Which Ruin should we go to?

I'm pretty sure this has been asked before, but when I searched CC I came back with so many hits I decided to ask again. We will be in Belize, Cozumel and Costa Maya in Jan on the EOS. My wife really wants to go to a ruin, but does not want to spend the whole day driving there and back. Can anyone tell me which port has the best ruin (most bang for the buck) but with a relatively short drive time? Thanks.

Not an expert, by any means, but we did go to both Tulum and Altun Ha last January.

We took the Tulum tour from Cozumel. This involved taking a ferry across to Playa del Carmen. Then it was approximately a 1 hour bus ride to Tulum. The ruins here are very scenic, as they are right on the coast, and you get a good view of the Caribbean and a beautiful beach to go along with the ruins. None of the ruins here permitting climbing, and they are probably not as traditional a site. We did have about one hour to stop and shop in Playa del Carmen after the tour, and thought it was a neat little town.

In Belize, we went to Altun Ha. This was probably about a 1 - 1 1/2 hour bus ride. The tour did include a small city tour, also. The last few miles are over a bumpy road, full of potholes. These ruins are located more in a jungle setting, and are more the traditional ruins surrounding a courtyard. You can climb up on top of one of the ruins (the stairs have been built on the side of the ruin) and get a good view of the surrounding area. After the tour, we went back to Belize City and shopped in the tourist village. Belize ended up being our favorite port.

It's really hard to compare the 2 tours, as they are SO different. I don't regret at all having done both, and didn't feel that it was a repetition of the first tour. If I was going again, I honestly don't know which tour I'd choose to repeat, as we enjoyed them both about equally.

I dont think doing a search on the ruins will help you. Maybe going to the port of calls and looking to see whats available to do in each port may narror your searches down.

Seeing that there is not much to do in Belize maybe the Alta Ha ruins may be more to your liking. Last cruise we did the Tulum ones.. Very imp[ressive but it will take your whole day up.

There is another-- san gervasio. Its not big-- nor impressive as the other two sites are. Some day I will be back to do the chicken itches ones.

I concur completely with Ute fan. We've been to both Tulum and Altun Ha also and the 2 are quite different experiences. Personally I enjoyed the scenic beauty of Tulum and would maybe give that one a slight edge, but not by much at all. You do miss out on climbing to the top of the pyramid there, so if that is an important thing to one of you, that's something to consider. Serene makes a good point. Look at what other things may interest you at each port, and maybe that can help you decide which port to spend seeing the ruins. Or, you could go to both, and then you'd see 1st hand how different they are and you'd know which one you like better!!! :)

P.S. We were lucky and went to Tulum from our port at Calica, rather than while we were at Cozumel. This saved us quite a bit of time since we didn't have to ferry to the mainland, so I'm not really familiar with how much time this adds to the whole experience.

Very nice ruin site; could easily do a morning tour and still have time to check out the tourist area near the pier in afternoon.

No experience in Belize, but Cozumel there are so many other choices! We LOVED Paradise Beach--enjoyed Carlos & Charlies, but next time will spend the whole day at Paradise Beach!

Happy cruising!

Kristin

DOnt know if it is an excursion http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/mayan/TourEntrance.html

http://www.yucatantoday.com/destinations/eng-chichen-itza.htm

I was in Cancun for a week and it was probably 1 and 1/2 hour drive to Chichen Itza. It was amazing. If you find this as an excursion. I would recommend it.

I agree that Chichen Itza is an incredible experience and well worth the trip. I went there two weeks ago, however it will be too long of an excursion for you from Cozumel. Our tour started at 10am. We boarded a 45 minute ferry ride, followed by 2.5 - 3 hours in a bus. We didn't make it back to the cruise ship until almost 10pm. The excursion was listed as a 12 hour excursion, and ours filled the entire time, with only about 30-40 minutes of shopping.

We did the Lamanai and New River Safari tour through Royal Caribbean in Belize and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an all day tour with probably an hour drive each way, but you also took a boat down a river to get to and from the ruins. I know the old boards had a thread under Belize on this tour that included a video, but I don't know if there's a way to access that now.

When we were in Belize we did the Xunantunich Ruin tour. I actually thought we were going to the one where we took the boat to the ruin. It turned out to be a great mistake as Xunantunich is one of the tallest ruins. We were transported by air conditioned coach to the ruins and then took a hand cranked ferry across the river. We had a wonderful guide that had tons of information about the Myan history. We boarded the bus and were off for lunch and then back on the bus to the pier. I would not take a tour outside the cruise line in Belize. If you had trouble with your transportation you could miss the boat.

The advantage of the Altun Ha ruins in Belize is your bus will go right to the edge of the ruins while other tours in Belize have long walks to get to the site. We negotiated our Altun Ha tour with a local in the port ($30 PP) and were really happy with the tour.

I have been to Chichen Itza, Tulum, and Lamanai. Of the 3, Tulum is the one I would least recommend. It is just not as impressive except for the site on the water. Chichen Itza is the most intricate and wonderful. If you are going to Costa Maya, this is a doable excursion and you ride a bus to the site---about an hour each way. I did the Lamanai and New River tour last month---absolutely wonderful---an hour bus trip to the river, then the river trip is about an hour during which you have lots of wildlife viewing---disembark the boat at the ruins and have a traditional lunch, then walk the ruins which you can climb. Lots of monkeys near the ruins. You take the boat back to the bus, where you can buy a beer or soda and also a few native souvenirs are available [mainly carvings] and then back to the ship.The number of other tourists is limited to the ones on your trip---about 40 total, whereas there are MANY more at the other 2 ruins I mentioned.Have a great trip!

i remember years ago on a land travel board someone wanted to know if there were any "new" ruins in italy--and the answer was yes but it will take hundreds of years for them to be completed