We're going to be in Playa del Carmen in early August for our honeymoon. We want to take one excursion. Which Mayan ruins are nicest...Chichen Itza or Tulum ? Is Chichen Itza very far from Playa del Carmen ?

Hit Tulum early before the tour buses,eat lunch at Hotel Maya Tulum and then see the Ruins at Coba in the afternoon. Oh also, Casa Cenote near Akumal makes a great hamburger, plus the best snokeling on the coast.

we just returned from playa del carmen, and although we were planning to go to chichen itza, we decided instead to go to tulum, because it would have essentially been an all-day trip to chichen itza and we understood it was unbearably hot. tulum was a 45 min drive from playa del carmen, and was very nice. in the morning it was not too crowded. it certainly is not as extensive as chichen itza, and you cannot climb any of the ruins, as you can in chichen itza, but we were satisfied with our choice and were back on the beach for lunch!

Hello Sammy. Since you are going in August I would have to agree that the<BR>weather (heat and humidity on a grand scale) should be a deciding factor. The<BR>ruins at Tulum are much smaller in scale but there is a gorgeous beach there and it is a much quicker trip. The<BR>ride to Chichen Itza is almost 3 hours<BR>from Playa in a bus and there is not much to see on the way. I personally enjoyed Chichen better but it did take the whole day and was extremely hot even in late May. We rented a car and stopped at will but you must be a brave <BR>soul to drive on some roads in Mexico.<BR>Congratulations!

Chichen is far grander for Mayan ruins, but if I was on my honeymoon, I'd opt for the shorter trip to Tulum (actually we did go to Tulum on our honeymoon 10 years ago.) I concur with Barbara, the beach next to the ruins is very nice. Bring your bathing suits.

The ruins at Tulum don't come close to the ones at Chichen Itza, but I think you should choose Tulum if you don't want to make a whole day of it. The Tulum/Coba day is very nice. We went to the Tulum Ruinas bus stop (by bus) across from the ruins and got a cab to the Coba site. He took us there and back and gave us two hours at the site for $35 U.S. When we returned, we visited Tulum. Definitely go to Tulum early or late to avoid crowds.

I just want to thank everyone for your input. It seems that it will be very hot and humid in August. So, probably a trip to Tulum will be a better choice. Thanks.

We also honeymooned there and took both trips. The previous posters are correct - it seems like too much to spend a whole day to get to Chichen-itza but we took a charter flight and it was so worth it!!! Several couples from our resort paid approximately $120US pp (1998)and flew there first thing in the morning. The view coming into and leaving Chichen-itza give you an amazing perspective on the site. We beat all the tour buses and were back in Playa by 1:00. The price included transfers from and back to the resort to the airport n Playa, the flight, and a tour guide just for our small group of 10. If you "splurge" on anything, do this. I believe the price has increased somewhat since then but it was an amazing day and we will never forget it!