There are many wonderful activities for guests to participate within the Hacienda Chichen Resort property grounds, from Mayan Nature and Bird-watching Tours, Mayan sacred cave purification rituals and holistic Mayan Spa ceremonies, to visiting the archaeological sites nearby the hotel or spent a day exploring the Yucatan Peninsula. The hacienda is placed right in the middle of a wealth of old colonial towns, Mayan villages, cenotes, beaches, Mayan ruins and more within a half day's drive.

The Yucatan Peninsula consists of three states: Quintana Roo (most famous for the resorts of Cancun, Cozumel and Playa del Carmen), Campeche to the east, and Yucatan State in the center. The capital and largest city in Yucatan is Merida, a mere 120 km from Hacienda Chichen Resort. There you will find everything from a 500-year-old Spanish cathedral to all the modern amenities of shopping malls, car dealers, movie theatres, restaurants, a zoo and much more.

In the opposite direction, just over the border into Quintana Roo is the colonial city of Valladolid. This inland city is a perfect place to lunch before visiting the ruins of Coba to the south or Ek Balam to the north. Or a perfect stopping place on your way to Cancun, Playa del Carmen or Tulum.

One of the unique things about the Yucatan is the presence of cenotes, inland bodies of sweet water, mostly underground. These cenotes have been used over the years as sources of drinking water and irrigation, but also as places to swim and enjoy the cool relief from the hot jungle weather. There are no rivers running aboveground in the Yucatan Peninsula; instead there are cenotes. As a guest to the hacienda, we can arrange for you to take a tour that will include swimming in a cenote. Or if you visit the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza or Dzabilchaltun, you will see above-ground cenotes that were once a vital part of the communities that once lived there.

You will find interesting small towns and villages, each one with a history and a very vibrant present. Dotted throughout the Yucatan are communities with beautiful churches, abandoned or restored haciendas, farms, orchards, town squares, fiestas...you never know what you are going to find. What you will find is the Mayan people who are open and curious and friendly.

Are you interested in going to the beach? We have beaches on the Gulf Coast and beaches on the Caribbean. We have flamingoes at Celestun and monkeys at Punta Laguna. There are beach towns with great fish restaurants and boat tours.

The Yucatan is a land of many faces and many moods. We hope that you will spend some time at Hacienda Chichen Resort and get to know this unique and beautiful land.



For more information on the Yucatan, please see our Links page.

Yucatan Adventure Travel Guide is a great place to read about Mayan Cultural traditions, places to visit, and things to do while in Yucatan.