Going to Mexico? Add Chichen Itza to your list! We visited Puerto Morales in July 2017 for a wedding and decided to do a bit of exploring after and why not visit one of the largest Mayan temples in the world, also one of the new seven wonders! Check here for your visa requirements.
Renting a car in Cancun
You can easily get scammed renting a car in Mexico. Originally I booked a car through Dollar Rent A Car online for $1 a day. From that moment I knew there was something sketchy going on but decided to wait and see what happened when I arrived. Well I was correct in my assumption of the $1 a day price being too good to be true. Once we arrived at the rental agency they refused to honor the price, added numerous fees and taxes to the rental that made the actual price over $100 a day. We quickly left and went to Hertz next door where we were about to get a small car for $20 a day. You will get approached by local rental agencies who claim to have the best pricing but I felt more comfortable going with an established company.
Getting to Chichen Itza
As we do on most trips, we woke up early (6am) and started our drive to out to the temple to beat the heat and the crowd. The drive was just over 2 hours long but very easy on well paved straight roads. Driving in Mexico is very easy! There is a US$17 toll on the way that only accepts Pesos, absolutely no US$ are accepted. We had to get someone passing through the tolls to exchanged USD to Pesos for us. The exchange rate is US$1 to 20 pesos. Despite hearing some scary stories about the police in Mexico the police at this toll are really nice, friendly and helpful but do not speak much English.
We’ve arrived!
Parking was FREE and easy as we arrived right when the park opened. I highly suggest getting here early to beat the heat and the potential long lines at the entrance. There are two ticket fees that you will pay for separately that total to about US$25, major credit cards are accepted. There is an option to get a guide but we decided to spend an hour at the ruins just walking around enjoying the beautiful architecture.
