Dzibilchaltun suggestions wanted!

[2xhoneymooners]

Anyone have any comments (pros or cons) on the Dzibilchaltun ruins?

[palmtre2]

My family loved this tour (parents & kids) - Very informative, not too much walking. The tour is broken up so that you spend time on the site (not as impressive as Tulum but very interesting) then you go indoors to the air conditioned museum then back outdoors again once you've cooled off. After seeing the rest of the site you can go swimming in a cenote, cool and refreshing! The museum area has a snack bar and a gift shop and the guides on the bus are great. If I remember correctly it was about an hour drive each way but they provide snacks on the bus. They were also selling beers in the parking lot for the trip back!

[GoinCruisin]

Gesundheit :D

[ms_mom_1965]

Actually, it's about a 45 minute trip there, and 20-25 minutes back. I figured out they drive slower going so the guide has plenty of time to talk.

 

This wasn't the greatest trip, but it was worth the time and money - not nearly as far or as expensive as some of the others.

 

Be aware that since this is sort of out-of-the-way of the main tourist areas, not many people speak English.

 

The tour guide does, of course, but the others at the gift shop and restaurant didn't. They can tell you prices in American dollars, that's about it.

[mgasaway]

We loved this tour. After doing some internet searching and pricing we booked ours direct through Carnival. We could have saved about $20 by not booking through Carnival but the peace of mine knowing that we wouldn't miss the ship if something happened was worth the extra few bucks. (The ruins are about an hour from the ship). The tour itself was great. Our guides were extremely knowledgable of the Progresso area and Mayan culture. There was plenty of time for taking the guided tour then heading out on your own to explore, revisit the museum or to swim in the 'cenote'. (warning if you have small children - it is quite slippery.) There is a snack bar facility (that servers killer frozen margaritas!) with reasonably priced mexican faire (great authentic nachos), a gift shop and full restrooms on site. The tour bus was modern and air conditioned (it was in the 90's the day we were there). They had us back to the ship in plenty of time to do some shopping at the shops on the dock.

 

Enjoy and don't forget the sunscreen!

[I&MsMom]

We just got a taxi at the end of the pier and hired a guide at the site. He was very accommodating, as we had DS 6 (a huge "ruin" fan - started with Pompeii at 5 and hasn't looked back since! LOL) and DD, 25 months, who just wanted to run and climb!

 

It's a nice size and is so close to Progresso. Don't use regular sunscreen if you intend to go swimming - just the environmentally friendly stuff, as per our guide. So, no swimming for us! Ooops (mommy demerits for not doing enough research...)

 

Our taxi driver drove us through Progresso, recommended a couple of places to eat (we choose the one with a playset in the sand about 10 feet from our table!) and told us where to meet the bus to get back to the ship.

 

It was a great day, and our favorite port on our first cruise, the Glory western itinerary.

 

Enjoy, and happy sailing!

[derf5585]

Dzibilchaltun (tzee-BEEL-chahl-toon) is the "place where there is writing on the stones,"

from

http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-dzibilchaltun.htm

 

Dzibilchaltún was the center for salt trade since the Temple of the Seven Dolls.

from

http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/pyramids/dzibilchaltun.html

[hdawson]

You can hire a taxi to the ruins, have him wait for you to tour and then take you on to the beautiful spanish colonial city of Merida.

[cre8tive1]

DH and I loved the ruins. We got to the port and there was not anything to do and a guy approached us. We took a cab to the ruins which didn't take long at all. The driver waited for us. We hired a guide once we got there. They are all at the entrance. He was very knowledgeable and it was the best decision we made. If you do not pay for a guide, the ruins will just seem like a pile of rocks.

 

I would say it is a "must see". I would also shy away from the ships tour simply because I think you would get more out of it if you went in a smaller group.

 

I have photos of the ruins on webshots, so take a look. You will just have to bypass some of the photos of me and DH.;)

[cre8tive1]

The photos of the ruins are on the third page.