We got the boat back from Cozumel in mid morning, before walking back through Playa to catch an ADO bus to Valladolid. The “bus” wasn’t quite a bus and was more of a minivan. We were on the back row – which was 4 seats and there definitely wasn’t enough space! We were squished the whole way!
We both slept most of the drive, which is rare for us as we both like to look out of the window and enjoy the journey, but this part of Mexico is pretty unremarkable. It’s incredibly flat and featureless, and the main road doesn’t really pass through any towns or even villages to look at….
We arrived in Valladolid and we’re a bit confused about the time, had that journey only been 1.5 hours??? It felt a lot longer! And it was! Apparently we crossed a time line, since Valladolid and the towns after follow daylight savings, the clocks had gone back 1 hour!
Valladolid is a quaint town, and I’d previously visited about 5 years ago, which is why I’d wanted to come back. But this time, it was SOOO BUSY and full of tourists. Granted, most were just here for the afternoon, visiting on tour buses from Cancun, likely after their Chichen Itza visit. And it did quieten in the evening and the mornings. But the feeling had definitely changed in the town and it was much more commercial than I remembered.
Still, we liked it and jokingly called it ‘the Northern Quarter of Mexico’, as it has loads of little (pretentious!) cafes, independent boutique clothing shops and vegan cafes. Plus countless beetle cars and instagrammable streets. It reminded us of the Northern Quarter in Manchester!
Our room was in a little hostel on Calle 48, right in the centre of all the Northern-quarterness, which was a perfect location. And after our tiny space in Cozumel, our room felt like a mansion!
We visited one of the local vegan cafes and had some of the BEST tacos I’ve ever had! On fresh corn tortillas it was a trio of three different styles of tacos meant to taste like the original meat versions, but with soya or seitan instead and they were INCREDIBLE. So much so, we came back a second time a couple of days later!
The main things to do in Valladolid are to visit the nearby Maya ruins, of which Chichen Itza is the most famous, or to visit some of the many cenotes.
Cenotes are a fascinating feature of the Yucatán Peninsula, a remnant of the Chicxulub asteroid impact that struck the region around 66 million years ago. This event marked the end of the Cretaceous period, triggering massive wildfires, tsunamis, and a ‘nuclear winter’ effect that led to the extinction of about 75% of all species, including the dinosaurs. The asteroid impact weakened the region’s limestone bedrock, causing the formation of vast sinkholes and underground cave systems, which have since filled with water, creating all these stunning cenotes, perfect for cooling off in the hot climate!
As I said, I’ve been to this region before a few years ago and visited Chichen Itza then, and Dave wasn’t so fussed to see it, so in an attempt to escape the crowds, we visited nearby Ek Balam ruins instead. Our hostel had a transport option which would take us to Ek Balam, plus 2 cenotes as well, for just 250 pesos each. Considering the bus to Ek Balam was 160 each, we thought the extra stops at some nice cenotes were worth it, and it absolutely was, the cenotes were quite far away actually, so the cost of transport was definitely worth it.
The journey started in a private taxi too, which was very comfortable, then at the first cenote we joined a yellow tour bus for the rest of the journey.
Ek Balam was nice, but it’s quite a small site compared to others I’ve visited before and we were done in about 1.5 hours. Especially since it started raining whilst we were here. Conveniently… It started right when we were at the top of the main pyramid 🤣 of course…
After Ek Balam, the first cenote was Chukum, a closed one, basically a cave with a couple of small openings letting in light which was cool. This cenote was very commercial and had large changing rooms, a restaurant and inside, ziplines and jumps, but given the overcast rainy day, the water was not super appealing and was pretty cold actually!!! I got in and out almost immediately, but Dave did a few ziplines!
Chukum was also quite expensive, and the entrance fee was 350 pesos, which we didn’t think was worth it really, although we did enjoy it.
The 2nd cenote was Secreto Maya, which was 250 pesos entrance and much more interesting, we definitely preferred this one. It was also seemingly still a secret too (as the name suggested) as there was hardly anyone here, and when we first got in the water, we were the only ones in it!
It was still overcast and cool, but the water here didn’t feel as cold as Chukum and we spent a good hour and a half swimming and relaxing in it.
Cenotes are a cool, unique feature of this region, and despite the high entrance fees we really enjoyed these 2 and would like to visit more in Merida if we can. My previous experience with Cenotes was that they are a mosquito heaven, but at this time of the year (Feb) it actually wasn’t bad at all and we were able to relax and enjoy them ☺️
We returned to the bus and headed back to Valladolid, but the driver had one more hidden spot for us, and we visited a local Maya village which had a 3rd kind of cenote (we’d visited a closed one (cave) an open one…) and now a dead or dying one, which was basically a dried up cenote full of soil and vegetation instead.
We stayed in the village for coffee and bread provided by a family or the Maya village. They let Dave take a photo after. The Maya women are so small, they must look at me and see a giant!
After a day of spending a lot of money visiting the cenotes (honestly, we didn’t expect the entrance fees to be so much!) our 2nd day was very chill and we just mooched about the town and enjoyed more tacos!
What a lovely introduction to a traditional Mexican town, we did enjoy it, but we also found it expensive and quite touristy and, at times, a little inauthentic. Which meant we were really looking forward to Merida and Campeche. Merida, the biggest city in this region of Mexico should be a bit cheaper and more easy to travel around, and Campeche should be more authentic. Let’s see!
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