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Help for Chichen Itza Tours

Tfish

Tfish

TUG Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Messages
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Location
Burlington Canada
DW and DD would like to do Chichen Itzen light and sound tour from the Royal Mayan.

Should they book thru Thomas Moore for $97 or should they book off the Westjet site that indicates a tour that seems identical for $79?

Is this a good tour? (seems long-13 hours)

Any suggestions on sourcing this tour?

Thanks

Mike
 
It's a good distance from Cancun to Chichen Itza, and the light show begins at dark so it's gonna be a long day. We did it by our own rental car, and stayed the night at Mayaland Hotel adjacent to CI. http://www.mayaland.com/hotelmayaland/index.php This has been a lifetime great memory. I can't speak to the tours.

Jim
 
Tfish said:
DW and DD would like to do Chichen Itzen light and sound tour from the Royal Mayan.
Click to expand...

Why would a Disabled Walrus and a Dead Dachshund want to go to Mexico? Don't get it....
 
Wish I could contribute more, but I took one of these tours about 11 years ago. Long bus trip from Cancun to Chichen Itza....stopping at some little market where the locals sell their wares....lots of bartering....and when back to hotel zone, I found pretty much the same stuff in the local stores!

Plan on a full day! We left early in the am, and arrived back at our hotel in the evening! Very interesting and I think worth the trip, but just realize it will be a long full day.

When I went, we were permitted to climb the pyramid that you have seen pictures of.....I am not positive, but I thought I had read sometime ago, that they no longer permit climbing the pyramid...maybe someone can shed light on that.......I remember climbing down very slowly....the steps seemed a lot steeper going down, then when climbing up!

I thoroughly recommend a tour of Chichen Itza, but again know ahead of time it will take a full day of your vacation.
 
Passepartout said:
It's a good distance from Cancun to Chichen Itza, and the light show begins at dark so it's gonna be a long day. We did it by our own rental car, and stayed the night at Mayaland Hotel adjacent to CI. http://www.mayaland.com/hotelmayaland/index.php This has been a lifetime great memory. I can't speak to the tours.

Jim
Click to expand...

A stay at this place looks like a great idea! My family has been considering a trip to the Yucatan in the next 2-3 years, and this looks like a great addition to the Cancun trip! Thanks for posting this link!
 
Passepartout said:
It's a good distance from Cancun to Chichen Itza, and the light show begins at dark so it's gonna be a long day. We did it by our own rental car, and stayed the night at Mayaland Hotel adjacent to CI. http://www.mayaland.com/hotelmayaland/index.php This has been a lifetime great memory. I can't speak to the tours.

Jim
Click to expand...

Hey Jim, Thanks for sharing this link. What hotel is best ? We too shall be driving a rental car.

Ok doky
Bill
 
riverdees05 said:
I heard that

http://www.entertainment-plus.net/tours/

does a good job. We had several tours set up with them a few years ago, when the swine flu scare hit and had to cancel - no problem with getting a full refund.

I would check them out.
Click to expand...

Many of the tours are just about the same, the only real difference being the price. E-plus used to be the Grayline tour and maybe a bit lower priced.
 
If you can, go with a private van through E+ or Th More rather than a big bus. With the private van you are on your own schedule and you won't be herded through gift shops and cafeterias at which you might not want to stop. I think it takes about 6 people (?) to break even with the bus cost, and it's just sooooo much nicer.

DH and DS (let's see....Dead Horse and Deceased Seal?) went with a smaller group one year, in a van, and said lunch at the hotel was excellent, decently priced, and even with music.

As to the above comments about the long day, yes, it is. I think Chichen Itsa is a must see, but for me once was enough. After any of those long tours you'll be exhausted, hot, and sweaty, and probably just want to fall right into the pool. After tours I always wonder why I left my gorgeous resort for such a long hot tiring day. If they've never done it before, definitely do it - in a van with private driver (who doubles as tour guide) as possible. But don't overdo the tours, don't do more than two during a week - save the rest of your time to enjoy the beautiful Tri-Royals!
 
mbeach89 said:
Wish I could contribute more, but I took one of these tours about 11 years ago. Long bus trip from Cancun to Chichen Itza....stopping at some little market where the locals sell their wares....lots of bartering....and when back to hotel zone, I found pretty much the same stuff in the local stores!

Plan on a full day! We left early in the am, and arrived back at our hotel in the evening! Very interesting and I think worth the trip, but just realize it will be a long full day.

When I went, we were permitted to climb the pyramid that you have seen pictures of.....I am not positive, but I thought I had read sometime ago, that they no longer permit climbing the pyramid...maybe someone can shed light on that.......I remember climbing down very slowly....the steps seemed a lot steeper going down, then when climbing up!

I thoroughly recommend a tour of Chichen Itza, but again know ahead of time it will take a full day of your vacation.
Click to expand...

We may have taken the same trip, about the same time ago, but we were stying in Cozumel, so did the trip to the mainland and got on a bus from there. (Pre-timeshare days.) Exhausting trip on a big bus which pretty much kept us captive and stopped at designated stops for lunch and souvenirs. That said, we were also able to climb the pyramid back then, but coming down was slow. Also, we were there in July I believe and there were ambulances that showed up now and then and hauled people off due to heat exhaustion.

If I had it to do over again, I'd do as Jim or PJ: Take a small commissioned guided tour or drive ourselves, and stop overnight. And I'd go a different time of year. :)
 
muranojo said:
If I had it to do over again, I'd do as Jim or PJ: Take a small commissioned guided tour or drive ourselves, and stop overnight. And I'd go a different time of year. :)
Click to expand...

We made an overnighter out of it with driving to CI, attending the light/sound (in Spanish) show that evening, staying in a secluded bungalow at Mayaland then the next day to Valladolid, a cenote and a whirlwind trip through Merida before heading back to Cancun. For us that was well worth not hanging around any resort.

Jim
 
muranojo said:
. . .
If I had it to do over again, I'd do as Jim or PJ: Take a small commissioned guided tour or drive ourselves, and stop overnight. And I'd go a different time of year. :)
Click to expand...

Very good point - not sure when you're thinking of going, but it is in the jungle and VERY HOT, so if it's summertime, go as early in the day as possible.

We went on May 5 - Cinquo de Mayo - which is a huge holiday. We didn't realize it at the time. Chichen Itza was VERY VERY crowded. There were a lot of special speakers and so forth, but I wouldn't recommend going on any kind of Mexican holiday unless you want even more crowds than usual!
 
The info I am getting is that Chichen Itza is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Cancun. On a map it looks like the distance is about 120 miles. So whats the dealio here. Is the road not a toll road ?
My bil went to Belize from Cancun and said the road is very nice to Tulum. He also thought that the ruins at Tulum and Coba are easier to do than Chichen Itza.
 
Bill, there's both a toll road and a 'free' road to CI. You can guess which one the Mexicans and buses take. The toll road is faster, the freebie goes through all the towns and villages. Lots of stopping opportunities- and lots of 'topes!'

I didn't go the ruins down the coast, but they appeared closer on a map.

Jim
 
We went with Entertainment Plus. We also have done our airport transport with them twice.
http://www.entertainment-plus.net/tours/

On the Chichen Itza trip, we went in a van with about 10 or 12 people. Our guide should have been a professor of Mayan History at a college. He was full of information.

We stopped along the way at a store for shopping. It had jewelry, clothes, pottery, etc. It was a nice break, and we didn't feel pressured to buy anything. Easyrider, the trip takes a while as you do go through some small towns, as well as some military checkpoints where they have their vehicle mounted .50 cals pointed in your general direction. I think they're trying to prevent littering.

The tour itself involved a lot of walking on a hot day. I don't recommend the tour in August, but with some water, we made it. It was very interesting. After, we went to the small hotel for lunch as a group. It was a decent buffet. Then we were free to wander or use the pool. We chose the pool.
 
Been there twice -both in March. Bring water. The equinox is a time when the place is mobbed. Once we drove and once took the bus thru E-plus. When we drove, we took the toll road there and the local roads back. I think the bus is more relaxing.
 
I took a bus tour about 5 years ago. We went from Cancun also. It was the
highlight of our trip. It was interesting watching everyone on the ride there.
It was a long trip but we stopped at a bartering place and it was fun.
We went in December and I really recommend bringing lots of water like it was
suggested earlier.
 
We took the Thomas More 1/2 day tour

We traveled in a van, had a great tour guide & enjoyed breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. We were back by 3pm.
 
Visited the end of October. The hurricane chased us away from the ocean. Spent two nights at a nice hotel in Piste. Took the z class ADO bus going in the pouring rain. Not advised. On the way back took a toll road bus.

The cenote close by is worth a visit.

The benefit of staying overnight is you can beat the heat and crowds.

No climbing up the pyramid. I believe in Coba you still can.
 
We have used Entertainment Plus twice for a trip to Chichen Itza. I highly recommend you all go (not just the D's, unless you're letting them go by themselves) in a hired car/van. By taking the car you get there before the heat of the day and the tourists, or you go later in the day to do some other things and see Chichen Itza at the end of the day for the show.

Valladolid is a nice Spanish style town to visit, but if you've been to Santa Fe or Albuquerque you'll recognize the style. We like it anyway.
 
We enjoyed the light and sound show. Be sure to rent a headphone for everyone in your party. Our tour guide told us there is no need to rent the headphone. So Wrong! We only rented two headphones for the four of us and had to rotate. I guess it is not necessary if you understand Spanish. For us, it is a difference between totally bored and completed interested.
 
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