If you want to stay for one night near Chichen Itza, I recommend Hacienda Chichen Itza over Mayaland. The latter gets lots of tour buses stopping for lunch on the grounds although I have heard you can escape from them. Hacienda CI is smaller and no tour groups, it was built in the 1920s to house the Carnegie Expedition and has lovely grounds and a nice big pool to cool off in, good food also.
Puerto Morelos is a nice place to stay, some places beachfront close to town like Hacienda Morelos. If you do stay there, look into visiting the Jungle Spa where you can get a nice massage done by local Mayan women, easy to take a cab there, it is outside the town, other side of the highway. Check out their website and see if that appeals.
I agree with patywolf about skipping the ziplining, the countryside in that part of Mexico is just flat and scrubby with nothing much to see. If you insist, skip very overrun Xplor and do it at Selvatica instead, not far from PoMo.
I would skip those activities too as I am a history/culture traveler with hiking/biking for avivities but....DH is not. He likes those things too but loves to work out and be active so that's my compromise to get him to go. Travel insurance when I start booking things? Or some kind of medical travel insurance?
I will probably skip staying at Chichen Itza now that I feel like I can get there easily and early from Valladolid. But thank you for clarifying Hacienda Chichen Itza. I wanted the Carnegie place for the history so if I choose to overnight there, I will get the right place.
I looked at Hacienda Morelos and the jungle spa and Puerto Morelos in general last night and I think that's much more our speed than PDC. We can still go there for a couple of hours to see it but don't have to stay.
I will check out Selvetica.
Thanks for all the info.
Yeah, Valladolid would be perfect - easy to get to from Cancun and the Mayan ruins of Chitzen Itza and Ek Balam nearby. The nearby cenotes are great, one of them right in town just a couple blocks walk from the main plaza.
As far as the nervous spouse - no need to worry. Valladolid is on the gringo trail and while many locals may not speak English, hotel staff, tour operators and many shop keepers will. In Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Cozumel no problem with just English. Tulum would be a good beach stop - not so hectic as Cancun, lots of English spoken and the ruins at Tulum are worth seeing (can also do a tour to Coba from there) and there are some zip-line adventure parks outside of town.
I debated a car but figures the bus system would be less stressful, given his nervousness about not >being able to speak/read Spanish. He heard a story about somebody getting pulled over and not >being able to communicate with the cop. But I will have to think more about it. Sure would be easier.
And if we had a car I wouldn't have to worry about transportation to the airport the last day.
Actually, IMO having a car is less stressful. No need to figure out bus schedules, no need to speak to anyone in Spanish, just get in and go, in immediate air conditioned comfort after sweating at various ruins. Driving in the Yucatan seemed pretty easy to us, not much different than the US. Roads are in good shape. Do watch out for the frequent speed bumps though. Signage is good to the sights and you can carry a map (see Mapchicks site) and/or use your GPS. Stick to the posted speed limits, no matter what others are doing or how often the signs change, and there's no pretense to be pulled over. As to gas station scams, which do exist, showing the denomination of paper peso bills and reinforcing with fingers held up (a full tank for an economy car holds about 400 pesos) works and should avoid one scam and keeping an eye on the pump, one other. But do get a phrase book for him in addition to your own list. Easyway has been problem free for us, all costs up front (take all the insurance), good staff, reliable cars (get one with a trunk to keep your stuff out of sight), desk person speaks good English.
With a week's timeframe, I would arrange to land as early as possible and head directly to Valladolid on the toll road (boring and endlessly empty, 2 hours, we take water and snacks, toll is not paid until most of the way in, get pesos in cash at airport ATM) to look around the town. If it is Sunday, there is a cultural program and dancing on the square. See Ek Balam the second morning and spend the afternoon at a cenote. If you want, move to Mayaland or equal for the second night, to visit Chichen Itza the second morning, or just start the drive early from Valladolid . Another cenote in the hot afternoon. One more night where you stayed the one before. Then head for Tulum via the ruins at Coba. Sleep in Tulum. See the ruins, the beach below them, relax and enjoy the rest of the beach area from one of the restauranst/clubs, take a half-day tour into the Sian Ka'an biosphere to float the Maya canals and more, visit some cenotes. Head for Puerto Morelos (about 20 minutes from airport) to spend your last night (or maybe two if you also want to spend part of a day in touristy Playa del Carmen).
Have a great trip.
I am a history/culture traveler with hiking/biking for avivities....
Twice while I stayed in Valladolid I rented bicycles to explore the countryside and villages nearby. Mexican bicycles are harder to pedal and not as reliable as those many foreign tourists are accustomed to, and there are more hazards on the road, but that's part of the fun of traveling. If you're interested I'll give you a sample route.
can anyone remember the name of the town with the cathedral wait a collapsed roof?
http://www.yucatanliving.com/destinations/the-yucatan-railway-museum
I would also suggest the full 2 weeks, you can NOT run out of things to do in Mexico. If your devious plan is to get your husband comfortable with travel outside the US so you can plan more trips, well it's a good one, not that that's your intention..............
Start off easy, Puerto Morelos, Valladolid and Merida. The head down to Santa Elena and explore the Ruta Puuc area, nice relaxing ruins, very few people and a lot of fun. The small town of Santa Elena is very interesting.
Then drop down to Calakmul, it will be your highlight of the trip, huge complex, pristine jungle, tons of wildlife, few people and you can climb all over the complex.
Over to Xpujil, very cool area with several smaller ruins but excellent, Becan is outstanding. Then to Bacalar, really cool small town with a beautiful crystal clear lake, a fort to explore with a nice small museum and great eats in the town, over to Mahahual, cool small beach town, great snorkeling form shore and another place to check out fishing.
Then up to Tulum. Just an idea.
By the first few days your husband will be more relaxed and realize how easy it is to get by without any Spanish. He will get plenty of activity with hiking, climbing around the pyramids, swimming in the Caribe/Cenotes and biking, next thing you know you'll b planning a trip to Guatemala and learning Spanish.
I hadn't really thought about staying in Puerto Morelos. If we stay on the beach could we walk to town?
Yeah, it's a small place, easy to walk along the beach to the Zocalo.
The only reason I was considering a couple of days at Mayaland was to wake up with jungle sounds
One word, Calakmul and stay in the park. www.puertacalakmul.com.mx/
You can rent bikes at Coba and ride around the site, lots of fun.
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