade, the best preserved, and listen to the sound that when bouncing look like the songs of a quetzal.

- We would continue the journey to Ball gamepassing through Temple of the Jaguars, the Skulls Platform, and ending at the bottom in the Temple of the Bearded Man. The interesting thing is that this area does not have too many places to shelter from the sun, but at this time it is not necessary.

- Now approach the Venus Temple and from there he walks the 350 meters of footpath, crossing the city walls, to the Sacred Cenote. It is a place with a lot of spiritual load, because it is one of the places where offerings were made to the gods, including human sacrifices.

- Returning on our steps, we now turn to Group of the Thousand Columns, a set of temples and buildings surrounded by ... of course, columns. They highlight the Temple of the Tables, the Temple of the Warriors that you will be able to contemplate from different angles (do not miss their low reliefs and at the top the heads protruding from the wall), and at the end of the tour, Market. Although it is not the most interesting area of ​​Chichen Itza, it is a very pleasant road, under the shade of trees and where not too many people are concentrated.

- We return again to the center of the archaeological park, to the Temple of Kukulkan, and this time we visit the last great set, the South set, one of our favorites. First you will find the Tomb of the Priest (or the Ossuary), which rises in front of a small round platform, a rare avis in Mayan architecture. Your feet will find a huge grass esplanade to rest on, better if some cloud gets in between the sun and your head. And in front of you you can contemplate what is considered the mother of Chichen Itza: Observatory. This is where the heavens were consulted on each important issue and where decisions were made that would influence the future of the people.

- Of this southern enclosure also highlights the set of the nuns with impressive reliefs (of the best of the park) and finally the Casa Colorada and his little ball game in the back.

Total the visit without a guide lasts about 3 hours. The way back will be accompanied, in addition to hundreds of other tourists, by the cries of the vendors who have repopulated Chichen Itza with their stalls. Surely you hear the offers at 10 pesos for something that obviously has much more value. When they get your attention, the speech changes and the 10 pesos to which they referred to become 10 Mayan pesos (or what is the same, the value that seems to them), 10 pesos of discount, or 10 pesos costs the most ridiculous they have on the table. It's witty and somehow they have to surprise you, right?

The total price as of November 2018 is 254 pesos, which consists of the entrance of 70 pesos and a contribution to the government of 184 pesos. As we said before, parking costs 30 pesos and there is no road access payment, beyond the fees if you decide to come on a toll road, which is not essential from any of the itineraries.

Unlike other archeological parks such as Ek Balam, in Chichen Itza there are many buildings to which more impressive. Obviously the most famous is the great central pyramid, but there are many others that deserve the visit. We tell you what are the best ruins of Chichen Itza:

Pyramid of Kukulkan

Also known as El Castillo, it is the most important construction of Chichen Itza and hides a few puzzles.

Kukulkan was the most important god of the Maya, after the Toltec influence, which is presented with a snake with feathers. In the equinoxes (and several days before and after), on the northern stairway there is a play of light and shadow in which what looks like the serpentine body of the god is projected, together with the large heads carved at the base of the stairs , making the descent to the earth.

The pyramid is formed by 4 faces and an upper platform, where a temple sits. Each of these faces is crossed by a staircase of 91 steps, which added to the last step, give the sum of 365, the days of a year.

But that's not all, if you look closely, its sides are divided into 9 levels, 18 if we separate the two ends on each side of the stairs, which represent the 18 months of the Mayan civil calendar. Also in these levels we can see up to a total of 52 panels, which correspond to the 52-year cycle of this calendar. As you can see, the term "temple of time" is quite accurate.

In total, the height of the pyramid is 25 meters, very interior to other ruins of the Yucatan Peninsula. However, it is the best restored and, although its rise has been banned since 2006 after a lady's collapse, the perfection of the building leaves one speechless. To break this silence, it is best to summon the quetzales: stand about 50 meters in front of the north face and give firm palms. The bounce of the sound in the pyramid resembles the singing of these birds.

Great Ball Game

The number of old Ball Games in Mexico is almost infinite, but this is the largest of all and the best preserved. They are two huge parallel walls, each with a very high stone ring, where the teams had to hit with a rubber ball. This game was very popular among the Maya, so much so that many times here conflicts between different cities were resolved. Yes, many ended up in beheadings. In this one can specifically see reliefs of these scenes. At the north end of the Ball Game the Barbado Temple, where the rulers and powerful used to observe the parties.

Skulls Platform (Tzompantli)

On this platform the severed heads of the enemies used to be displayed. Although you will no longer see skeletal remains (hurts ...), you can see the engravings of heads on their sides. At his side is theTemple of the Eagles and the Jaguars, which also has interesting eagles decorations with hearts between its claws.

Sacred Cenote

Many objects have been found as offerings to the gods. But also human remains, and this is where human sacrifices were made. The story of how these “treasures” have been recovered from the bottom of the cenote is curious: an American bought the land in 1893 and began exploring the bottom of the cenote, extracting lots of jewelry and relics (and human and animal remains) . Many of these treasures were sold illegally to the United States. mostly to the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology in Cambridge. The Mexican government denounced the plunder and finally got the majority of ppiezas returned. This story is told in more detail here.

The little you can see today in the Cenote is a large hole in the ground with an intense green water and surrounded by climbing plants. But remember that this was the place of pilgrimage especially important for the Mayan culture.

Thousand Columns set

It is what remains of a set of small structures in which the columns predominated. Although in ancient times it was not an especially important area, the maze of columns gives game to shoot some pictures.

Temple of the Warriors

For us, one of the most beautiful of Chichen Itza. It has a pyramidal structure of 4 heights and, although it cannot be accessed, from the distance you can see the reliefs of the scenes of warriors and heads protruding from the wall at the top.

Temple of the Priest (The Ossuary)

At first glance it looks like a version of the Pyramid of Kukulkan in small. They emphasize the snake heads that are at the base of the stairs. Apparently, at the top of the pyramid there is a hole that connects to an interior cave, which would be used as a burial chamber.

The Observatory (El Caracol)

It is the place where the behavior of the stars was studied and where the great decision making was consulted. Therefore, all the important affairs of the city were cooked here. Inside the Spaniards found a circular staircase, so they renamed it Caracol. In addition to its importance in Mayan life, the circular building itself is truly amazing. In front of him lies a small prairie where to lie down and relax, contemplating its beauty.

Las Monjas set

Here you can see the best preserved reliefs of the entire enclosure and a set of quite peculiar and different buildings. The name was given by the Spaniards who when they first saw it resembled a church, although in reality it was a palaces where the Mayan royalty lived.

Casa Colorada

Although it does not have special importance, the dimensions do not leave anyone indifferent and highlights a small Ball Game in its back.

- The schedule It is from 08:00 to 17:00 every day.

- The entry price, in 2019-2020, is 481 pesos (foreign)

- We recommend arrive early, before even opening the enclosure at 8 in the morning. Tours that arrive from Cancun usually do so after 10, so you have a margin of a couple of hours until everything is full of people.

- We recommend using the app Maps.me, where each of the locations in the archeological zone is very well detailed. You can use the geolocation and the arrow to know which direction to take at any time. Of course, remember to download the map of this area and then use it offline.

- If we had to choose a place where hire a guide visitIt would probably be this. At the entrance there are many official (and unofficial) guides that offer their services. You can hire them at the moment or book it online here (includes the ticket).

- Yes are you hungryIn the premises there is a restaurant, although as you can guess the prices are quite high. If you opt for the cheapest option, at the nearby town of Piste There are several restaurants that offer a buffet for good prices, that you find out will be handled by some flyer dealers at the exit of the parking lot. We followed the recommendation of one of them and went to eat at the Sac Be restaurant, with a buffet at 65 pesos and drinks at 30, which surprised us well.

- To arrive as soon as possible, it is best that you lodges nearby. Here we leave you accommodation options in Valladolid, accommodation in Izamal and accommodation in Mérida.

- More information on its official website.

- Although if you don't have your own transport, you can always join a day tour. These are the most interesting:

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After visiting more than 10 archaeological sites throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, without any doubt, Chichen Itza takes the first prize. This is an essential visit if you are traveling to the Riviera Maya and want to know more about the Mayan civilization. We hope that, with all this information, we can help you planning your visit to Chichen Itza.

* Main Photocredit: by Marv Watson on Unsplash