Anyone Been To Coba Ruins?

[elou]

This Board Is Great. I Get So Much Info. Been To Tulum And Chichen Itza. Just Wondering If There Is Much To See At Coba. Thanks In Advance.

[Hroswitha]

We were there on a Princess shore excursion in April. I found the site very interesting but it is also very spread out, and a great deal of walking over rough ground is involved--and we're good walkers! Be prepared, also for big crowds, noise and commercialization: pedicabs and the like. The large central pyramid and the ball court are highlights, but forget about atmosphere!

 

We much preferred Kohunlich and Dzibanche, which we visited on Princess' Mayan Explorer excursion out of Costa Maya. The sites are out in the proverbial middle of nowhere, but there wasn't a soul around except our small group and some howler monkeys in the trees--a big plus in my book. K and D are compact and easy to get around in. With some mounds excavated fully, others partially and some not at all--and twisty trees and vines growing out of some of the stonework--they were just as I had imagined Mayan ruins to be.

[drjohn4]

I was there in 1984. The best shore excursion I have been on. Long bus ride from Playa del Carmen, but a great place. We were the only group there and you walked along paths barely cut out of the jungle to climb large pyramids, and it was only from the top of the pyramyds that you could make out the shape of other ruins rising out of the jungle that stretched as far as the eye can see. Felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie! Judging from the previous post, however, it seems that things may have changed. Too bad.

[gooselace]

We were there on a Princess shore excursion in April. I found the site very interesting but it is also very spread out, and a great deal of walking over rough ground is involved--and we're good walkers! Be prepared, also for big crowds, noise and commercialization: pedicabs and the like. The large central pyramid and the ball court are highlights, but forget about atmosphere! ....

 

I'm appalled and wonder if this is the result of Coba becoming a shore excursion. I agree about the long walk, but one of the highlights for us was having the guide stop us so we could watch a "parade" of leaf-cutter ants, each carrying its canopy, several times the size of the ant. We took a taxi from Playa del Carma and our group of four plus guide and later a couple of young hikers from Germany were the only outsiders on the site. The only "commercial" enterprise was a hut with lukewarm colas for sale and, sadly, a young jaguar in a cage.

 

Guess I better get going on my Easter Island visit soon.

[Snoozeman]

I was there in 1984. The best shore excursion I have been on. Long bus ride from Playa del Carmen, but a great place. We were the only group there and you walked along paths barely cut out of the jungle to climb large pyramids, and it was only from the top of the pyramyds that you could make out the shape of other ruins rising out of the jungle that stretched as far as the eye can see. Felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie! Judging from the previous post, however, it seems that things may have changed. Too bad.

Agree. I too was there about '84. Drove in & also spent the night. Only ones there. Very unique experience that deep in the jungle.