Tulum Ruins

A walled Maya port on a 12-metre cliff above the Caribbean, and one of the best preserved of the coastal Maya sites. A wall up to 5 metres high and 8 metres thick ran around the three landward sides, cut by five narrow gates. Inside, El Castillo stands on the cliff edge over the small cove where trading canoes landed, a shrine on it lined up with a break in the reef. The Temple of the Frescoes still has stucco figures of the diving god over its doors and murals inside, seen only from outside now. Most of it dates from 1200 to 1550, when Tulum was trading obsidian, jade, salt and textiles up and down the coast.

The site is compact and an hour covers it. Getting in takes two tickets: one for the surrounding Jaguar national park, then a walk of about 500 metres or a shuttle to the INAH ticket office for the ruins themselves. Bag checks at the entrance turn away disposable plastic and smoking gear, and the queue is shorter with no bag at all. Tour buses and cruise passengers arrive from about ten, so go at eight when it opens or later in the afternoon (last entry half past three). The beach below the main temple is closed, though boat tours from the entrance view the ruins from the water. From town, colectivos run from opposite the bus station.