What is the best Ruins excursion in Progreso?

[Marietta]

We are sailing on the Ecstasy next month and would like to see some ruins. Any one have any suggestions on the most bang for our buck in Progreso? We would like to go with the ship tours as we do not want to get left behind on our first cruise. :)

 

Our choices are:

Chichen Itza - 7hrs for $79

Dzibilchaltun w/ Mexican Rodeo - 5.5 hrs for $79

Uxmal & Lunch - 6.5hrs for $71

 

Also looking for the name of a local, good, cheap snorkle in Cozumel while still having time to shop some.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

[siri_roswell]

We are sailing on the Ecstasy next month and would like to see some ruins. Any one have any suggestions on the most bang for our buck in Progreso? We would like to go with the ship tours as we do not want to get left behind on our first cruise. :)

 

Our choices are:

Chichen Itza - 7hrs for $79

Dzibilchaltun w/ Mexican Rodeo - 5.5 hrs for $79

Uxmal & Lunch - 6.5hrs for $71

 

Also looking for the name of a local, good, cheap snorkle in Cozumel while still having time to shop some.

 

Thanks for any suggestions,

I was on the Inspiration for Thanksgiving week. We were supposed to go to Grand Cayman but due to rough weather they substituted Progreso for it.

 

Since we were not able to pre-book before the cruise, we had slim pickings on outings. Chichen Itza is the biggest of the Mayan sites, and was our first choice, the Dzibilchaltun w/ Mexican Rodeo tour was our second choice.

 

Unfortunately, neither were available, so we took the remaining excursion that sounded interesting.. the "Mayan Reality Tour". It was well worth it! We were already seeing the Mayan site at Tulum the next day, so weren't too heartbroken about missing Chichen Itza.

 

On this excursion, we drove about 20 miles outside Progreso, where you see the beautiful oceanfront houses mixed in with the makeshift homes of the dirt poor. We stopped at a mangrove swamp and viewed pink flamingos in the wild.

 

Next, we stopped at a Mayan ruin site. It was much smaller than Tulum, and in the process of being restored, but there was a small church on the site that is still in use today. No doors or windows, just a grass roof and stones, with an altar inside.

 

After that, we drove into a small town way off the tourist path, Dzemul. There, we stopped at a traditional mayan house (many of which were situated in the same neighborhoods as more modern dwllings) and took a tour. They have electricty (a small tv and stove) but this family still used their stone firepit for most of their cooking. Their house was made of stones with a straw roof. They had turkeys in the backyard, and the only running water was from a hose.

 

We were then taken to a cathedral in town built by the Spaniards in the 1600s. There, we were treated to authentic mexican homecooked meals by some of the church volunteers, and a dance show by some children. The food and the performance were great!

 

We had no idea what to expect from this tour, but I was pleasantly surprised all around because we got to spend the day seeing the real Mexico rather than an Americanized tourist area like Cozumel or Playa Del Carmen. I saw no American shops or restaurants in either Progreso or Dzemul.

[mrdood]

Chichen Itza or Uxmal - go to the Progresso Port forum, you will find oodles of info over there, hopefully you will read this before it gets moved over there...

[hdawson]

The above tour sounds very interesting. However, for the biggest bang has to be Uxmal. Prettier and more impressive than Chichen Itza and not quite as far.

[Silver Anniv]

I agree with Uxmal. Visited in 2004. They have a pyramid you can climb. Not the one they show you on the tour, there's another further back in the ruin that you can climb.