Is Chichen Itza Worth It Or Is It An Overrated Tourist Trap?
Wondering If The Famous Chichen Itza Site Is Worth Visiting Or If It Is An Overrated Tourist Attraction In Mexico?
History has always been my favorite (it was the only thing I wanted to study in college), and traveling has made it even more interesting, getting to bring the past to life. Despite its popularity and touristy-ness, one of the coolest historical places I’ve visited so far has been Chichen Itza, but here are some more details about this ancient site so you can decide if it is worth visiting or if it’s just another overrated tourist attraction that you’d rather leave off of your next trip to Mexico.
🛕 Is Chichen Itza Worth Visiting?
⭐️ Overall:
- ➡️ Chichen Itza is a very touristy, very crowded, fairly expensive, and extremely hot and humid place to visit, so if you’re not that into history or archaeological sites, it will probably feel very overrated to you and not worth checking out
- ➡️ but if you love history and want to visit one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza definitely still worth visiting despite some of the cheesiness, but a good informative tour can help with that
Continue reading for more details on Chichen Itza so you can decide if it’s worth adding to your next Mexico trip.
✅ Why Chichen Itza Is Worth Visiting
No matter what part of the Yucatan Peninsula you plan on visiting, especially if it’s your first time, you should definitely consider adding Chichen Itza to your itinerary for a few of these reasons:
- ✅ Chichen Itza is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, so it’s really one of the coolest historical sites to see in the entire world, and definitely worth adding to your bucket list
- ✅ compared to some of the other ruins in the area, Chichen Itza is one of the more complete Mayan ruin sites you can visit
- ✅ Chichen Itza is also one of the largest of those sites with its most famous pyramid, but also it’s even more interesting ball court (pictured below) where their sacrificial game used to be played
- ✅ it’s not super close to most vacation towns like Cancun or Tulum (at least two hours away depending on where you are), but it’s so popular that there are plenty of ways to get here (from either Cancun or Tulum) so it’s actually pretty easy to reach
- ✅ also since Chichen Itza is such a popular place to visit, there are so many tours you can choose from if you want the most stress-free option to get here; these are a couple of the highest rated options (plus here’s a review of a tour I went on):
- 🛕 Chichen Itza from Cancun with a cenote, Valladolid city, and Mayan cuisine
- 🛕 Chichen Itza from Merida with Izamal, the Ik Kil cenote, and food
- 🛕 VIP Private Chichen Itza tour (a really nice way to visit this archeological site)
- 🛕 Small Group Chichen Itza tour with Ek Balam and a cenote
❌ Why Chichen Itza Is Overrated
Chichen Itza is a really interesting historical site to visit, but a couple of things that might make it feel a bit overrated include:
- ❌ how busy it always is here; that’s one of the reasons why visiting early in the morning is a little bit better
- ❌ how incredibly touristy it is here with lots of sketchy/slimy vendors constantly trying to sell you something that they way overcharge for
- if you speak Spanish you’ll get a discounted price compared to English speakers, but always still barter if you do want to buy something
- ❌ how much time it takes to visit this site; even tours where you don’t have to do the driving yourself can be pretty exhausting because they’re usually a full day of 10-13 hours
➡️ Trying To Decide What Historical Sites To Visit In Mexico? here are some comparisons between Chichen Itza and the Tulum Ruins, between Chichen Itza and Teotihuacan, and between Chichen Itza and the Great Pyramid of Cholula to help you out
🚗 How To Get To Chichen Itza
🚗 If you plan on renting a car once you arrive in Cancun, you can easily drive yourself to Chichen Itza and just pay the entrance fees to go in on your own.
🚐 But because I don’t highly recommend renting a car (after doing it myself here) and because there is so much fascinating history to learn about this ancient archaeological site, I personally think the best and most stress-free way to visit Chichen Itza is on a guided tour.
🚐 I’ve been on both big bus type tours to Chichen Itza and a private guided tour to Chichen Itza, and if it’s within your budget, I’d definitely recommend a private tour for a more detailed, historical, and less touristy-feeling visit.
🚕 You could also technically take an Uber or taxi to Chichen Itza, but it’d be pretty expensive and not as nice. There are also some private transportation options to Chichen Itza, but you’d be paying for the private experience without a knowledgable guide so I still think a private tour is best.
🌄 What’s The Best Time To Visit Chichen Itza?
Because of the heat and the crowds, the earlier you visit Chichen Itza the better. If you get there right when they open, you might have about 30 minutes of fewer crowds and slightly less oppressive heat.
On my last visit to Chichen Itza we got there about 10-15 minutes after they opened and there was already a decent crowd ready to go in, but after about 20-30 minutes of walking around, the crowds doubled or tripled in size and I was ready to go to the cenote to cool off in the water.
🔁 Sum Up: Is Chichen Itza Worth Visiting?
Although Chichen Itza is crowded, very touristy, and a very hot and humid place to explore, it is one of the most interesting ancient Mayan sites you can see, plus it’s one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, so it’s definitely a place worth visiting, especially if it’s your first time in the Yucatan Peninsula area of Mexico. I recommend a private tour and visiting as early in the morning as you can for the best possible experience at this ancient archaeological site.
