Chichen Itza/Tankah/Akumal Trip Report: 4/15-21, 2004

[CarolA]

This forum was such a great resource for us while planning our trip that I wanted to contribute something back. Even though we did not go to Playa Del Carmen, I thought some of you might be interested in visiting some of the same places.

Thu - Cancun:
Arrived very late into Cancun airport (10:50 pm). We rode the new ADO airport bus from the airport to downtown. It was terrific and only 15 pesos per person (about $1.50).

We were staying downtown just until we could leave for Chichen Itza. We stayed at the Hotel Parador on Tulum. If you want a basic hotel in a convenient location downtown, this one works. It had what we needed, but had zero personality and charm. The rate was around $45 US. If we were to do it again, we would spend a little more $ and find a hotel that was nicer. We really liked the feel of the Hotel Margarita on Yaxchilan where we had breakfast the next morning. Nightly rate there was $75 US. We didn’t actually see the rooms.

Fri – Cancun, Valladolid, Chichen Itza:
We walked to Yaxchilan and the Hotel Margarita which had an open air restaurant that seemed to be popular for breakfast. We had a wonderful breakfast. We then walked to Mercado 28 which opened about 10. Everything was cheaper here than what we found the rest of the week. We bought most of our souvenirs here. Walked back to Yaxchilan and the Executive car rental to get our car. We got a VW Pointer. It was almost brand new and really nice.

We used the 180 toll road to Chichen Itza – easy but boring. We stopped in Valladolid for a late lunch. We paid about $15 at the toll booth at the state line, then didn’t have to pay again to exit in Valladolid.

Valladolid – we parked at the zocalo – the main square. Had lunch at the Hotel Meson del Marques. It had tables around an interior garden/courtyard. Very pretty. Food was mixed – some was good, some not.

We then got on the free road to Chichen Itza. We easily found our hotel – the Dolores Alba. It was very cute and cheap – 370 pesos (less than $37 US). Just a few minutes east of Chichen Itza. They offered free transportation to Chichen Itza but it was easier just to take our car. About 7:30 we left for the Chichen Itza light show. If you’re there anyway, go to it, but don’t go out of your way to see it. It wasn’t really a big deal. Get the English headsets - they actually give a lot of information about the Mayans and the various ruins which was interesting and good info for the next day. The show started at 8 or so. It was around 35 or maybe 38 pesos for the show each, and an extra around 25 pesos for the English headset. All prices in this report are approximate!

Sat – Chichen Itza, Ik Kil, Coba, drive to Tulum, Tankah:
We weren’t impressed with our hotel’s breakfast menu so we decided we’d find somewhere else. We left around 7. Nothing was open yet in Piste. We decided to try the Mayaland hotel. There was a guard gate at the entrance. They did have a restaurant that was open and we were allowed to come in. Very tight security here. This hotel is FABULOUS! The grounds are absolutely gorgeous. Breakfast, though expensive, was very, very good. If we had it to do over again, we would spend the extra $100 a night and stay here. The cheapest room was around $140 (US), but even at that, it was worth it. There is an entrance to the ruins from the grounds there. So we left our car in their very secure lot and joined two other couples at the entrance at 8. It’s not the main entrance. But they have employees there taking your money and offering guides. But it was closer to 8:15 before anyone showed up. Bring your tickets from the light show and you just pay the difference for the entrance the next day. It was around $8 each total – so we paid around $5 more.

Chichen Itza was really fabulous. We were there for about 2 hours and saw everything. No crowds, cool and breezy. We didn’t use a guide so we saw everything at our own pace which seemed to be quite a bit faster than those in the few tour groups we saw. It was just starting to get really hot when we left.

Back at our hotel, we put on our swimsuits, checked out then walked across the street to Ik Kil cenote. It was fantastic! Don’t miss this if you go to Chichen Itza. I don’t remember how much the entrance was – around $5 to 8. There are waterfalls and greenery cascading down the sides, and beautiful water for swimming at the bottom. I had heard the water in the cenotes was really cold, but I didn’t find it that way. The water was cool, but you got used to it really quickly. They have bathrooms and showers there.

We then drove to Tulum then Tankah Bay. Went by way of Valladolid, Chemax, Coba. I was a little worried about the quality of the road, but it was great. It took way less time to get to Coba than we thought. We stopped for a late lunch at a place overlooking a lake in Coba, then saw the mayan ruins. It’s really huge. There are lots of tree-lined roads between the ruins. Because of all the trees and shade, it wasn’t that hot. The best way to see it would be to rent a bike which they have available. They also offered guys that pedal a cart that has a seat in the front for two people. We chose this. It was great! I think you pay by the hour and he drove us to each group of ruins and explained them. He let us stop for quick visits at each place. In an hour, we had time to see everything albeit quickly, and my husband went to the top of the tallest pyramid. It was really cheap to do this.

From there we drove to Tulum. Lots more shops and topes on this section of the road so it took longer. Arrived in Tulum about 5 then headed north to Tankah Bay – about 5 to 10 minutes. We stayed at Tankah Inn which is a wonderful guest house right on the beach. There are only 5 guest rooms. Our room was large, very light and airy, nice ceramic tile, ceiling fan, small patio with angled view of the water. King-size, very comfortable bed, sitting area, closet. Large shower in bathroom with large, separate vanity area outside. Purified drinking water in a dispenser in the room. We slept each night with the sound of the ocean and the ceiling fan and were very comfortable. All the rooms are on the first floor. The second floor was a large common area with kitchen, lots of tables and chairs, couch, bookshelves, and a covered balcony overlooking the ocean with lounge chairs. The bar is serve yourself and you mark your drinks on a paper with your name on it. So, 24 hours a day you can get your own mixed drinks, soft drinks, whatever then pay when you check out. Prices were very reasonable. We had a very nice continental breakfast each morning that was complimentary. Cost was about $90 a night.

Tankah Bay was very windy – more than we expected. But it was beautiful. Very quiet. Rocky entry to the water. Tankah Inn no longer has a restaurant so our options if we didn’t want to drive were Blue Sky and Casa Cenote, both just a short walk down the beach. We walked to Blue Sky. We had a very nice dinner on a small lovely patio – no beach view though. We got bitten by a few mosquitoes and found that was typical in the evenings at dinner throughout our trips. Every evening I forgot to put on bug repellant though. Oh, and if walking on this beach or the road at night, you absolutely need a flashlight.

Oops - See my reply for the rest of the report. It's too big!...

[CarolA]

And the rest of the report...

Sun –Xel Ha, Tulum, Tankah:
We got to Xel-Ha at 9 when they opened. We did not get the all-inclusive. Got our locker easily – we had to leave an id and possibly pay a little – not sure. We stowed our towels and clothes in the locker. Just wore our swimsuits, water socks and carried snorkel and fins. I had heard that life vests were required, but they weren’t. They provided them free for whoever wanted them, no id or deposit needed. Tip – there are at least 4 booths to get your snorkel gear (for rent or if you have all-inclusive ticket), and your life vest. We stopped at the first one we came too and there was a huge line. If we had walked 50 more feet, there was another one with no line. And two more after that with no lines! We walked to where you catch the bus to the very back. We didn’t bother with the tubes and just snorkeled and floated. There were some fish at the back and along the sides of the river and lagoon, but nothing in the middle. It was very nice to just float as the river carried you back towards the front. We snorkeled around further towards the front. The best fish are really around any bridge. We saw a lot of beautiful fish. The last thing we did was walk down to the floating bridge at the front. We got in there, and were amazed at how huge the fish were! Employees were throwing food off the bridge at these monstrous fish swimming all around us. Xel-Ha was fun and really pretty. We were there for 3 hours at the most and felt like we saw everything we wanted. Didn’t bother eating there. We packed up and went back to our hotel which was just 5 minutes away and got cleaned up and rested a bit.

We decided to have a late lunch at Gringo Dave’s then see Tulum. The setting at Gringo Dave’s is truly gorgeous. We sat outside under a shade palapa overlooking the ocean. It was a very enjoyable meal. After lunch, we drove back to 307 then north to the entrance to the ruins. We paid the $2 each to ride the tram round trip from the parking lot to the ruins. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and very hot so we were glad we did. The ruins in that setting were spectacular. It was really hot though and we were tired, so we saw everything pretty quickly – we were done by 5.

When we got back to our hotel, it was still windy but it looked like the bay had calmed down some. The Tankah Inn has kayaks free for guests. They also have snorkel vests for $3 a day. They have a raft in the bay near the reef where you just clip the kayak on so it doesn’t float away. So my husband did the hard work by rowing us in a 2 person kayak out to the reef. It wasn’t that far, but it was pretty windy so it wasn’t that easy. We got out and the snorkeling was nice. The wind and what seemed to be a current kept moving us south, so we felt like we were fighting to not drift too far. We saw multiple rays and fish, lots of pretty coral.

For a light dinner, we wandered down to Casa Cenote about 7:30. We shared a large plate of nachos which were fantastic – about $6. The setting is great – overlooking the ocean. They had a Texas BBQ, but we weren’t hungry enough for that. They close pretty early – at least on Sunday - a group came at 8:30 for dinner and was turned away. At Gringo Dave’s, a guy gave us a flyer for live music at the Weary Traveler in Tulum that night. It sounded fun, but by the end of the day we were exhausted and turned in early.

Mon – Grand Cenote, Akumal:
We wanted to snorkel a cenote, but not sure which one. We had looked at Cenote Manatee behind the Casa Cenote restaurant and it looked very pretty – like a very calm river winding through trees – very clear water. But I had also read about Grand Cenote. We felt like we didn’t have the time or energy to do both and decided on Grand Cenote.
Got there around 10:15. It was not crowded and was absolutely fabulous! Definitely bring your snorkel gear. The cave formations are incredible – the water is the most clear I’ve ever seen and by snorkeling, you can see tons of the underwater formations.

We went back to our hotel and checked out. We drove up 307 to Akumal – the exit going north is ‘Playa Akumal’. We had lunch at Imelda’s which was great and such a good value. About 50 pesos each. It was my husband’s favorite restaurant of the trip. I then dragged my husband to Lucy’s ice cream – all homemade and very yummy!! I rented a snorkel vest for $5 at the dive shop next to Imelda’s to use for the next day. We then drove down the road to Half Moon Bay to our condo. We stayed in a one bedroom condo in La Joya. It was absolutely fabulous!! $72 a night and I can’t tell you how thrilled we were. We were on the first floor right on the beach. Facing the beach was all windows floor to ceiling. They all opened and had screens so we could get the breeze and listen to the ocean. A large living area, dining area, full kitchen, and then you go up a few stairs to get to the bedroom and bath. It’s hard to describe, but there are louvered doors to block the bedroom from the living area for privacy, but you can open them and literally gaze on the ocean from your bed. Wow. Ceiling fans. Had an air conditioner but we didn’t use it or need it. Huge shower. The king-size bed was very comfortable. Purified water was in a dispenser in the kitchen. We couldn’t have been happier.

We wanted to snorkel Half Moon Bay that afternoon. But it was very windy and rough. There were very nice lounge chairs out front under shade palapas. We relaxed, read and napped instead.

For dinner, we went to Lol-Ha back at Akumal Bay. We had a nice table on the patio overlooking the beach. The service was excellent and the atmosphere was very nice. The food was very good. It was somewhat expensive, and the food was what we expected for the price.

Tue - Yal-Ku, Akumal:
We ate at the Turtle Bay Bakery for breakfast. We sat out on a nice patio and it was very good. Awesome orange juice. Our plan was to snorkel Yal-Ku that morning. They opened at 8, we drove down around 8:30. They had a very secure parking lot. There were bathrooms there which was nice. It was not crowded at all when we got there. We snorkeled the whole lagoon in a couple of hours. Saw a lot of pretty fish and coral, a barracuda. Not much in the very middle but sand. Not as many varieties of fish as I had hoped and no turtles yet. It was very enjoyable but tiring. It was a lot of distance to cover. There were more people in there when we left – I could see how they could get things stirred up and the visibility would go down. Although there were not so many that you would be running into people.

After a short rest at our condo, we decided to try snorkeling Half Moon Bay. The bay was still not what I would describe as calm. And it really is very rocky to get in. We went in front of La Lunita restaurant which seemed to be the sandiest entry. Others were snorkeling there the day before and said they saw a turtle. We saw a lot of fish but no turtles. The coral was gorgeous but very, very close to the surface. We knew that, but with the rather large waves and wind, we still both ended up being thrown into it. I didn’t go snorkeling there again and don’t know if I would unless it was very calm. Although we loved staying on the bay. It was beautiful, not crowded and was just close enough to restaurants and things to do.

After resting up, we headed for Akumal Bay. We had another good lunch at Imelda’s then cookies from Turtle Bay Bakery. Then time for snorkeling. The water was very calm. There was a lot of coral, but not too close to the surface unless you got really close to the cannons on the north. It was beautiful and my favorite ocean snorkeling. In addition to lots of fish, I saw a lobster and some kind of squid looking things. We saw turtles straight out from Lol-Ha, in the sea grass, just a little further out from where the boats are parked. And a ray.

For dinner, we drove 5 minutes south to the little town of Chemuyil to Leo’s Pizza. We had what was probably our best meal of the trip in terms of value for the money. It's a little 'hole in the wall' place but the food is fantastic and we spent only $6 to $8 per person for our entrees. The service was very leisurely, but that’s probably because they were cooking everything fresh when we ordered it – down to the tortilla chips to start. There was so much food we couldn’t finish everything. We stopped at La Buena Vida on Half Moon Bay for dessert. The atmosphere was nice. The prices on the menu seemed a little higher than other places. We never had a chance to try anything else but dessert so we don’t know if the food was worth it or not.

Wed – Akumal, drive to Cancun:
Breakfast at Imelda’s which was terrific. They don’t serve juice though which would have been nice. Filled up on gas – we were watching the guy very closely to make sure he zeroed out the pump! We followed the signs to the airport. Found Executive car return right around the corner from Avis. We checked in the car and it took only about 5 minutes. Very smooth and easy.

We had a wonderful trip. Neither of us got sick. There were things that we would have liked to do with more time – especially more cenotes. We used our small soft-sided cooler a lot – always had cold drinks with us. I needed a light sweater every evening at dinner.

Here are a few pictures. I haven't had the underwater cameras developed yet. If I get any good pics off of those, I'll add them later.
http://img56.photobucket.com/albums/v172/carolaskew/?

Carol

[tommy]

GREAT trip report.....love the pics...put up some more...we are going to casa cenote in 11 days....do you have any pics of Grand Cenote?? I would love to see them...thanks

[CarolA]

Hi. We took our pics of Grand Cenote with the underwater disposable. Hopefully I'll have those developed and posted tomorrow. I'll let you know when I do. I'm sure you'll enjoy Casa Cenote. The owner of Tankah Inn said the windy bay was unusual - usually much calmer. It's so quiet and beautiful there, and it's close to Tulum, cenotes, etc.

Carol

[sleeper]

Thanks for the great report. How long did it take you to drive from Chichen Itza to Tulum?
Thanks.

[CarolA]

Hi. I'm not sure exactly. We left Ik Kil cenote just east of Chichen Itza around 1 and got to Tulum at 5. We stopped for lunch and to see Coba in between there. That took around 2 hours. So, I'd say about 2 hours.

Carol