Description: Tulum sits on the breathtaking Caribbean Sea coastline and is an archaeological Mayan ruin site that is open to visitors. Visitors are able to wander the grounds of the ruins but all of the buildings are roped off and are not able to be viewed from the insides.
When we arrived at Tulum we were accosted by merchants trying to sell us everything from water to bug spray which I have to say are both definite essentials on this trip. Then we rode the $2.00 tractor ride to the actual ruins.
Arriving at the ruins we paid for our tickets and went inside to be amazed at the resemblance of a village that was still left for us to see. The one thing that seemed to be very common at this ruin site was iguanas. Luckily they all seemed very docile and some even looked like they were enjoying the coastal scenery from the rooftops and the cliffs overlooking the ocean.
The Tulum ruins are very small compared to some of the other Mayan ruins in the state of Quintana Roo but the Tulum site definitely has the most beautiful setting. There is one large temple at Tulum but most of the ruins are fairly small in size. The most interesting ruins to me were the large temple and the temple of frescoes which had niched carvings on the outside of the building. The doorways were also interesting also because they are all extremely low because the Mayan people were shorter than most people today.
While visiting Tulum in the summertime you should bring your swim suit because they do have beach access and when we were there it was crazy hot and would have loved to have taken a dip to cool off.
We did a self guided tour like most of the tourists chose to do and the ruins took us a little over an hour to explore. I was exceptionally glad we weren’t on a tour in that heat, considering the number of shaded areas were very far and few in between.
This is a definite must see if you’re staying nearby in Mexico. The history and the breathtaking beauty of this walled ruin city will leave you full of amazement.
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