Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc
An hour from Mérida, the continent's finest Maya architecture is visited in a silence of birdsong: Uxmal and its Puuc route are the absolute anti-Chichén — and the road trip's clinching argument.
Suggested stay — 1 to 2 nights
Chichén Itzá receives two million visitors a year; Uxmal, its equal in majesty, a few hundred a day. The round-cornered Pyramid of the Magician, the Nunnery Quadrangle chiselled with serpents and Chaac masks, the immense Governor's Palace set on its acropolis: the Puuc style is Maya haute couture, and you have it to yourself from opening time, with iguanas as room wardens.
The car then earns its keep on the Ruta Puuc: Kabah and its façade of 250 rain-god masks, Sayil, Labná and its perfect arch follow one another along 30 km of deserted road beneath the dry forest. Die-hards will aim for Calakmul, on the Guatemalan border: 60 km of narrow road through the biosphere reserve, spider monkeys and ocellated turkeys as a welcoming committee, and two giant pyramids piercing the canopy — the largest known Maya city, all but deserted.
Don't miss
- Uxmal at opening (8 am): two hours alone at the Pyramid of the Magician
- Kabah's façade of Chaac masks, 20 minutes from Uxmal
- The Labná arch, pinnacle of the Puuc style, at the end of the empty road
- The Loltún caves or a henequen hacienda on the road to Mérida
Our tips on the ground
- Sleep at Santa Elena or near the site the night before: being at Uxmal at 8 am changes everything — raking light, cool air, and the Mérida groups only arrive at 11.
- Carry water and fuel: the Ruta Puuc has neither a petrol station nor a shop worth the name between Muna and Oxkutzcab.
- For Calakmul, leave Xpujil before dawn with a full tank: the access road closes late afternoon and the wildlife shows itself in the first hours.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Mexico on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Uxmal and the Ruta Puuc
Should you still do Chichén Itzá?
If it's your first Maya trip, yes — the Castillo and the great ball court remain unique — but at opening (8 am) and on a weekday, before the Cancún coaches surge in around 10:30. If you must choose, Uxmal delivers a purer emotion: fewer icons, more presence.
Can you still climb the pyramids?
Almost nowhere in the Yucatán any more: Uxmal, Chichén and Cobá are now closed to climbing. The notable exceptions are Ek Balam (acropolis still climbable, check on site) and above all the structures of Calakmul, where you look out over an ocean of jungle to Guatemala — the climb that justifies the kilometres.