It's a bit of a bizarre juxtaposition, this ruin in the midst of the hotel zone. And, as ruins go, it's not overly dramatic. Even so, it's worth a visit. I jumped on the bus early morning and traveled up Paseo Kukulcan... bus fare was cheap and I, stepping on the bus, found myself brushing up against another Mexico. Not the tourista paleness of hotels and beaches and lots of other people like me, but working people. Likely some of the folks who make the hotels comfortable for all of us.And on the bus you begin to realize how many hotels and resorts are jammed together here... but I digress. I de-bussed and crossed the paseo, paid my nominal admission fee and headed off down a trail to the ruins. Each step took me further from the shiny and polished into a quietude, broken by birdsong. After a short walk down the trail you come out into a clearing and the ruins.And it isn't the stunning grandeur of other ruins you'll find, but it is a concrete indication, a cypher, of the Mayan civilization that flourished here. I arrived early and spent almost an hour in solitude here. It was well worth the bus ride, well worth coming early to be alone and among the silent stones.

You can borrow or rent bikes from your resort--we borrowed bikes (for free) from the Royal Mayan and biked the 3km to the ruins. We also took Ritz crackers to feed the iguanas, who will come very close to you if you come with crackers--any kind of crackers will do.

The ruins are small and really not much compared to larger scale ruins like Chichen Itza, Coba, Ek Balaam, or Tulum.